Swiss Chard Makes Super Soup

Oh goodness, I’m so cheesy. It must be all the Boston humidity seeping into my brain or the fact that I just spent a good 40 hours straight staring at the computer screen in preparation for my final project in my grad school publishing class. (Yes, I’m aware I should un-glue myself from the computer and go outside and play, but really, I wanted to make this post first.) Dear eyeballs, please forgive me.

In the spirit of continuing my experimental cooking with my farm share vegetables I bring you a fabulous Swiss chard soup that I took liberties with and tweaked a bit. My fridge was filled with an abundance of greens so I to searched around for a soup recipe that used Swiss chard. Swiss chard is really quite pretty, look at that beautiful big leaf over there. Unfortunately, I don’t think any food should be named “chard” as it too closely resembles “charred” which is a characteristic no chef wants their food to have. Oh well, name aside, I am a fan of said veggie.

I found recipe on epicurious called “Beans and Swiss Chard,” which sounded fab. Slight problem though: this recipe was vegetarian and my dining partner is a male who demanded meat. So what’s a girl to do? Tweak time. I bought a pound of chicken drumsticks, seasoned then, and then baked them in the oven for 45 minutes. When they cooled I pulled the succulent meat off of the bone and TADA meat for my soup! Bonus: I was able to do this a few hours before actually making the soup and then stick the chicken in the fridge until I was ready for soup prep.

The recipe I found called for 1 cup of beans but a few reviews from people were saying that they wished they had added extra beans so I decided to really beef it up and buy a can of white beans AND a can of chick pea beans so my soup would be extra bean-y. And that’s where my tweaking ends, from then on out I followed the recipe pretty closely but added some extra broth to accommodate my meat and extra beans.

Oh dear, looking back at my pictures I realize that I lied to you earlier – one more final tweak to the original recipe: I added a handful of grape tomatoes to the pot at the same time that I added the pasta.

This recipe was really great and with my addition of shredded chicken bits it was sort of a unique twist on chicken noodle soup. It was also really tasty the next day, though a bit more like a pasta dish since the little shell noodles soaked up the broth. But still quite delish!

Overall score: 7 out of 10.

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Bean and Swiss Chard Soup compliments of Epicurious and with my own tweaks

Ingredients—

• ½ to 1 pound of cooked chicken (my addition) 
• 1/2 pound (225 g) Swiss chard or kale, trimmed (I used that nice red-stemmed chard) 
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt, plus additional to taste 
• 2 flat anchovy fillets 
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves or dried 
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) olive oil 
• 2 medium garlic cloves, smashed and peeled 
• 1 cup (225 g) cooked small white beans or drained and rinsed canned beans (I used two cans of two different beans to add variety) 
• 4 cups (1 liter) chicken stock [or Garlic Broth for a meatless soup] 
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste 
• 1/2 cup (60 g) small shell macaroni 
• handful of grape tomatoes (my addition) 
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Preparation —

• Season and roast ½ to 1 pound of chicken pieces in the oven until they are done (juice runs clear when poked with a fork.) I cooked mine for approximately 45 minutes.
• In a medium saucepan, cook the chard with 1/2 cup (125 ml) water and the salt over medium heat until tender. Drain the chard, reserving any liquid that remains. Coarsely chop the chard.
• Very finely chop anchovies together with the rosemary. 
• In a medium saucepan, stir together the oil and garlic over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the garlic is pale gold, about 10 minutes. Stir in the anchovies and rosemary. Cook, stirring for 1 minute. Discard the garlic. Stir in the chard and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring to thoroughly coat it with the oil. Stir in the beans. Cook for 3 minutes. 
• Stir in the reserved cooking liquid and the stock. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and stir in the macaroni. Boil for 6 minutes, or until the pasta is tender. Adjust the seasoning, if necessary. 
• Pass Parmesan cheese at the table.

Chicken & Apple Pot

Last week was unseasonably cold in Boston –- though the tides have turned and I’m currently writing this from my sweltering 80+ degree apartment. But last week was a different story, I needed a good old warm-me-upper so I decided to make a soup/stew recipe out of my slow cooker cookbook. The choice: Chicken & Apple Pot.

As you may have heard me mention before, I don’t like cooking with chicken, and really I can’t even remember the last time I did cook with chicken. I think I might have been about nine years ago when I made homemade BBQ chicken wings and my kitten jumped on the door of the hot oven. True story. (No kittens were harmed in the cooking of the chicken wings -- he turned out to be fine.)

Anyway, I figured this recipe would be different from other chicken recipes because: a) slow cooking chicken will make it very moist and tender and b.) I don’t have to fear under-cooking as the chicken simmers in the slow cooker for nearly 8 hours. Sudden realization when it comes to chicken: chicken is cheap! I mean, really cheap! I got 5 pretty big drumsticks (the perfect amount for 2 people) at Whole Foods for a whopping $3. I think I may be welcoming chicken back into my kitchen.

This recipe was quite easy to make and tasted very good. The chicken literally fell right off the bone and caramelized apples as a garnish were very delicious. I was told however that next time I might want to think about swapping out some of the apples in favor of some potatoes –- a suggestion that will be duly noted. 

PS: It also went wonderfully with Harpoon Summer Beer –- I’m so glad summer beer is back in season!

Overall score : 7 out of 10

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Recipe (Compliments of Slow Cooking by Linda Doesser)

Ingredients –

1 tbsp olive oil

4 chicken portions, about 6 oz each (I used 5 big drumsticks for 2 people)

1 onion

2 celery stalks

1 ½ tbsp flour

1 ¼ cup apple juice

2/3 cup chicken stock

1 cooking apple cut up

2 bay leaves

1-2 tsp honey

1 yellow pepper, seeded and cut into chunks

Garnish –

1 tbsp butter, melted

1 apple sliced and cored

2 tbsp raw brown sugar

Directions –

1. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet. Add the chicken and cook over medium-high heat, turning frequently for 10 minutes, until golden brown all over. Transfer chicken to a slow cooker.
2. Add the onion and celery to the skillet and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, until softened. Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes, then remove the skillet from the heat. Gradually stir in the apple juice and stock, then return the skillet to the heat, and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the cooking apple, bay leaves, and season with salt and pepper.
3. Pour the mixture over the chicken, cook and cover on low for 6 ½ hours, until the chicken is tender and the juices run clear when the thickest part is pierced with the point of a sharp knife. Stir in the yellow bell pepper, re-cover, and cook on high for 45 minutes.
4. Shortly before you are ready to serve, preheat the broiler. Brush one side of the apple slices with half the melted butter and sprinkle them with sugar. Broil for 2-3 minutes, until the sugar has caramelized. Turn the slices over with tongs, brush with the remaining butter, and sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Broil for a further 2 minutes. Serve the stew garnished with the caramelized apple slices.