chard with pine nuts and tahini sauce
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Last year, I had the chance to travel to Israel. The eating was awesome and for everyone who has asked, I was perfectly safe there.
To help me remember the trip, my boss gave me a cookbook, Jerusalem by Ottolenghi and Samimi, that captures the complexity of the region--different cultures and flavors mixing together. This recipe includes is a great technique for how to use the stalks of chard. Most recipes only use the leaves, which always made me feel guilty about wasting what looked like a perfectly useful stalk. (I feel the same way about broccoli trunks!) The original recipe makes A LOT of tahini sauce, so I adjusted to a single-family-sized serving. It does leave 3/4 of a lemon, which is not ideal, but I used the rest of the lemon to make lemony water, for tea or for the next meal. Lastly, I made the whole thing in one pot. Fewer dishes make everyone happy. |
A bunch of chard
3 cloves of garlic, very thinly sliced 1/4 or so white wine Olive oil A handful of pine nuts A little butter |
Tahini Sauce
2T tahini, purchased at Safeway or at most European or Jewish grocers 3T plain Greek yogurt Juice of 1/4 of a lemon 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 1T water, if necessary |
Mix all ingredients for the tahini sauce and let it sit while you prepare the rest.
Separate the stalks from the leafy parts of the chard. Cut the stalks into small-bite-sized pieces. Chop the leaves similarly, and keep the stalks and leaves separate. Fill a large pot (but not as large as a pasta pot) with water and add a bit of salt. Bring to a boil.
Drop the stalks in first and let them sit for a couple of minutes. Drop the rest of the chard in and par-boil, just enough for the leaves to wilt and change color. Drain under cold water and squeeze out.
Dump out the boiled chart water (the pot will still be hot). Put the pot back on the stove over medium heat and add a bit of butter. It will melt very quickly. Toss in the pine nuts and saute until golden brown. Take them out and set aside.
Drizzle in a bit of olive oil and then toss in the garlic slices. Saute til just about turning color. DO NOT LET THE GARLIC BURN. Pour in the wine. It will make a huge noise, but will NOT catch on fire. Reduce the liquid down until the alcohol has cooked off--should reduce by at least a quarter. Toss the chard in and stir to coat in the garlic/wine/olive oil/butter awesome-sauce. All you are doing at this point is making sure everything is heated through.
Put the chard onto a serving plate, sprinkle with the pine nuts, and drizzle with tahini sauce.
NOTE:
If you are making enough of this to have leftovers, keep the pine nuts and tahini sauce separate, letting people add pine nuts and sauce on their individual plates. This way, the leftover pine nuts don't get mushy and the chard/tahini sauce don't get gross as leftovers.
Separate the stalks from the leafy parts of the chard. Cut the stalks into small-bite-sized pieces. Chop the leaves similarly, and keep the stalks and leaves separate. Fill a large pot (but not as large as a pasta pot) with water and add a bit of salt. Bring to a boil.
Drop the stalks in first and let them sit for a couple of minutes. Drop the rest of the chard in and par-boil, just enough for the leaves to wilt and change color. Drain under cold water and squeeze out.
Dump out the boiled chart water (the pot will still be hot). Put the pot back on the stove over medium heat and add a bit of butter. It will melt very quickly. Toss in the pine nuts and saute until golden brown. Take them out and set aside.
Drizzle in a bit of olive oil and then toss in the garlic slices. Saute til just about turning color. DO NOT LET THE GARLIC BURN. Pour in the wine. It will make a huge noise, but will NOT catch on fire. Reduce the liquid down until the alcohol has cooked off--should reduce by at least a quarter. Toss the chard in and stir to coat in the garlic/wine/olive oil/butter awesome-sauce. All you are doing at this point is making sure everything is heated through.
Put the chard onto a serving plate, sprinkle with the pine nuts, and drizzle with tahini sauce.
NOTE:
If you are making enough of this to have leftovers, keep the pine nuts and tahini sauce separate, letting people add pine nuts and sauce on their individual plates. This way, the leftover pine nuts don't get mushy and the chard/tahini sauce don't get gross as leftovers.