Ways with Chard

The chard I planted earlier in the spring is already producing, so I've made a couple of dishes that benefit from chard's wonderful green, slightly bitter taste. Both use a variety of other veggies, too.

The soup has an Asian flair to it with the use of green onions, soy sauce, ginger and toasted sesame oil. I bought ready-made soba noodles and a slice of already roasted turkey to speed up the preparations. This soup is so colorful and perfect for spring when the evenings are still sometimes chilly.

The quiche is a variation of a crust less one I did about a year ago. It's not much to look at but Sweetie, my meat and potatoes guy, took two helpings.The first little summer squash of the season went into the soup but by the time I was making the veggie pie I had both dark green and yellow zucchini, so they both went into the mix along with the chard, red pepper, garlic, yellow onion, white corn, and mushrooms. Seasonings here included thyme, nutmeg (because it goes so well with mushrooms), dried orange peel to brighten the flavors a bit, and paprika. With and egg-rich custard batter and Parmesan cheese on top it's hard to beat this quiche for a meat-less meal. Guess I'll need to keep going to Cool Fitness to work off some of the calories. I've just reached my one year anniversary of going there and am really glad that I finally have an exercise plan I can live with and, mostly, enjoy.

The garden continues to delight me. I have three colors of California poppies blooming, yellow and white marguerites, blue love-in-a-mist (nigella) in three shades, some sweet wild flowers that I don't know the name of, roses and more roses, johnny-jump-ups, lavendar and geraniums. The veggie plants and herbs are thriving, too. Gardens take some time, but I think it's well worth the trouble and work. When I have fresh from the garden tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, squash and more later in the year I'll have forgotten all the work it took to make it happen. For now, more chard is coming.

Asian Soup with Soba Noodles and Chard
1 tablespoon olive or grapeseed oil
1 green onion, thinly sliced, both white and green parts
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup diced red pepper
1/3 cup chopped mushrooms
1 small zucchini, sliced or julienned
1 speak asparagus, washed and cut on diagonal
1 cup fresh chard, washed and sliced in strips about 1/2 inch wide
1 can chicken broth (1 3/4 cups) or same amount of fresh chicken stock
(to make this vegetarian or vegan, use veggie stock and leave out the turkey)
1/2 cup water
6 oz. soba noodles
3 oz. roasted turkey, thinly sliced into julienne
1/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon finely chopped cilantro

In a large saucepan, heat the oil and sautee' the green onions for 3 minutes, then add the garlic, red pepper and mushrooms and sautee', stirring often, for 2 minutes. Add the zucchini and cook another 2 minutes, add the asparagus and chard and stir to combine it with the other veggies and to wilt it, about 2 minutes.

Add the chicken broth, water, noodles, turkey, ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil to the pot, stir and heat through. Ladle into bowls to serve and garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve at once. Serves 2-3.

Chard Veggie Quiche

1 recipe pie crust for one crust - I use Pillsbury ReadyCrust
1 tablespoon olive or grapeseed oil
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (a mix of colors if possible)
1 bunch fresh chard, washed and tough stems removed, then sliced into 1/2 inch slices
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme OR 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced
1 cup cooked AND COOLED brown rice (you can use cooked white but you lose that wonderful nutty flavor) - I used brown basmati rice
1 3/4 cups milk
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup sour cream or yogurt
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Line a 10 inch pie plate with the pie pastry, rolled so that there is some overlapping the sides of the pan. Fold under the edges and crimp. Set aside.

In a skillet, over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil, then add the chopped onions and bell peppers and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often, to lightly brown the vegetables. Turn down the heat if they start to blacken. To the browned onions and peppers, add the chard and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until the mixture is heated through. Stir in the corn, nutmeg and thyme. Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix together the cooled rice and the cooled veggie mixture. Spread in the prepared pie plate. Set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together the milk, eggs, sour cream or yogurt, salt and pepper to taste. Pour this milk mixture over the veggie-rice mixture in the pie plate. Sprinkle paprika and Parmesan cheese over the top.

