Swiss chard with white beans

 

 

It is often difficult to lay hands on the actual beans called for in a recipe, so I'm trying to remember  to use the phrase 'white beans' in the title, while suggesting what would be ideal, in the text.

This recipe is quick to make and when eaten with bread as intended, would make a substantial starter for four, or a good lunch or light dinner for two. If you use canned beans, which speeds the whole process up substantially, it would also make a good snack with something like large crackers or Melba toast, to give to visitors who have lingered until sundowners.  The combination of bread, beans and Swiss chard make for a pretty well-rounded meal nutritionally.

 

I first made this when I had no appetite and little enthusiasm for cooking, but had a large bunch of chard looking at me.  As it soon yellows, it had be to be eaten up!  I slightly altered the recipe to what is shown below, and ate it on the previous day's naan bread (= ½ cup flour), reheated on the toaster, rather than the recommended sourdough.  It was still was surprisingly good; indeed, I ate more of it than I'd anticipated.  Although the original called for cannelini beans, I can only buy them canned and as I prefer to cook my own legumes, I used haricot beans. However, using canned beans would make this meal almost ‘instant’.

 

Although the stems are a little more sturdy, the leaves of chard tend to disappear like spinach, when heated, so you will want at least six large leaves of chard and possibly more.

 

Serves 4 as a substantial starter or two for lunch or a light dinner.

 

Ingredients

 

1/2 cup haricot beans, soaked and cooked in the usual way.

1 large bunch of chard (any type) 

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

5 large cloves of garlic, sliced

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp sage

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp wine vinegar 

generous grind of pepper

Method

• Cook the beans and set aside.
• Cut off the stems from the chard and chop them into smallish pieces.  Set aside.
• Cut the leaves into strips lengthways and then across into manageable-sized strips - remember you're going to be piling this on bread!
• Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add  the chopped garlic and cook for 2 minutes, making sure it doesn't burn.
• Add the chopped chard stems and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently until they start to soften.  Sprinkle over the salt.
• Add the leaves, toss well and cook until they start to wilt. 
• Season with sage and red pepper flakes.
• Tip in in the cooked, drained beans. Gently mix together and continue to cook for 4-5 minutes, until the beans are hot.
• Add the vinegar.  Mix gently to ensure the flavours are all spread around and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes.  Grind over plenty of black pepper.
• Serve hot over thick slices of sourdough bread, or home-made bread, or even flat bread if that’s all you have. Put it on a big plate as most of the topping will try to fall off! 

It truly tastes much better than you might anticipate from the few ingredients, used.

 

Note:

• I really recommend the vinegar, it adds a je ne sais quoi that you wouldn't get from lemon juice.

Variations:

• If you retain the liquid from the can, or use a little stock to moisten the mix, it would make a more filling meal over polenta, short pasta or mixed in with rice, pilau-style.
• Spinach could be used instead of chard, as could any sort of softer green, such as mustard greens or spring cabbage.
  

Swiss chard with lentils and rice

 

I had bought a big bunch of chard, which doesn’t keep very well, so was looking for another recipe using it. I have, in my collection, a recipe for a baked rice and spinach/chard (with cheese and eggs); I have a recipe for whole lentils and spinach/chard; I have several recipes for lentils and rice, but to my surprise, I realised that I had none that combined all three. I therefore decided to create a recipe which would. My lentils and spinach recipe is vaguely Middle Eastern, so I decided to make this one vaguely Middle Eastern too, but with the spices giving it a ‘lift’ rather than dominating. There is plenty of precedent for this: lentils, in one form or another, and rice are frequently combined from the Eastern Mediterranean’s Mojadarra, through Iran’s Pulao and Egypt’s kushari to India’s (similarly-named) kitchari: I dare say that there are a zillion recipes similar to this, available on the Internet.

