Summer Fresh Swiss Chard

Swiss Chard is a member of the beet family and has quite a strong flavour. It’s also super easy to grow and packed with vitamins. Just one cup of chard has 477% of your daily vitamin K, 60% of your vitamin A, 36% magnesium, 35% vitamin C, 22% of your iron and vitamin E and even 8% of your calcium. We always put some chard in the garden and now in early July it’s ready. There are lots of Swiss Chard recipes out there but we prefer this simple summer fresh Swiss Chard side dish. It’s so quick and easy to make and it goes well with pretty much anything, but in particular pasta. If you haven’t tried Swiss Chard before, grab a bunch from your local store and you’ll want to plant your own next spring.

Summer Fresh Swiss Chard

Course: SidesCuisine: vegan, vegetarianDifficulty: easy

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

25

minutes

Total time

35

minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup of walnuts, roughly chopped

• 1 Tbsp of maple syrup

• 1 Tbsp of olive oil

• 1 sweet onion, diced

• 4 garlic cloves, minced

• 3 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar

• 2 bunches Swiss chard, coarsely chopped (about 16 cups)

• Juice of 1/2 a lemon

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

• Heat a small frying pan over low/medium heat. When it is hot add the chopped walnuts and dry fry for about 2 minutes.
• Stir in the maple syrup, coating the walnuts and continue to cook for another 4 minutes, stirring continually. Don’t let them burn! Remove from heat and let cool.
• Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.
• Add the onion and cook until translucent.
• Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
• Add the chard to the pot along with the lemon juice.
• Continue to cook until the chard starts to wilt and then add the balsamic, salt and pepper.
• When the chard is completely wilted (about 5 minutes) stir in the walnuts and serve warm.

Notes

• If you’re vegetarian you can add a little feta to this dish. Vegan feta is also good.