Swiss chard ribs, sautee in butter and cream, served with pasta.
Ingredients
- 1 lb swiss chard, yielding 2 cups of chopped ribs
- 1/4 cup (half a stick) butter
- 3/4 to 1 cup heavy cream
- Enough dry pasta to make about one quart of cooked pasta (use rice pasta if gluten-free is required)
- Salt and pepper
Method
1 Separate the ribs from the greens. Cut the ribs into 1/2-inch to 1-inch pieces. Blanch the ribs in lightly salted boiling water for 3 minutes.
2 Melt butter in a saucepan on medium heat. Add the drained, blanched ribs and simmer for 4 minutes. Add heavy cream and cook until cream reduces by two-thirds.
3 While the cream is reducing, cook up your pasta according to the pasta's package directions.
4 Mix creamed chard with pasta. Season lightly with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Oh yum! For such a simple recipe this was surprisingly delicious! Even my picky eaters ate it!
I sauteed a bit of red pepper in the butter before adding the chard ribs. It added nice color.
This was fabulous, as was the Swiss chard tzatziki. I joined a CSA this year and your site is great for finding ways to use all the fresh vegetables I’ll be getting.
Thanks for some chard recipes that *aren’t* sauteed in olive oil with garlic. I mean, that’s a great go-to recipe when you have chard, easy & delicious, but every now and then, I crave something different. Gonna try that tzatziki (sp?) recipe, too. Sadly, I didn’t grow any chard this year, but I have a locally grown farmer’s market hookup and their chard rocks.
I just made this recipe, and it was awesome! Thanks for an interesting take on something green!
It went really well with the swiss chard leaves from your other recipe, too! I used half-n-half and pureed part of the chard/cream mixture to get the thickness cream would have provided; worked well and tastes great. Thanks for adding yet another vegetable to my previously limited repetoire!
Easy and good. Used half whole milk and half cream and sauce seemed fine.
Just wanted to say that my husband, two year old daughter and one of our friends that came to dinner all really loved this meal. We will for sure be making it again.
My family loved this recipe. I did add a few extras to make it a quick main dish. I added leeks (to help cut some of the richness of the cream sauce) in with the the swiss chard stems and chunks of browned chicken breast (made a little extra sauce, too). It was wonderful. The swiss chard stalks have a very unique flavor and beautiful color to the dish. My children had seconds and asked me to make it again. Great and simple recipe!
Having two full rows of chard, both green and red, I recently blanched (in truth, I just poured hot water from my dispenser over it,) and then filled each leaf or several smaller overlapped leaves with a rice, almond, golden raisen, feta cheese mixture; rolled them and baked them. I served them with yogurt. My family liked them. It was kind of Greek in nature.
We have so much chard, white, because that is all we could get this spring, that we have been putting it in salads. Tastes like lettuce. Here in the US we still measure the old fashioned way, so I’m not sure what 15cm is in Euro speak. Since we eat what we pick within 30 min it hasn’t made a difference in the toughness of the chard, kind of like celery.
We’re growing some swiss chard at the moment (May). Can it be eaten raw, whilst still young?And how tall/large does it grow? Because I have never seen it for sale anywhere, and I’ve no idea when to use it.
I must say, though, so far – with the leaves around 15cm tall, although it has a pleasant texture, it tastes of notbing.
bob
I have been cooking Swiss Chard for over 50 years. I cut the stems off and then slice across the leaves in 1 in. pieaces. Saute 3-4 cloves of minced garlic with a little olive oil. Add one 8 oz. can of Hunts Tomato Sauce and salt and pepper to taste, along with a sprinkle of Oregano and Basil. Then add the chopped swiss chard and acover with about 1 c. of water (one can full or more). Simmer for about 30 mins. Can be served with garlic bread or pasta. This has been in our family since the beginning of time.
Well I didn’t substitute the red cabbage. Just followed the recipe instructions like a good girl. :o) I did put a little garlic-infused olive oil on the pasta after it cooked to keep it from sticking (I made more than I needed to use in other things). It’s good, but not very flavorful. I think next time I’ll add a few crimini mushrooms.
Kalyn – excellent! We’ll look forward to hearing about great chard recipes from you later this summer?
Hi Jeff – Indeed it is pretty colorful, though by the time the cream cooks down, much of the vividness of the color has dimmed.
Hi Kyleen – uh, no. At least I wouldn’t. Doesn’t sound particularly appetizing. But then again, what do I know? If you do try it, let us know how it went.
Could I substitute chopped red cabbage for the swiss chard?