almost

[adrian_turtle]

I made something with chard last week that almost worked perfectly. It worked well enough to be worth trying again, but I'm trying to figure out how to get it exactly right. (I mean, other than having all the chard cut up beforehand, rather than trying to chop the leaves while the stems are cooking.)

I started with a bunch of rainbow chard and 5 eggs. I started cooking some lazy garlic in olive oil, like you do, then added the chopped stems of the chard until they softened a bit. Then added handfuls of chopped chard leaves and let them wilt down until they all fit and I could cover the pot. Then more garlic, because I had a LOT of chard. And then I mixed the chard with a handful of raisins and put it in a baking dish, beat the eggs with a little salt, and baked it at 400F.

I liked it, but it needed something. More raisins? Lemon? There was just a little more egg than strictly necessary to hold the chard together, and I think that was right. There weren't any of the hot spices, and I don't think they would have fit...but maybe something like sumac/zatar or ginger?

Comments

[wild_irises]

Lemon almost always brightens dishes, so sure. I might also have sauteed some onion with the garlic. The canonical spice for spinach is nutmeg, and spinach and chard are a lot alike, so that might be worth trying too.

[adrian_turtle]

I hardly ever eat nutmeg--I mostly just use it in hair dye--but it might be worth trying here. Thanks.

[jjhunter]

Mm...chard...

(Hello! I just realized the reason your username looks familiar is because I've heard of you in passing via sovay; stultiloquentia and I just moved to Somerville ourselves - always fun to get to know more awesome people in the area.)

[adrian_turtle]

Welcome to the neighborhood! I might well have seen you at the Davis greenmarket (where I was getting more chard.) I'm the one with the rainbow-striped ribbon all around my hat.