Swiss chard

The insanely busy spring planting season is slowly wrapping up, leaving us all a little more breathing room to do things like write our first weekly CSA blog! This week, the CSA boxes contain green leaf lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, and the very first of our kohlrabi and greenhouse cucumbers. The kohlrabi, which may be unfamiliar to some of you, is a highly undervalued vegetable, but we will dedicate next week’s blog and recipe to that fine piece of produce. For this week, we’d like to highlight Swiss chard.

As the long-awaited May brings in sunshine and warmth, one of the early plants thriving in the garden is the brightly colored Swiss chard. Tender, glossy green leaves on stems of red, orange, and pink, Swiss chard belongs to the Beta vulgaris species, to which the sugar beet, beetroot, and mangelwurzel also belong. You’ll notice the resemblance in both appearance and taste if you’ve ever eaten beet greens (beets will be in CSA boxes very soon). This is a highly nutritious green that contains loads of vitamins A, K, and C, particularly when consumed raw. But it’s also delicious cooked. The following recipe is an Italian take on a traditional chard dish called “Bietole e ceci;” the greens are combined with chickpeas, onions, and for omnivores, the addition of pancetta.

Bietole e Ceci

Recipe: Serves 2 - 4

1 bunch Swiss chard

2 tbs. butter or olive oil

½ onion

1 can chickpeas

Pancetta

1 clove minced garlic

Fresh lemon to taste

Crushed red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

Chop Swiss chard stems (leave greens for later) and brown with chopped onion on high heat in butter or olive oil

Add chickpeas, pancetta. Cover and cook on low heat.

Add minced garlic, lemon, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper, and chopped Swiss chard greens. Cover and let simmer until flavors mingle.

Serve over toasted Italian bread as a bruschetta appetizer, or simply as a hearty healthy meal of greens and legumes.