Chard in the Yard
December 2009 
Ten years ago, I scattered half a packet of Swiss Chard seeds in my vegetable garden. Long after the other fruits and vegetables had given up and died off, and I had tired of eating anything green or tending the garden, the chard was still growing. And then it bolted (sent out seed heads)!Lazy gardener that I am, the stuff reseeded every year. This year, almost the entire 50 x 50 foot plot was choked with chard, hollyhocks, grasses and weeds. During spring and summer, my housemate chopped everything down. He cultivated a patch, built a fence around it, and planted beets, turnips and garlic (too late in the season for anything else). A few weeks later, he noticed some beets had sprouted in places he hadn't sown seeds. That's when he discovered that beet and chard seedlings look a lot alike.
I picked some today and sautéed them with onion, julienned ginger and red pepper, then added sesame seeds and a dash of maple syrup toward the end of cooking. Served with udon noodles with butter and curry, it made a simple, light dinner.
So ... what's on your dinner table?
Les bettes sont déjà un peu sucrée, n'est-ce pas? Ca l'air tellement bon, et nappé de sirop d'érable, ce devait être un délice.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds scrumptious...you must actually know how to cook ! I so admire that.
ReplyDeleteIf it's more that three steps, I don't do it.
1. Boil some water
2. Throw a bunch of stuff into there
3. When heated, slop it onto your plate
Sounds pretty complicated to me! I made chicken chili. Cold outside - and we might even have snow on Friday. That only happens every few years. Had to go out and cover my tomatoes and hope they survive.
ReplyDeleteI don't cook but my meal is ready when I come back from work. So I had meat loaf with a nice salad.
ReplyDelete@Gelisa: j'aime cuisiner, mais il vaux mieux d'avoir un repas sur la table quand on revient chez soi! Et oui, ils sont un peu sucrée. Le gingembre et le poivron rouge les complètent très bien. Bisous.
ReplyDelete@Tim: I am too picky about my food to not know how to cook. But your method works with a variety of foods and the flavorings that go on food!
@Midlife Jobhunter: I love chili! I'll have to try it with chicken. The last time I remember snow here in the Bay Area was sometime in the late 1970s. The garden part was easy. Throw some seeds around, and you're set for life! The cooking method is similar to chili, but the cooking time is less!
I love chard - it's one of the old simple vegetables typical around here.
ReplyDeleteMy chard recipe: puff pastry > blanched chard > garlic, onions, pepper, salt, mince > feta > puff pastry. That's my chard börek.
Ooh, can't go wrong with puff pastry! It looks good, Martina. The Serbian version is particularly pretty to me.
ReplyDeleteSince I eat no meat I am always with the vegetable börek variants, :-). Just wondering if one can put tuna in it ... hm ...
ReplyDeleteI'd think yes, although you might want the filling to be saucy enough to keep the fish moist, since it's easy to overcook.
ReplyDelete