This is much simpler than most of those I’ve just mentioned, and I was very pleased with the result – there is just enough seasoning to stop it from being bland, which is what I wanted, this day. It’s also quick and easy to make. When one buys Swiss chard, it tends to come in fairly large quantities and while the green part disappears in much the same way as spinach does once you cook it, the stalks are more noticeable. I like the stalks and don’t always want to put them aside for another meal: this recipe combines both parts of the chard very acceptably. However, the combination of dark lentils (I used green), brown rice and dark green chard don’t make for a visually very exciting meal!

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 medium onion, sliced

olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

2 or 3 large cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp harissa powder

1 tsp za’atar

1/2 cup whole green lentils

1/2 cup brown basmati rice

Swiss chard – about 5 or 6 large leaves.

black pepper

Method:

• Slice the onions as you prefer – I did them fore and aft rather that in half moons – and add them to the pressure cooker, together with a generous amount of olive oil. Sprinkle over the salt and fry until they are softened, as brown as you wish.
• Add the chopped garlic, cumin, harissa powder and za’atar and mix well. Fry for a minute or two until the spices are fragrant.
• Now add the lentils and rice and mix until they are coated with the spice mixture. Add a cup of water, put the lid on the pressure cooker and bring up to pressure. Cook for 7 mins.
• While this is happening, trim the base of the chard stalks and then cut them away from the leaves. Chop the stalks into 1cm/1/2 in pieces and set aside. Put the leaves in a stack and slice them four or five times lengthwise. Then cut these across into narrow strips.
• Let the pressure reduce at room temperature. Open the lid and stir the contents. If the mixture looks too dry, add a couple of tablespoons of water. Then put all the chard into the pressure cooker, on top of the rice-lentil mix. Bring up to pressure for 1 min and let the pressure come down naturally.
• Season with generous amounts of black pepper and serve hot.

Notes:

• If you don’t have green/Puy lentils, then use beluga or small brown lentils. The big, flat brown lentils won’t give as pleasant a result and split lentils will end up a mush. Mung beans could be used at a pinch.
• If you don't have za'atar, use dried thyme instead.
• If you have no harissa, use some form of chill.

Variation:

• Add red chilli flakes or a chopped red chilli for a hotter dish.
• Some chopped carrots would go very well in this recipe and make it a little more colourful, too.

 

You will find many more rice recipes here

Spicy peanut dip

Blender alert!!

I discovered something similar to this on the Minimalist Baker blog, when I was looking for a 'store-cupboard' ingredients, quick and easy recipe.  The blog suggested a 5-minute, vegan queso. Not having had a lot to do with Mexican food, I thought they were suggesting some sort of quick, vegan cheese; however, it turns out that ‛queso’ is short for ‛chilli con queso’ and is a runny, spicy, cheesy sauce, which is served warm, with tortilla chips. It sounded a bit like fondue! I didn’t want anything that liquid, or anything warm, but the seasonings looked interesting and I was short of time. So I took the recipe and adapted it to end up with a spicy, thick dip, ideal for spreading on crackers.  Indeed, it was quick to make and has proven popular; nor does it taste of peanuts!

 

Assuming conditions aren't too rough to use a blender, this is a great voyaging dip, because everything will be in your lockers.  At the other end of the scale, it's ideal for taking to another boat for sundowners.

Serves 2 to 4 as a dip

Ingredients

1/2 cup hot water

1/2 cup blanched peanuts

1 clove garlic, chopped OR 1/4 tsp garlic granules

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder OR 1/4 tsp cayenne

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

2 tsp harissa

Instructions

• Add water, peanuts, garlic, yeast, cumin, chilli, salt, paprika and harissa to a blender, and blend until creamy. You may need to add a little more water, depending on the required consistency.  
• Taste and adjust flavour as needed, adding more nutritional yeast for cheesiness, salt to taste, cumin or paprika for smokiness, chilli powder or harissa for heat, or garlic for zing. It should have plenty of personality, so don’t be shy. If you don't have any harissa, use extra chilli, cumin and paprika. 
• Serve with crisps, crackers or bread. Garnish with additional harissa and olive oil, if you like
  

Note:

• If you're not in too much of a hurry, you might like to soak the peanuts for a while, to make them easier to blend into a smooth paste.

