How To Make Chard Delicious

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How To Make Chard Delicious

Sometimes a vegetable is so pretty, it deserves to be eaten.

My strategy for making chard delicious is really a strategy for making any vegetable delicious: you make it savory or sweet and add butter. If I find a vegetable to truly unpalatable, it usually requires making it a combination of both. So, I adapted this recipe from the former Gourmet Magazine—may it rest in peace—a bit to make it all work.

Follow the recipe as is for the first bit. After you sauté the onions and garlic, and as you add the chopped chard stems, salt and pepper add:

1 half-cup of dried sour cherries (about 1/4 pint), halved
2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2.5 tablespoons of real maple syrup*

*You can omit the syrup if you want. We prefer it with it.

Then add the chard leaves as directed after 10 minutes and cook as directed. You’ll find the addition of the sweeter elements makes for a much more pleasurable eating experience than without. If you don’t have sour cherries, you could substitute raisins, dried cranberries, whatever you have handy. I think the sour cherry works the best and adds a bit of tartness which is good. Also, I’ve found that red stemmed chard looks nicer after the addition of the balsamic than white or yellow. I also prefer to chop the stems into shorter pieces or a half-inch or less. It’s less of a mouthful to chew and ensures that all the stem pieces will be tender and not stringy.