I found the recipe for the chard on my handy-dandy iPhone app, "How to Cook Everything." (Which is a misnomer, I looked up that funky Japanese potato on the app and there were no ways to cook it). Anyways, I sauteed the strips of shallots in olive oil, added 2 tablespoons of sugar (which I wish I would have left out) then added cut up mandarinquats. To that I added sherry vinegar, and threw in the chard to steam in the juices. The end result is a citrusy-sweet mixture of greens. The recipe called for an orange and I substituted the mandarinquats, and I might have gone overboard. I tried to throw in what appeared to be the equivalent of one orange-worth. If I make this recipe again I will reduce or completely omit the sugar. Sugar in vegetables?? REEEEALLY America?? Really Martha?
Chard: Johnny Bowden calls this leafy green "a nutritional powerhouse"! At 35 calories 1 cup of cooked chard gives 4 g of fiber, more than 100 mg of calcium, 961 mg of potassium, and more than 30 mg of vitamin C. Also more than 10,000 IUs of vitamin A, more than 6,000 of beta-carotene and 19,00 mcg of lutein and zeaxanthin.
It's a member of the goosefoot family of plants, and a relative of beets. Don't overcook it or you will compromise the nutrients!
Nutritional Information from:
Bowden, Jonny, and Jonny Bowden. The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: the Surprising, Unbiased Truth about What You Should Eat and Why. Gloucester, MA: Fair Winds, 2007. Print.
Nice call with the chard. That's another vegi I can't say I ever tried. Looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteHad the same experience with the sugar in my roasted rutabaga recipe I made last week. It called for 2T and I also think it wasn't necessary.