Chard Stems

The other night I was having dinner with fellow CSA member Celia, when she told me something wonderful. She had found, in a cookbook that we both own, dedicated recipes for CHARD STEMS. No joke. I was delighted.

Chard stems have always been a little hard for me. They often don't appear in recipes that call for the leaves, but they are so deliciously edible that I feel tremendous guilt just composting them. The Silver Spoon holds the solution.

I have often found the Silver Spoon to be a challenging book to use. They call it the Italian "Joy of Cooking." But, like JoC, It is too dense to read like a book, and is otherwise too Italian to contain recipes that it would occur to me to look for in an index. So it doesn't often make its way off the shelf. But C pointed out, helpfully, that the whole middle section is organized by vegetable. This little feature makes the book a must-have for committed CSA members.

Here is one of three stem recipes, Celia's favorite:

2 1/4 lb chard stems

4 salted anchovies, heads removed, cleaned and filleted, soaked in cold water for 10 minutes and drained

2 Tbs olive oil

1 garlic clove

1/2 C parmesan freshly grated

salt and pepper

Chop the stems into 2 " pieces and boil for 10 minutes until tender. Drain.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and anchovies and mash until anchovies have almost disintegrated. Add chard, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Finish with salt, pepper and parmesan.