We had a looong winter this year, and for a while it seemed that Spring has decided not to pay us a visit this year. It did, if a bit late. And then, suddenly, the summer arrived. Surprisingly, my vegetable garden seems to like this long winter/late spring/sudden summer a lot. My salad leaves and leafy greens (kale, Swiss chard/mangold, sprouting broccoli) are really thriving, the radishes gave us a bumper crop. The tomatoes, beets, carrots - you name it - all seem to be having a great time! And we'll surely be eating lots of Swiss chard this summer!
Here's my latest Swiss chard crop:
My first mangold dish of the season? This Swiss chard, ricotta and tomato bake, of course. However, then I was a bit lost again, as I couldn't decide which one to pick from those 20 recipes on my Estonian site. I turned my (well, Nami-Nami's) Facebook fans (all 17 000 + of them!) for their favourite Swiss chard/mangold recipes, and one of them, Nelli, recommended this salad recipe on Shelly's QuickQuickYumYum blog.
Thank you, Nelli - and Shelly!
Warm mangold salad
(Soe lehtpeedisalat)
Serves 4 as a side dish
a large bunch of Swiss chard/mangold
Dressing:
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp sweet paprika powder
1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and slightly crushed
salt
half a lemon, juiced
Rinse the mangold leaves, leave to soak in cold water for 5-10 minutes. Drain and cut into strips about 1 cm wide (just under half an inch).
Heat a large wok or frying pan, add the mangold, a few spoonfuls of water and heat for 5 minutes. Stir every now and then.
Mix the dressing ingredients (except lemon juice). Pour over the mangold leaves and continue sautéing for another 5-7 minutes, until chard is soft. Remove from the heat, drizzle with lemon juice, taste for seasoning (add more salt, if necessary).
Serve hot or cold.
More Swiss chard recipes:
Dalmatian chard with garlic and olive oil @ Maninas: Food Matters
Kartul lehtmangoldiga @ Elust siin ja seal (recipe in Estonian)
Hautatud lehtpeet @ Pisike ja Pisut Segi (recipe in Estonian)
Swiss chard recipes @ Simply Recipes
Swiss chard recipes @ Kalyn's Kitchen