My New Favorite Green

So as I was at my sister's place in Ottawa, when I had swiss chard for the first time. I LOVED it, and I have never really loved any green.  I picked the whole plant out of the ground, washed it well, and just did a simple sautee with olive oil, salt and lemon. yumalicious. who would have thought that a green could melt in your mouth the way swiss chard does?  So then I got inspired - what other ways can I take advantage of it? 

Swiss chard goes really well with pasta, in particular I like it with rigatoni, a wide, tubular pasta because it seems to 'stick' on rigatoni really well.  You have to keep swiss chard recipes simple, otherwise you will overpower its flavor, and you also do not want to overcook it, as it will kill its texture as well.  

Swiss Chard Pasta

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, sliced

2 tsp salt

2 tsp italian seasoning, or 1tsp dried basil and 1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried chili flakes

3 cloves of garlic, pressed or chopped finely

1 bell pepper, in thin slices

1/2 bunch of swiss chard, roughly chopped leaves and diced stalks

1/2 lime, juiced squeezed out of it

shavings of parmesan for garnish

2 cups of rigatoni, cooked to your liking

Directions: 

1. add oil to a warm pot, and add onions and salt

2. over medium heat, mix around onion until they are almost soft (5-6 minutes)

3. add garlic, bell pepper, swiss chard stalks and spices. Cook for another 4-5 minutes

4. add the swiss chard leaves and cook for another 2-3 minutes

5. test for salt content to your liking

6. in a bowl, first add a few scoops of pasta, then generously top with the swiss chard sautee, then lime juice, then top with parmesan and enjoy!