Annie's Mushroom 'stock' powder

 

Blender alert!! 

Personally, I don't think home-made soups need anything added by way of stock: the intrinsic ingredients have enough flavour in themselves.  However, sometimes I feel a recipe needs a touch of je ne sais quoi, and I reckon this mushroom 'stock powder' fits the bill.  Unlike commercial stock powders, not only does it contain no artificial ingredients, it doesn't even have any salt.  All that it is is ground up, dried mushrooms such as the Chinese ones which are available in most supermarkets.

Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients

1 pack dried mushrooms 

Method:

• Remove the mushrooms from the package and shake the residue into a blender cup.
• Break or cut the larger pieces of mushrooms down to around 2 cm/1 in, so that the blender can more readily cope with them.
  
• Add all the mushrooms into the cup and grind them until they are a coarse powder.
• Put into a clean jar and keep in a dark place.

Notes:

• I always use 'white' mushrooms for this 'stock powder', rather than a pack of mixed mushrooms.  That way they don't darken the sauce, soup, or whatever you're adding them to.

Variations:

• To make this more like a stock powder, add a couple of teaspoons of salt 
• Add mixed herbs: you might find a couple of teaspoons of my blend suits.  The drawback of this is that you will have flecks of colour in your food and you might prefer to have a white sauce.  The herbs may not suit your recipe, either.

  

 

 

Mushroom and barley soup

 

For the past several weeks I have had no appetite to speak of.  This isn't a good thing for a food blogger, but it is a miserable state of affairs for someone who usually wakes up in the morning, anticipating eating a very hearty breakfast and already wondering what to cook for dinner.  Admittedly I have lost quite a bit of weight, but I am one of those rare and lucky people who actually quite likes my body the size and the shape it is.  (At my age, this is a sane and sensible place to be!)  Apart from fruit and yogurt, at the moment the thought of any Indian food, which I usually eat several times a week, appalls me; the idea of pasta makes me feel squeamish and the only things which seem slightly appealing are bread and potatoes, preferably fried.  Sometimes I can face a few florets of broccoli, but an aubergine I bought nearly a month ago - one of my absolute favourite foods - will probably have to be thrown out.  If you knew my views about throwing food out, you would realise how bad I am.

However, a couple of weeks ago, I reckoned I could probably fancy some soup.  To be appealing it had to be thick, not to have too many ingredients, be very lightly flavoured and not too colourful.  I tried a simple lentil soup and that was a success.  I ate a whole bowl of it without any problem, which felt like quite an achievement.  None of my other recipes seemed at all tempting, so I decided to try and make something which would fit the bill, and this is the result.  The barley I buy here in New Zealand is hulled, but not 'pearl and is perfect comfort food.  I actually found the soup really enjoyable and again ate a whole bowl without difficulty.  It's obviously the perfect soup for an 'invalid'!!

Serves 2

Ingredients

1/4 cup gram flour

2 cups water

5 mushrooms, diced

1/2 cup barley 

1 tsp dried onion powder

1/4 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp za'atar or 1/4 tsp thyme

1 tsp Annie's mushroom stock powder

salt and pepper 

•  Put the gram flour into your pressure cooker and add about 1/4 cup of water.  Mix very, very thoroughly to remove all the lumps, adding more water as you go.  Gram flour doesn't tend to form lumps while it's heating in the way the wheat and cornflour do, but any lumps remaining in the original mixture are hard to get rid of.
• Now add the mushrooms, barley, dried onion powder ground coriander, za'atar/thyme, salt and pepper.  Add the stock powder, too, if you have any.
• Bring to the boil stirring pretty often to make sure the flour paste doesn't stick to the pan - it will thicken as you go.  The 2 cups of water should be enough for the gram flour and the barley.
• Put on the lid, bring up to pressure and cook for 10 minutes, to thoroughly soften the barley.
• Let the pressure reduce at room temperature, remove the lid and stir the soup.  If it seems too thick, add more water - I wanted a very thick soup.
•  Serve as is, or with bread.

Notes: 

• use diced onion, if you prefer: I couldn't face it!