You all seem to be such proficient chefs. Well here is a place to share some of that cooking knowledge. Or do you have a cooking problem? Ask away. Jams and chutneys go here too.
Help!
I think my red stemmed chard is ready to harvest from my allotment.
As I got the plants from a neighbour I have no idea what to do with it . I have scoured the internet, but have not been able to find too much about it.
From what I managed to piece together from my allotment veg bible, you can eat it like lettuce leaves and like spinach with pasta dishes. What do you do with yours?
This is one of those vegetables that I'm not sure is worth the trouble although I'm sure someone will jump in and say they just adore Swiss Chard.
Whenever I've grown it we just use the stems to bulk up a stir fry, stew, curry or just about anything that needs a fairly bland filler. I must admit it does look pretty in a stir fry, especially when you have red, yellow and white together.
You can of course eat the stems as a stand alone vegetable which tastes vaguely beetrootish.
Never tried the top as a spinach substitute though.
Tony
Disclaimer: I almost certainly haven't a clue what I'm talking about.
I'm inclined to agree that it isn't the most flavoursome of vegetables. However, it looks fantastic, which counts for a lot! When young, you can pick and eat as part of a salad. When the leaves get bigger and tougher, you can boil or steam them (I normally shred them first).
When I grew it, two or three years ago, my favourite use was chopping the stems into a number of sticks and then dipping in a tempura batter and frying. I had the "bright lights" variety, which produces various colours, so it creates a very visually pleasing effect.
I like chard as it stands all winter, doesn't get much wrong with it, easy to grow and yes, use it like spinnach. We either saute the chopped stems and serve as a seperate veg or give them a head start maybe with a little garlic depending what it's to go with, adding the leaves when they're nearly done. Must admit though that if I'm substituting chard for spinnach in canneloni, I dont bother with the stalks!
Terri x
“I'd rather be a little weird than all boring.”
― Rebecca McKinsey
Just like the others, add to salads when the leaves are small, wilt, saute, steam when they're bigger. The plant looks great and can stand all winter giving you a harvest when there is not a lot else going on.
I love rainbow chard for all its wonderful colours that can real add to a meal. It goes into everything, even lasagnes and what not but I particularly love it as a lightly blanched and salted side dish. Yumyum
I also use it as a bulker for pesto, it isn't as tasty as other pestos but add a handful of fresh basil and extra garlic and it tastes lovely!
We have a recipe which we call, perhaps unfairly, 'Inedible green'. It's not that the final *dish* is inedible, just that it's the only recipe that we've found which will render any random bit of green (eg chard, kale) completely delicious. With chard we usually shred the leaves, and chop the stems into 1" pieces.
It's basically a side dish, where the green (of whatever variety) is stir-fried with garlic, ginger, chilli, fennel seeds (v important, those). And at the end, add a splash of tamari. Adjust the quantities to your own taste, but we usually use 2 cloves garlic and 1" of ginger (both grated), plus 2 red chillies, and about 1 heaped tsp of fennel seeds.
It's wonderful, and I can't get enough of it, whatever we make it from!
Enjoy...
(PS. This recipe is adapted from one by Jane Sen, in her More Healing Foods cookbook. Definitely recommended...)
Thank you for all your replies. Chard food festival here I come!
Even though it is raining here I'm off to get some of my chard for a lovely salad for lunch.
We eat chard most days along with perpetual spinach! Like others we have it in salads & stir fries or as a side veg we like it sauteed with garlic, rosemary & black pepper with leeks or cabbage or peas.
Also I put big stems/ older leaves into cauliflower cheese.
May not be the most exciting veg but certainly goes on and on producing for very little effort so gets my thumbs up!
. I have scoured the internet, but have not been able to find too much about it. 
Read my 
Sue
