This promises to be a beautiful summer weekend, so plan in a trip to the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market to pick up your week's groceries from a wide selection of summer produce from Good Food Easy at Sweetwater Farm, pastured meats from Fair Valley Farm, and beautiful fresh cut flower bouquets from Tiger Lily Art Company. Be sure to grab a bunch of greens to work into your week's meals.
Last Sunday I picked up this lovely rainbow chard, along with onions, zucchini, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, tomatoes and some ground lamb. Sunday evening we had grilled lamb burgers and I caramelized onions for a pot of mujaddara. To accompany the lamb burgers, I made a tomato and cucumber salad and we grilled the chard stems for a simplified version of these recipe with anchovy vinaigrette. The stems are first quickly blanched, then marinated, charred on the grill, and tossed back into the marinate bowl. They were tender and pungent and made one regret ever having relegated a chard stem to the compost heap.
After blanching the stems, I also blanched the chard leaves for the following evening's dinner, and, while the grill was going, roasted extra zucchini, peppers and a whole eggplant wrapped in aluminum foil and nestled directly into the coals.
Monday night's dinner was these Swiss chard fritters from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi's "Jerusalem: A Cookbook." They are delicate pancakes, held together with tangy feta cheese, and bursting with green flavors (I used chard, parsley cilantro, and mint). They made a perfect meatless Monday meal, along with more mujaddara, grilled vegetables, and a roasted eggplant salad. Two delicious meals from a couple bunches of chard.
Grilled Swiss Chard Stems
adapted from this food52 Genius Recipe
Stems from 2 bunches Swiss chard (save greens for another use)
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 anchovy fillets
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Splash sherry vinegar
1. Wash the chard stems, cut off any dark edges, and cut into 5 to 6-inch lengths.
2. Blanch stems in salted boiling water in batches till just tender, about 2 minutes per batch, then transfer to an ice bath. It is very important to follow all the rules of blanching and not overcrowd the pot. Any shortcuts here results in the color turning black.
3. Dry the blanched stems. In a pretty bowl large enough to hold the stems, combine the olive oil, garlic, and anchovy fillets and use the back of a fork to mash them into a paste. Toss the stems in the paste to coat.
4. Place the stems on the grill in a single layer. Grill long and slow until they become quite dark and charred but not burned. When they are done, transfer them back to the bowl with the anchovy paste, add a splash of sherry vinegar, some freshly ground pepper, and salt to taste. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Swiss Chard Fritters
14 ounces (2 bunches) Swiss chard leaves, stems removed
½ cup Italian parsley leaves
¼ cup cilantro leaves
¼ cup mint leaves
½ teaspoon granulated sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 large eggs
3 ounces crumbled feta cheese (1/2 cup)
Olive oil
Lemon wedges, for serving (optional)
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add chard and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from pot and drain well, patting leaves dry with a paper or kitchen towel.
2. Place chard in food processor with herbs, sugar, flour, garlic and eggs. Pulse until well blended. Fold in feta by hand.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, spoon in 1 heaping tablespoon of mixture for each fritter (you should be able to fit three fritters per batch). Press down gently on fritter to flatten. Cook 1 to 2 minutes per side, until golden brown. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with paper towels. Add another tablespoon oil to pan and repeat. Serve warm, with lemon wedges (optional).
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