chard, ginger, rice

There's a recipe in Deborah Madison's "Local Flavors" that I've made countless times, a quick(ish) pan of sturdy greens braised with a tiny amount of rice, a reversal of culinary roles that fits my style of eating perfectly. One for the gardener, it conveniently takes care of a glut of chard and has the added bonus of making one feel vital, healthwise. Win-win, I'd say. What you want here is a LOT of greens. One huge bunch will just feed two of you, depending on how hungry you are I suppose, but as they are the point of the thing, go nuts and use loads. Other greens - shredded kale in particular - are also lovely done this way, though they will need a longer braising time. Madison adds cumin and paprika, but I like things a little gentler in spring.

This is one of my very favourite things to eat. Comforting, fragrant and able to made on autopilot. Jo asked for the recipe recently, and this is, slightly doctored to include the ginger I left out in the email, what I sent her. 

chard (silverbeet) braised with ginger and rice

feeds 2, and keeps well in the fridge overnight

Fry an onion and 1 heaped tablespoon of chopped ginger in a wide pan that has a lid (2 tablespoons of olive oil should be enough). Tear the leaves from the stalks of a bunch of silverbeet (or coloured chard) then chop the stalks and add them to the onions. You want things soft, but not browned. Some garlic halfway through is good, though not essential, and, if you have it, a bunch of coriander that you have chopped up, stalks and all. Fry for a few minutes more and slice the leaves of the silverbeet while you are waiting. Add a heaped tablespoon of rice (or millet or quinoa if you are a hardcore grain freak like moi), and stir well. Chuck in the leaves, then add a big splash of water, some salt, some pepper. Bring to a boil, turn to low and whack the lid on tight. Leave to cook for 25 minutes or so, stirring from time to time. Add a splash more water if you feel the pan is a bit dry, but it's amazing how much in the way of juice silverbeet leaves exude, and they will make the rice taste green and good.

When the rice is cooked, lid off, break in some eggs, lid back on 'til they is cooked to yer liking. Noice.

 

 

Comments

[Wendy]

I make something similar on days when David is elsewhere. Have never added rice though. Love this idea.

[Elizabeth]

This looks awesome, Lucy. Always looking for ways to add more greens in to my diet!

[Denise]

Looks just my style. Thanks!

[rach]

Yes.

[Reemski]

hmmm, I'm going to make this this evening with a great big bunch of silverbeet I have

[spiceandmore]

Nice. I like the idea of adding in eggs.
I make a similar thing but use a bunch of dill instead of the corriander. And crumble over some fetta cheese at the end. Yummy!

[alison]

this sounds so good. thank you for sharing another way to play with chard!

you know we had a tonne of chard in our garden last season...i think i got a little bit over-enthusiastic about the seeds and having lots of stem color. so we ate it all summer, and it was the last thing to hang on well into november. we ate it lots of different ways, but then i had a revelation, about the stems, because they're so pretty, you know? and there's so much stem-to-leaf ratio, but so often coking all the stems winds up a bit watery and not so tasty.

so i decided to steam the torn leaves separately from the stems, which i wash and chop into a fine dice, almost, but not quite mirepoix-size. i saute the chopped stems in butter and olive oil, with some fresh chopped garlic. and add some ponzu made with lime juice, and let the whole mess get thicker and jam or chutney-like in consistency. all this over a very hot flame in a heavy iron pan close to the fire, so it gets a smoky seared flavor going too. then i spoon the stem-jam over the steamed greens, et voilà! it is scrumptious and wonderful.