Egg Custard Pies & Quiche Recipes

[freemotion]

A favorite green....it is mild tender and yummy with butter. You can cook the thick stems separately as another veggie, also with butter, reminds me a little of mild celery. The stems were a favorite of mine as a kid. We always planted lots of chard because it is prolific and we all liked it. You can cut it and it keeps on growing until frost....here, anyways.

We learned about having the stems separately when one of our dairy goats escaped and ate all the leaves off the chard before mom could get her back into her pen, leaving a row of stems. We had chard stems for the first time that night. It became a regular after that, but we got to eat the leaves, too!

 

[freemotion]

Just realized that I'd missed WHY the question was asked about Swiss Chard.....scrolled back, and OOOO BABY! What a great few recipes I'd somehow missed!!!!! Rhubarb custard pie and that swiss chard by and the NO-ROLL CRUST!!!!! is getting copy/pasted to my files, printed and hung on the fridge, right now!!!

 

[reinbeau]

I cut my swiss chard, stem and all, bring it in and wash it off. I cut the stems into 2" pieces and put them in the bottom of the pan, then the leaves get chopped and laid on top of them. Just a little bit of water, bring it to the boil, steam for four minutes or so, the leaves steam and the stems soften in the water. Drain and serve with a little butter. Fantastic stuff!

Swiss Chard tastes a bit like beets (a close relative) but not as earthy.

 

[freemotion]

Whoa, nooooo.......I hates beets, but I loves chard!

 

[reinbeau]

Mmmmm, eat beets and then drink milk.....mmmmmmm

 

[me&thegals]

Sorry--I missed the questions on the quiche recipe I posted. Okay--Swiss chard is a wonderful garden green from the beet family. I adore it because it grows like crazy, has almost no pests and is available from about May until the first really hard freeze. You harvest it like rhubarb, or you can cut it all off and watch it regrow from the middle.

I love Bright Lights Swiss chard, an heirloom variety with hot pink stems, bright yellow, white, dark red, orange and peach stems. What beauty!

I use all the chard. For the quiche, I put a squirt of olive oil in the pan, some form of garlic (scapes, green garlic or bulb), 1 onion chopped and all the stems from the chard. Then, after they've sauteed a couple minutes, I chop up all the greens and dump them in, sauteeing until slightly wilted.

Reinbeau--one bunch to me is as many stems as I can fit in 1 hand. I've made this quiche where you could barely see the eggs for the greens and with fewer greens. It's really a matter of taste (and how much chard you have to use up!)

Chard is stronger flavored than spinach, not as strong as kale. This quiche is a PERFECT place to use up any combination of cooking greens--choy, chard, spinach, kale, mustard...

I personally use canola or olive oil for the crust. Per the current thread , I imagine everyone has their personal favorite. The beauty of the crust is that it all happens in the pan and works perfectly with whole-grain flour.

I've posted this recipe on the 3 forums so often that it is starting to get embarrassing, so--if any response--I was expecting more along the lines of "Yeah, yeah already!!!"

Enjoy! It's a great way to get a mountain of greens into your family's bodies

PS--chard tastes like beet greens, not the roots