SICILIAN SWISS CHARD

 I took a walk over the the TNT children's Learning Garden this week to check on the plots I planted and worked on this summer with our Junior Park Patrol. They were bursting with veggies and flowers!! One of the things we had a lot of were greens. Beautiful, organic Kale and Swiss Chard. We received seedlings early this spring from our local urban organic farm, Revision Farm,(check them out! http://www.vpi.org/revision/). Our teenagers planted the seedlings when they were only two inches high and this week they were sprawling all over our garden beds.

This is my bounty!

I was ecstatic to pick the greens, but not sure how I was going to convince my family to eat them. Sometimes I can get a handful in the morning smoothie and get away with it, and the boys like Kale chips, but i have never been very successful with getting them to eat cooked greens straight. So I set off across the waves of the world wide web to find something different that might work. I stumbled across this recipe, originally from Vegetarian Times. I have changed and tweaked it to be my own. It was a success!! Keith, who usually is allergic to greens of any shade and texture, ate it, and Joseph had two helpings. AMAZING!! I really liked it, and I have altered the recipe and used it with the Kale too, substituting with dried cranberries and slivered almonds. That also went over well. The mixture of textures and the sweetness of the raisins and apple cider vinegar really make it a great dish. Enjoy!!

SICILIAN SWISS CHARD

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. veggie oil

1 lb. Swiss chard, leaves cut into ribbons, stems finely chopped and set aside

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1/4 cup golden raisins

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons walnuts

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Salt & pepper, if desired


Directions: Heat oil in large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add chard stems, onion, nuts, red pepper flakes, garlic and raisins. Sauté 10 minutes, or until onion and chard stems are soft. Stir in chard leaves; sauté 6 minutes, or until greens are tender, stir in apple cider vinegar and season with salt and pepper, if desired.