Recipe: Every meal a miracle: Rhubarb Red Swiss Chard with lots of Garlic

Some nights I just can’t stand the though of making dinner.  Since I am a sucker for punishment (actually its that pesky soy intolerance) we don’t have any real instant options.

This is one of my favourite “instant” side dishes that really saves dinner. It must originally be from Jamie Oliver's Italy, now it's just in my head.

Tonight we served it with pizza (really a manchouer flat bread with cheese and garlic), it also goes really well with left over pizza as well as fish.

1 bunch of Swiss Chard (we used Rhubarb Red)

A hand full or two of spinach (optional, we are iron starved so we put spinach in everything)

Garlic to taste (we used 5 cloves)

A few glugs of olive oil

Either the juice of a whole lemon or 3 tablespoons of lemon juice

Salt and Pepper

Even the future compost looks good.

Wash the chard and spinach, paying special attention to get rid of any sand. 

Trim the ends off the chard.  

Blanche it for 2 minutes in boiling water.

While it’s boiling, pour 2 big glugs of olive oil into your wok or sauce pan. 

Turn it on to medium heat.  

Finely chop your garlic and toss it in the oil.  

Should be time to drain the greens.  

As soon as the garlic starts changing colour, toss in those greens.  

Add the lemon juice and salt and pepper. 

Mix it up every once and a while for about 5 minutes and volia! Italian greens! So fancy.  Looks like you have been slaving away over the stove all day, not that you could barely face the thought of making dinner.  

As my mother would say, “Every meal a miracle”.  Now call it a day.

Recipe: Smug Kale Chips for Nancy

We bought some fabulous Kale from Zephyr Organics at the Royal Winter Fair this week so I figured it was time to post our Kale Chip instructions.  Kale is just so good for you but I’m frequently asked what to do with it.  So here’s a quick and easy way to use it up and make a healthy snack that even has calcium.

To make Kale chips, I like to use the curly stuff or Red Russian, rather than the Dinosaur or Lacinato variety.

Pre heat your over to 375.

Wash your kale, cut out the woody stems, and rip into hunks.

Pour some olive oil, a few tablespoons or glugs, over the kale and try to get an even coat by mixing it with your hands in a large bowl.  Add a sprinkle (1/2 teaspoon) of salt and squeeze half a lemon (about a teaspoon of juice) over it.  Keep tossing with your hands or spin in your salad spinner until everything is covered evenly.

Lay out in a generally flat layer on a cookie sheet, possibly using two if it was a really big head of kale.

Put in the oven for 20 minutes, checking on it once about half way through, giving it a little toss.

After 20 minutes it should be crispy, but not burnt.  If its still chewy or wet, pop it back in for a minute or two.  When it's done put it in a  nice sized bowl and eat all of it, knowing that its good for you!  Hence the new name "smug chips".

Excellent with either a cup of fennel tea or a beer, depending on the time of day I suppose.