IF cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education, then Swiss chard is probably nothing more than spinach with a PhD. "Their slightly sharp, but never acid, note" is the characteristic by which the French chef Roger
Verge explains the vegetable's appeal in France, where the curious life of the chard is most apparent.
It's a curious life, because cooks tend to use either the leaf, or the stalk, and rarely the two together. The stalks are great coated with bechamel, or baked with grated Parmesan, and make super, subtle tarts. The leaves, meanwhile, are used to wrap stuffings, or are shredded as part of a stuffing in pies. But there seem to be few uses for stalks and leaves together.
But, M Verge has one such concoction - Swiss Chard With White Onions - in his fine book of vegetable cookery, and so when a neighbour brought a big bag of chard freshly cut from the garden, it was time to try it out. It's a cracking recipe, whose crispness goes perfectly with roasted chicken, but a few tips may help to take some of the labour out of M Verge's painstaking method.
Thus, it is not strictly necessary to grind the caraway seeds, I feel so long as they are roasted, you get their contribution to the dish. I would also neither cook the chard for as long as the recipe calls - five minutes is plenty, I think - nor not let it sit in the cooking liquid: if you drain it, it keeps the crisp note we want in the final dish. I would also add the chopped leaves last: thing, as the heat of the other ingredients wilts them immediately, and they need no more cooking.
Having cooked the dish, I then turned the technique to bear on a suppertime risotto. To a standard mix of onion and rice cooked in chicken stock, with grated Parmesan added, I simply turned in the fried stalks, then folded in the finely chopped leaves at the last minute. It was quite delicious and, if made with a good vegetable stock, is a smashing vegetarian risotto.
Roger Verge's Swiss Chard with White Onions
Serves four
1 3/4 lbs Swiss chard
3 tablespoons white vinegar or lemon juice
2 medium tomatoes
2 medium white onions
10 tablespoons olive oil
1 heaped tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 garlic clove
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander leaves
Run a knife along the chard stalks to remove the leaves. Carefully wash and drain the leaves. If you are using broad-stemmed chard, use a vegetable peeler or paring knife to remove the fibrous outer layer of the stalks. Cut the stalks in two-inch lengths, then if necessary cut each piece lengthwise into 3/8-inch strips. Immediately place these in a bowl of water acidulated with the vinegar or lemon juice.
Peel the tomatoes by removing their stems and placing them in boiling water for 15 seconds. Cool them in a bowl of cold water. The skins should slip off easily.
Cut the tomatoes in half crosswise and squeeze out the seeds and liquid. Cut them into 3/8-inch dice and place them in a strainer to drain.
Peel the onions and cut them into thin slices. Put them in a heavy saucepan with half the olive oil, three tablespoons water, and a little sea salt. Cover the pan and cook over very low heat for 40 minutes; the onions must not brown and should become very tender. Drain the chard stalks and put them into a large saucepan. Put flour into a fine strainer, hold this over the saucepan, and slowly pour two quarts cold water over the flour. Add a handful of salt and let the chard leaves cook for 10 or Is minutes over medium heat; the stalks should remain slightly al dente.
Remove the pan from the heat, but let the stalks sit in their cooking liquid for about 20 minutes before draining them in a colander.
In a small, heavy-bottomed skillet or saucepan, toast the caraway seeds over medium heat until they just begin to take colour. Crush them to a powder in a mortar or a spice grinder and sift the powder to remove ills fibres.
Peel the garlic and mince finely.
Cut the chard leaves into 1/4-inch strips and add to the onions. Mix well with a wooden spoon, raise the heat to high, and let the mixture cook, uncovered, until all the chard's water has evaporated.
Heat the remaining five tablespoons olive oil in a skillet and add the chard stalks, thoroughly drained. Saute until lightly golden, then add the chard leaf mixture, tomatoes, garlic and caraway. Season to taste with salt and pepper, stir well, and cook for five to 10 minutes more.
Sprinkle with fresh coriander leaves before serving.