Do you already know the leafy vegetable chard, which stands out with bright colors ranging from pink and red to orange and light yellow? The large, wavy leaves and sweet, earthy taste make chard a popular alternative to spinach. In today's article we would like to introduce you to delicious and extremely healthy chard recipes that will pamper your taste buds and provide your body with valuable nutrients.
Prepare diverse and healthy dishes
Chard is for those of youa perfect choicewho always want things to be uncomplicated and, above all, quick in the kitchen. Despite its strong leaves, only a short cooking time is necessary for its leaves and stems to become soft. The delicious leafy vegetables, which also contain a lot of vitamins K, A, E, as well as sodium, magnesium and iron, can be fully utilized and prepared as desired. You can even cook the chard stalks like the popular asparagus and serve them as a side dish with various meat and fish dishes. The taste of the firm leaf stalks is also reminiscent of asparagus. Simply put the stems in well-salted, boiling water with a tablespoon of lemon juice and cook for about 12 minutes until al dente. A well-seasoned light sauce, such as Hollandaise sauce, goes well with it. Whether steamed, boiled, blanched, fried or grilled, the chard recipes offer you several options to add variety to your menu.
StuffedChard packets with rice
A great and tasty idea for preparing chard are the vegetarian,filled chard packets. The large leaves can be used to prepare delicious and attractive chard wraps, which are also suitable for a low-calorie diet. For six servings you will need the following ingredients:
- 1 chard, with leaves as large as possible
- 170 g risotto rice
- 1 shallot
- 500 ml vegetable broth
- 100 ml white wine
- 2 stalks of thyme
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper
For the sauce you need:
- 250 ml milk
- 100 ml broth (alternatively white wine)
- 50 g sour cream
- 50 g Gruyère or another hard cheese
- 30 g Butter
- 2 tsp flour
- Salt and pepper
- Nutmeg
First, rinse the chard, separate the individual leaves and cut off the stems. Dice them and boil them together with the leaves in salted water. Rinse them with cold water and let them drain. Next, sauté the diced shallot until translucent, add the rice and sauté it too. Quench with white wine and bring to the boil. Gradually add the broth while stirring and cook the rice over medium heat for 20 minutes until al dente. Finally, season the mixture with salt and pepper and stir in the chard cubes and thyme leaves. Then put a heaping tablespoon of rice on each leaf and roll it into a packet. Cook the finished packages over steam for about seven minutes. To prepare the sauce, you must first sweat the flour in butter. Then stir in the wine and milk and let everything simmer for about 5 minutes. In the next preparation step, add the grated cheese and sour cream. Finally, season the sauce with the spices.
Spaghettiwith chard and ricotta
If you want to serve up a captivatingly fragrant and deliciously tasting pasta dish, you can prepare spaghetti with a pleasant scent of thyme, pine nuts and crunchy chard in less than half an hour.
Ingredients:
- 150 g pasta of your choice (e.g. tagliatelle)
- 250 g Mangold
- 100 g Ricotta
- 450 ml vegetable broth
- 1 onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 2 tbsp pine nuts
- 1 EL Rosinen
- 2 EL Kill
- 2 sprigs of thyme
Clean the chard and cut it into small pieces. Cut the onion and garlic into small pieces and fry them in a pan with oil. Add the chard with 3 tablespoons of water and steam it for 2-3 minutes. Roast the pine nuts in a pan without fat until golden brown. Then mix them with the raisins and thyme leaves. Now you can cook the pasta until al dente according to the package instructions. Stir in the pine nuts, raisins, chard and thyme leaves. Then arrange the pasta on plates and spread the ricotta on top.
Asian chard recipes – fish with chard and glass noodles
Below we would like to present you another tasty variant for preparing chard. The leafy vegetable is actually native to the Mediterranean region and the Near East and is therefore found in numerous Asian dishes. For the chard recipe with fish fillet you need these ingredients:
- 800 g Mangold
- 4 Viktoriabarschfilets
- 100 g Glasnudeln
- 2 peppers, yellow and red
- 1 onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 teaspoon ginger, freshly grated
- 3 tbsp sesame oil
- Soy sauce, light
- Salt
Cut the glass noodles into small pieces with scissors and cook according to the package instructions. Wash the chard and peppers and cut into strips. Cut the onion and garlic into small cubes and fry them in hot oil together with the grated ginger. Add the fish and peppers and fry for 2-3 minutes. Then mix in the strips of chard and cook them briefly. Add the noodles and season the chard dish with salt and soy sauce.
Curry chard with potatoes
If you want to enjoy a delicious, nutritious dish with exotic spices, maybe you can do thisDish with potatoesand try your own mixed curry. For two servings you will need the following ingredients:
- 500 g Mangold
- 350g potatoes
- 1 onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 rote Chili
- 2 cm ginger, finely grated
- 250 g natural yogurt
- 1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 bunch of coriander
- sunflower oil
- 1 TL Garam Masala
- 1/2 mustard seeds
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 Turmeric
- Salt
- Rice for two people
Put the chilli, garlic and ginger in the mortar and mash well until a paste forms. Fry the onion rings in oil and add the spice paste. Once it starts to smell, you can also add the other spices and fry them for a few minutes too. Fry the chopped chard stalks and potatoes in the wok for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Fill the wok with water so that the vegetables are covered with liquid. Let everything simmer with the lid closed for about 15 minutes until the potatoes are cooked. Then add the chard leaves, stir everything again and season with salt. Cook the rice. Mix the yoghurt with the tomato paste and add half of the finely chopped coriander. Add some of the cooked rice and the chard and potato curry to plates or bowls. Finally, add a dollop of yoghurt and sprinkle with coriander.
