The Picky Eater was home on furlough for a few weeks recently and was cooking in overdrive, trying to take advantage of all the great summer produce. One Sunday we were entranced by the baby chard offered by a vendor at our farmers market, which led her mother to conceive of the Chard Challenge. We purchased a double bag of chard and were off to the races, as it were, with a week of green & purple tinged leaves flying around the kitchen.
While it may be true that my daughter is a certified picky eater, the chard challenge provided ample evidence that her mother is a certified picky cook. While the Picky Eater whipped up a delicious white bean and chard soup with ease, her mother ran through three different recipes and used up about 6 pounds of chard, not to mention quantities of onions, eggs, butter, etc, and countless hours of her time before she got it what she thought of as right!
So, let's start with the Picky Eater's recipe, which will provide good hearty eating from now until next spring. Just be sure to cook the beans a little longer than she did- apparently she likes them crunchy, not soft and toothsome, as her parents (and the rest of the world) do.
Roasted tomato sauce
5 medium tomatoes
1 shallot (peeled)
5+ cloves of garlic (peeled)
Salt & pepper
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Roast the tomatoes, shallot and garlic until they have caramelized and slightly shriveled about 40 minutes. If the garlic or shallots get really dark before the tomatoes are done, pull them out so they don't burn. Chop the lot up with a mezzaluna or food processor (if doing it by hand, remove large bits of skin), add more salt if you think it needs it.
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| Infinitely tastier than something from a can! |
Makes 4 servings
1 carrot
5-6 cloves of garlic
1 rib of celery
1 teaspoon olive oil
4 sundried tomato halves
1/2 pound white beans
Enough water / stock to cover plus 2"
1/2 chard bundle, stems removed
Chop the carrot and celery up fine, then saute them and the garlic cloves (left whole) in olive oil over low heat until they are soft and slightly fragrant. [If you're working with limited facilities, I suggest buying dried vegetable flake and substituting about 1/2-1 tablespoon and adding that when you add the beans.]
Add the beans, chopped tomato mixture, and stock / water (I use one can Swanson's chicken stock and add water until it's the right height) [powdered stock or bouillon cubes work well if you make them 1/2 the concentration the directions say]. Simmer (BARELY and UNCOVERED) until the beans are the consistency you like (creamy but not mushy or crunchy). If necessary (depending on the saltiness of your stock) add additional salt after ~1.5 hours of cooking, when the soup starts to smell like beans and not like vegetables. You may need to add more liquid, just keep it from going completely dry. Relax. This is really flexible.
When the beans are just about done, chop the chard leaves into long strips. When the beans are actually done, add the chard ribbons and stir around until wilted. Remove from heat. [Let cool, ladle into 4 plastic bags and freeze. You can reheat it over the next 2-4 weeks for dinners]
Nothing to it, right? Prepare yourself for my travails.
I started with the "Torta d'Erbe" from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. It used a yeasted pastry crust, which only required a quick rise, no pre-baking, and was less rich than a traditional pastry dough. Filling ingredients were chard, sorrel, scallions, parsley, ricotta, eggs, milk, gruyere cheese ... I was good on everything but the sorrel and ricotta, so I decided to omit them and go for a quiche style filling. Cross checked the recipe against a Leek & Swiss Chard Tart from Smitten Kitchen. So far, so good. Crust rolled out like a breeze, filling went together, no sweat. Popped it in the oven.
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Spent more time marking recipes in Veg Cooking for Everyone while waiting to pick up Picky Eater at dance class. Couldn't decide which to go with. The Picky Eater suggested trying a variation on a giant spinach, mushroom and ham turnover (Pantin aux epinards, Simone Beck) in From Julia Child's Kitchen that I had reminisced about making in the distant past. Okay, let's try it with the yeasted pastry and chard. Had some Canadian bacon to substitute for the ham. Stop at the grocery for a couple more pounds of chard and extra gruyere. Make the pastry, cook the chard, make the onion flavored bechamel, saute the mushrooms with the ham and cooked chard. Roll out the pastry into a 12" x 18" rectangle. Spread out the filling (which is looking a little meagre.) Seal, brush with egg wash, and bake the tart.
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| Pantin unfolded. |
Looks impressive coming out of the oven. Proof (or lack thereof) is in the eating- filling to pastry ratio is too slight, as expected. Chard still tastes tinny. Time to admit defeat? Never!
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| A little more filling would have been nice. |
Gnocchi aka Gnudi Verdi
Love the word gnudi! It refers to the fact that these are basically a ravioli filling standing on their own, not encased in a pasta prison.
Adapted from Canal House Cooking volume 7 byMelissa Hamilton & Christopher Hirsheimer
Serves 4-6
This dough must be refrigerated 3 hours or more (overnight) before cooking. Once you have the chard prepared the dough comes together very quickly.
2 pounds fresh chard leaves
1 1/2 cups (16 oz) whole milk ricotta
1 Tb melted butter
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Salt & pepper 6 Tb of flour
4 Tb additional butter, melted
Grated Parmesan
Fresh tomato sauce (recipe below)
Cut away the leaf sections of the chard from the stalks, and discard the stalks, Wash the chard leaves in a colander without shaking dry, and place them in a large saucepan. (The water clinging to the leaves is enough to cook the chard in.) Cook over medium heat until just tender. When cool, squeeze the chard dry by the handful over the colander. Finely mince and place in a large bowl.
Mix together the chard, ricotta, 1 Tb melted butter, Parmesan, and eggs with a rubber spatula. Season to taste with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Sift the flour through a sieve into the chard mixture and use the spatula to mix it just enough to incorporate the flour. The dough will seem soft and a little sticky.
Refrigerate in a covered container for at least three hours, or make it the day before and refrigerate overnight.
About 20 minutes before serving heat the tomato sauce over low and keep it warm. Fill a wide pan with water to a depth of about 3 inches. Season the water with salt and bring it to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Adjust the heat to keep the water barely simmering. Fill a measuring cup with cold water and pull out two tea spoons. Retrieve the chilled gnudi dough. Dip the spoons in the water and use one to scoop up some dough. Use the other spoon to shape the dough into an oval dumpling shape aka quenelle. Hold the spoon in the simmering water for a second and the gnudi will slide off and sink to the bottom of the pan. Cook 6-10 gnudi at a time until they float to the surface and feel firm, about 4-5 minutes. Hold the gnudi in a buttered & covered casserole in a warm (250 degree) oven until they are all cooked, serving as soon as possible.
To serve, smear a generous spoonful of warm tomato sauce on the bottom of a flat soup dish. Attractively arrange 3-5 gnudi on top, drizzle them with a little melted butter, and toss on a sprinkling of grated Parmesan and a bit more salt and pepper.
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| Forming / poaching the gnudi. |
(from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison)
Makes 2 1/2 cups
3 pounds ripe tomatoes, quartered
3 Tb chopped fresh basil or 2 tsp mixed dried Italian or Herbes de Provence
Salt & pepper
2 Tb olive oil
Put the tomatoes in a heavy saucepan with the herbs. Cover the pan and cook the tomatoes over medium-high heat, keeping an eye on them to sure that they don't scorch. When they have broken down, after about 10 minutes, remove from the heat, cool slightly, and briefly puree the tomatoes in a food processor. If the sauce is not as thick as you want, return it to the pot and cook over low heat, stirring often until it is the desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the olive oil.
Freezes nicely.
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