A New Cookbook and a New Category of Favorite Recipes

I have decided to add a new category to Recipes I Love.  I am going to add each recipe that I love that has the primary ingredient of produce from our garden…thus Recipes From the Garden.

Today, I am adding the first one, Swiss Chard Tart.  This recipe comes from a cookbook I picked up from Goodwill a few days ago.  The Bearded One loves to look through the books at Goodwill.  He spends a LONG time going through the titles.  While he is doing that I look quickly over the books, particularly the cookbook section, and the rest of the housewares.

My cookbook collection is pretty sizable and I use the internet for lots of recipe research so I am getting pretty picky about new cookbooks.  Then, I saw this one and flipped through the pages.

I had never heard of the author or the TLC cooking show on which the book is based.   The copyright is 1995 so maybe I did not have cable then…

Anyway, I had to stop looking over the book on the trip home because it was making me too hungry.  The Bearded One picked a recipe for me to try the next day and it was great.  (I will blog about it another day.)

Today, I needed a recipe to use Swiss Chard that is growing in the garden.  It wintered over and is happily growing behind the house.  I want to use as much of the produce as it is ready to be harvested as possible this year.

So, I looked through the new cookbook and found the recipe for the Swiss Chard Tart.

Ingredients:

1 recipe basic pie dough (her recipe has white wine in it!)

1 1/2 lbs Swiss chard

salt

1 T unsalted butter

2 T olive oil

1/2 c finely minced yellow onion

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 anchovy filets, chopped

black pepper

1/2 lb ricotta

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 c freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Prepare the pie dough.

Remove the Swiss chard leaves from the stems and reserve the stems for another use.  Wash the leaves thoroughly under cold running water.  Put the leaves in a large pot with 2 cups of water and 1 t salt.  Cook, uncovered, over medium heat until the leaves are tender, 5 to 6 minutes.  Drain chard, squeeze out any excess water, and chop it fine.

Heat the butter and the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook,  stirring, until it is lightly golden and soft, 4 to 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and the anchovies, and stir for about 1 minute.  Add the Swiss chard to the skillet, season lightly with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes.  Transfer chard to a large bowl and cool.

Preheat the oven to 375.

Add ricotta, eggs, and Parmigiano to the cooled chard, and mix until thoroughly combined.  Fill the pastry shell evenly with the filling, and level the top with a spatula.

Bake until the top of the tart is lightly golden and firm to the touch, 15 to 20 minutes.  (It took 25-30 minutes for mine.)  Cool it, then remove tart from the baking pan and place on a large serving dish.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Basic Pie Dough

2 c unbleached flour

5 oz unsalted butter

2 T sugar

1 lg egg, lightly beaten

4-5 T chilled dry white wine (I used vermouth)

In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, mix the flour and the butter until crumbly.  Add the sugar, egg, and wine, and mix into a soft dough.  In the processor, remove the dough when it has loosely gathered around the blade.  Shape the dough into 1 or 2 balls, depending on the recipe, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour or until ready to use.

Related Articles

• Spent on Spinach? Try Swiss Chard! (wholefoodsmarket.com)
• Well: Going Green for Spring With Chard (well.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Simple Sauteed Swiss Chard (tastyeatsathome.wordpress.com)
• Recipes for Health: Stir-Fried Swiss Chard and Red Peppers (nytimes.com)

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