When oven is at 350 degrees F, bake the pie for about 35 - 45 minutes, or until top is lightly browned and the middle is almost set. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes on a cooling rack. Serve warm or cooled. Serves 8-10.

Daring Cooks Make Potstickers and Dumplings

For the second installment of the new Daring Cooks,

Jen of Use Real Butter gave us a wonderful challenge: make the dough for Chinese pot stickers and similar dumplings and then fill them with wonderful fillings.

She started us off with a Shrimp filling and a Pork filling, plus the recipe and instructions for making the dough to wrap the filling in. She even included a link to a demo of how to shape them, including those darling pleats. You can see the family recipe here.

One of the advantages of leaving the challenge to the posting day is that I was able to read tips from DCs who had already worked out some of the challenges. One had to do with dry dough. Jen's best tip was to weigh the flour because dry flour can vary in weight depending on how you scoop it into a measuring cup as well as, a little, on how damp a day it is. I weighed out a pound of all purpose flour and used just under 2/3 cup of warm water to make the dough. It was smooth and easy to work with a only a tiny bit sticky.

Filling these little packets was fun if time consuming.

For the filling I decided to go with the pork mixture, adapted slightly. I'll give the recipe below for filling and soup. Instead of boiling the finished packets in water and then using them for soup for tonight's dinner, I boiled them directly in the Asian flavored soup broth. Once the dumplings were cooked, I removed them to bowls and added julienned baby spinach, stirring it just for a minute until bright green. The broth with spinach was ladled over the dumplings and a few uncooked green onion slices scattered on top.

It made a wonderful soup...very light but satisfying. The dumplings were flavorful and fresh tasting and so delightfully delicate. Once they were cooked I didn't really see the pleats that you can see when they are uncooked.

This will be a recipe I'll cook again. Thank you Jen for a fantastic challenge! You also did an amazing job of answering questions, encouraging the cooks and making it all lots of fun. Go Daring Cooks!

Chinese Dumplings
Elle's variation

Shrimp filling:

1/4 pound cooked cleaned shrimp, coarsely chopped
1/8 pound ground pork
1/2 cup green onions, finely chopped
1/4 cup shitake mushrooms, finely chopped
1/4 cup thinly sliced Swiss chard
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
1/4 cup water chestnuts, minced
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon corn starch

Mix all ingredients together until completely mixed. Cover with plastic wrap and keep cool while making and rolling the dough rounds.

Dough:
1 pound all-purpose flour
2/3 cup warm water (approximately)
flour for work surface

In a large bowl mix the flour with 1/4 cup of the water and stir until water is absorbed. Continue adding water one tablespoon at a time, mixing thoroughly until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. We want a firm dough that is barely sticky to the touch. Knead the dough about twenty times, then cover with a damp towel for 15 minutes.

Take the dough and form a flattened dome. Cut into strip about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Shape strips into rounded long ropes. On a floured surface, cut the ropes into 3/4 inch pieces. Press palm down on each piece to form a flat circle.

With a rolling pin, roll out a circular wrapper from each flat disc about 1/16th of an inch thick. Leave the centers slightly thicker than the edges. Pleat along an edge about 1/2 way around the edge, creating a sort of cup. Place the cup in the palm of your hand and place the filling in it. Bring the unfilled and unpleated side up and seal the edges.

Keep all unused dough under a damp cloth.

The Broth:

5 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger (or more to taste)
1/2 cup sliced green onions, tops included
1/2 cup thinly sliced spinach leaves

Bring the broth, soy sauce, ginger and onions to a boil. Drop in the dumplings and cook until the dumplings pop to the surface. Remove cooked dumplings to soup bowls. You may want to cook the dumplings in batches.

Once all of the dumplings are cooked, add the spinach and stir once. Let spinach cook just until bright green, about a minute.

Ladle broth and spinach over the dumplings. If desired, garnish with a few uncooked green onion slices. Serve.

Serves about 4 people