I'm having to watch my weight a bit, so please excuse the calorie counting. (Has anyone noticed that I like the word "cream" a lot? That could explain the extra weight...)
1 bunch Swiss Chard
1 half white or yellow onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon sherry
1/4 cup flour
5 eggs
2 ounces crumbled feta
2 tablespoons pine nuts
a small handful of fresh dill
a small handful of fresh parsley
zest of half of a lemon
a dash of nutmeg
a teaspoon of black pepper (or to taste)
a teaspoon of garlic salt (or to taste)
9 inch deep pan, I used a square glass one
(see below for sauce ingredients)
Preheat over to 350 or 375 depending on how hot your oven runs
Remove
the stems from the chard leaves and chop fine. Also chop the onion up
and saute them both in the olive oil on med-high heat until soft, adding
the sherry and sprinkling with a pinch of salt about halfway through.
After about ten minutes or so, add the rest of the chopped chard leaves and take off the heat and cover, letting the leaves just steam for a
few minutes. Let it all cool.
Beat the five egg whites until stiff.
In
a bowl mix the 5 egg yolks with the rest of the flavorings, pine
nuts and feta etc., then toss with the flour and the cooked and
cooled chard mixture (but don't add the liquid that has come out of the
chard though). Stir in a 1/4 of the egg whites, then fold the rest in
gently as you would for any souffle.
Spray the pan (9x9-ish) with a bit with PAM or
something then fill and bake for about 45 minutes. The top should be
brown and the middle moist, but not soupy.
For bechamel-like sauce (to add the nice creamy element),
cook 1 tablespoon flour and 1 tablespoon olive oil on med-high for a
minute until bubbly, then add a scant cup of skim milk and a pinch of
salt and pepper and a dash of Tabasco and cook, stirring with a whisk,
until thick.
Cut the slightly cooled souffle into four pieces and top each with bechamel.
275 calories per serving OR 220 calories per serving without the sauce
I did very well at the Sacramento farmer's market on Sunday, everything looked beautiful, and was priced right. I found lots of good veggies and even some potted vegetables and herbs for the garden. Not all of my loot was for eating though, I also got this really pretty ornamental oregano called Kent's Beauty, I can't wait for it to get bigger (I'm an impatient gardener).
Check out the big green onions with the flowers on them, I think they look like little lit candles, I chopped them right up along with the stems!
The recipe today, a pie made with Swiss chard, is obviously a savory pie, it's very yummy served cold for lunch or cut in smaller slices for appetizer.
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| Right out of the oven |
Ingredients:
1 bunch Swiss chard
1 bunch dill weed (chopped)
1 bunch green onions
1 cup walnuts
6 eggs
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon plus one pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (omit if you don't have it, don't use fresh)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Sharp cheese for topping (amount is up to you, I used 2 oz feta)
Walnut oil and Balsamic vinegar for drizzling
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put a large pot on the stove on high with a few inches of water in the bottom. Chop the chard into small chunks and dump in the pan. Heat up just until the mass is wilted down, then drain immediately in a colander. Let it cool.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Chop walnuts until you have about a cup roughly chopped. Chop the green onions as well and then add both to the olive oil with a pinch of salt, and fry on high, stirring frequently.
After five minutes, remove the walnuts and green onions from the heat, and for ease of clean up, instead of using a fresh bowl, just use the pot you already used to boil the chard in as a bowl (dump out the water of course!). To that, add your fresh chopped dill, your eggs, cornmeal and spices.
Before adding the chard to all of this, take the cooled chard in your hands and squeeze the heck out of it until most of the liquid comes out. It's amazing how a whole bunch of chard now fits easily in your hands! Once everything is in there mix it all very well.
Rub oil all over the inside of a regular glass pie pan, and fill it with the mixture. Sprinkle the top with your favorite cheese and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Let it cool a bit before serving with vinegar and oil drizzled on top.
Okay, it's almost recipe-cheating to say, "Here's a really great recipe. It has bacon it it." Bacon is more popular than zombies, steampunk, and saying "nom, nom" instead of "yummy", but unlike those other things, bacon actually deserves the popularity. I do think it's silly to put it in ice cream, but bacon really does wonders for a wide variety of dishes including cooked vegetables.
This a nice little side dish to serve with meat; a colorful and tasty little bed for a roasted chicken leg or a lamp chop to rest on.
Ingredients:
6 carrots, sliced thinly
1 slice of your favorite thick bacon, chopped
1/2 large sweet onion, chopped
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon (or more if it needs it) salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon lavender
1 dash pumpkin pie spice
1 dash celery seed
1/3 cup dark spicy rum like Zaya
juice of 1/4 large lemon (or half a small lemon)
2 tablespoons Uncle Jer's wildflower honey
In a non-stick frying pan, cook the chopped bacon and butter on high until the bacon is nice and crispy. Add all of the spices and the chopped onion, and continue to cook on high for 2-3 minutes.
The star of the show, the sliced carrots, go in next. Toss them around in the pan to coat all of slices in the fat and spices. Turn the heat down to medium, and add the rum. If you have a gas stove, you can just tilt the pan slightly to catch the rum on fire, if your stove is electric please use a LONG match or fireplace lighter and BE CAREFUL! After the flames die down, clap a lid on the pan and cook for 5 minutes.
Take the lid off and pour in two tablespoons of honey and squeeze in the 1/4 lemon (I like Meyer lemon for this) and mix. If you don't have lemon, sprinkle in some good vinegar, you just need some acid to balance the sweetness and fat.
Serves 2-3 people
I've been eating toast and cheese, or cereal, for breakfast during my illness, and to be honest it probably made me worse. Today I finally had a good breakfast that left me feeling light and energetic, but had lots of fresh flavor.
If you don't like eggs, just make the same thing and add more zucchini or some mushrooms- and just know that I think you're a little weird.
Ingredients:
2 green zucchini, quartered lengthwise and then sliced
1/2 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half
1 teaspoon savory
1/2 teaspoon (or more) garlic salt
several dashes of black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 ounce of crumbled feta, or whatever sharp cheese you have
2 good quality organic eggs
salt
In a non-stick skillet heat your olive oil on high and add the zucchini and garlic salt. Cook for about 2 minutes then add the savory, a bit of pepper and the tomatoes. Continue to cook on high for another 3-5 minutes, depending on how much you like your veggies cooked, making sure you stir them around once in a while.
After the veggies are cooked, add the feta cheese evenly over the top, then crack your eggs over the top as well. Now COVER the pan with a lid or foil, and turn the heat down to low/med-low. On my stove the eggs were done to over medium-ish in four minutes, but you can lift your lid after 3 minutes and poke your yolks gently to see if they are the way you like them. This method is kind of nice because your eggs are basically steaming, so you don't have to flip them.
Salt and pepper the eggs and serve yourself right away, with good hot coffee of course, and if you're a bread person I would go with toasted sourdough.
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