I thought this Sautéed Swiss Chard with Garlic recipe might be the one to get our son eating greens. He loves pork and salmon prepared with the same basic sauce, with garlic and soy sauce as the main ingredients. When I first developed this recipe, we were getting lots of greens every week from our CSA program, so I was eager to get him eating these healthy vegetables.
The six year old boy turned his nose up at this sautéed Swiss chard recipe, but at least I had a good recipe for us grownups to enjoy the greens.
Now, fast forward four years later. Our busy baseball schedule doesn’t leave time to process the big weekly inflow of vegetables from a CSA, but we still like to eat lots of greens. May our ten year old’s taste evolved enough to enjoy these greens?
Not so fast. OK, our guy did probably eat a bit more of the sautéed Swiss chard this time, but he wasn’t thrilled about it to say the least. The good news is he has expanded his palate for vegetables over the past four years. He loves steamed broccoli, and will actually eat a good portion of raw kale when it’s a greens night. Still doesn’t go for the cooked greens too much. Oh well…anyone else out here have more luck getting their kids eating greens?
Whether or not kids love it, this Sautéed Swiss Chard with Garlic makes a nice easy side dish. Rinse the chard, then set it up on a cutting board to chop. Slice out the thickets of the chard stems, but you can just chop up the small to medium sized stems. For instance, I would use all of the stem on the lower of the chard leaves shown below. You can see a thicker stem on toward the top left that I would remove.
I like to serve the Sautéed Swiss Chard with Garlic along with grilled chicken and a grain like couscous or quinoa. Want another way to try this green? Try Lidia’s Swiss Chard Potatoes!
- big bunch chard, rinsed, thick stems removed, leaves coarsely chopped
- ½ red or orange bell pepper, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp white wine
- 1 tsp honey
- ½ tsp brown rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp cilantro
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Prepare the chard, then set aside in a large bowl.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or walk, on medium high. Add the bell pepper, sauté for a about 3 minutes.
- Add the garlic, sauté for another minute minute.
- Gradually add the chard in bunches, stirring to combine with the olive oil and expose to the heat. You can really pile it into the pan, it will cook down pretty quickly.
- Once you’ve got all the chard in the pan, stir in the soy sauce mixture and cilantro. Reduce heat to medium, stir occasionally, and cook for about 5 more minutes until the greens are tender. Serve the chard immediately, or cover and remove from heat to keep warm while finishing other dishes.
One thing that is fun about updating some of our old recipes is seeing how our food photography has evolved. We had just one image in the original post. Here it is:
Some red swiss chard, chopped up in a bowl, ready to cook, shot with the camera on the phone I had at the time. Now, we shoot our sautéed chard with our “real” camera, a Canon Rebel EOS T5 Digital SLR Camera. (Our Amazon affiliate link provided here, which means I would earn a commission if you make a purchase using the link).
Here’s the sautéed swiss chard, served up the when we remade it the other day.
If you’re interested in improving your food photos, definitely consider grabbing a copy of Tasty Food Photography, written by Lindsay from Pinch of Yum. It’s a great resource! (again, supply my affiliate link for this book. I only recommend products I use and enjoy, and this book definitely qualifies!)
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