If you love a kale salad, you will love this Swiss chard salad. When dressed with a light, lemony dressing and tossed with garlicky bread crumbs and parmesan, Swiss chard’s leaves become soft and buttery. A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes offers a welcomed kick, too. As soon as the Swiss chard begins arriving in our CSA and popping up in the garden, this becomes our go-to salad — it’s irresistible!
My introduction to kale salads came by way of a restaurant, True Food Kitchen, that my aunt and I frequented for lunch in the summer of 2010.
At TFK, they marinated the kale in lemon and olive oil, then tossed it with bread crumbs and parmesan. Back then, eating kale raw (for many of us) was revolutionary, but it quickly became an obsession.
In the years that followed, I ate and prepared many raw kale salads, but it never occurred to me until many years after that TFK lunch, to try treating Swiss chard in the same manner. I had relegated chard to the vegetables-that-require-cooking family, which is a seriously misguided placement.
Chard, like kale, loves a lemon dressing, and when tossed with bread crumbs and parmesan, its leaves relax, more so than kale in fact, and any bitterness disappears. Last week, when I asked Google if chard could be eaten raw, it pointed me to a salad on Food52, which I made immediately, and then again and then again.
The dressing is simple — the juice of one lemon plus a quarter cup of olive oil — and the bread crumbs, seasoned with garlic and pepper flakes, are irresistible.
If you’ve yet to give Swiss chard the kale salad treatment, now’s the time! Light, lemony, and refreshing — Swiss chard will never taste so summery.
PS: All-Purpose Lemon Vinaigrette
Raw Swiss Chard Salad, Step by Step
Gather your ingredients: Swiss chard and…
… parmesan, pepper flakes, lemon and garlic.
You’ll also need some fresh bread crumbs: simply pulse stale bread in the food processor until it forms fine crumbs.
Make the dressing.
Combine the chard, bread crumbs, and lemon zest in a large bowl.
Shave in some parmesan.
Then toss with the dressing to taste.
This is garlic from our CSA. Four enormous cloves per bulb. Isn’t it pretty?
Description
Slightly adapted from Food52.
Note: If possible, get your hands on some good, tender Swiss chard for this recipe. We’ve been getting beautiful chard from our CSA as well as from the Niskayuna Co-op, which carries chard from Hope Valley Farm. Farmers’ markets, obviously, are a great source.
Bread crumbs: Once, when I made this, I was out of bread — the horror! — and I used two English muffins instead. Worked like a charm.
- 1 bunch Swiss chard, about 12 ounces
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1½ cups ( 2.5 ounces ) fresh bread crumbs , see notes above
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- sea salt to taste
- crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- 1 lemon
- ¾ cups (1.5 – 2 ounces ) grated Parmesan, Grana Padano or Pecorino
- Wash and dry the chard and remove the stems from the leaves. (Save stems for another use .) Stack a few of the leaves on top of each other, roll them like a cigar and cut the cigar into thin (1/8-inch) ribbons. Repeat until all the leaves are shredded. Put the leaves into a large salad bowl.
- Warm ¼ cup olive oil in a small, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the bread crumbs and cook, stirring frequently, until they are crisp and golden brown (about 5 minutes). Be careful not to burn them! Stir in the garlic, a pinch of salt and pepper flakes, and let them toast for another minute, then remove from the heat.
- Zest the lemon into the bowl of chard. Juice the lemon into a small mixing bowl. Add a few generous pinches of salt. Slowly whisk in ¼ cup of the olive oil.
- Add the Parmesan and about ⅔ of the lemon dressing to the bowl. Toss until nicely coated. Taste and add more dressing if you like. Toss in the toasted bread crumbs and serve immediately.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Method: Toss
- Cuisine: American
If you love a kale salad, you will love this Swiss chard salad. When dressed with a light, lemony dressing and tossed with garlicky bread crumbs and parmesan, Swiss chard’s leaves become soft and buttery. A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes offers a welcomed kick, too. As soon as the Swiss chard begins arriving in our CSA and popping up in the garden, this becomes our go-to salad — it’s irresistible!
My introduction to kale salads came by way of a restaurant, True Food Kitchen, that my aunt and I frequented for lunch in the summer of 2010.
At TFK, they marinated the kale in lemon and olive oil, then tossed it with bread crumbs and parmesan. Back then, eating kale raw (for many of us) was revolutionary, but it quickly became an obsession.
In the years that followed, I ate and prepared many raw kale salads, but it never occurred to me until many years after that TFK lunch, to try treating Swiss chard in the same manner. I had relegated chard to the vegetables-that-require-cooking family, which is a seriously misguided placement.
Chard, like kale, loves a lemon dressing, and when tossed with bread crumbs and parmesan, its leaves relax, more so than kale in fact, and any bitterness disappears. Last week, when I asked Google if chard could be eaten raw, it pointed me to a salad on Food52, which I made immediately, and then again and then again.
The dressing is simple — the juice of one lemon plus a quarter cup of olive oil — and the bread crumbs, seasoned with garlic and pepper flakes, are irresistible.
If you’ve yet to give Swiss chard the kale salad treatment, now’s the time! Light, lemony, and refreshing — Swiss chard will never taste so summery.
PS: All-Purpose Lemon Vinaigrette
Raw Swiss Chard Salad, Step by Step
Gather your ingredients: Swiss chard and…
… parmesan, pepper flakes, lemon and garlic.
You’ll also need some fresh bread crumbs: simply pulse stale bread in the food processor until it forms fine crumbs.
Make the dressing.
Combine the chard, bread crumbs, and lemon zest in a large bowl.
Shave in some parmesan.
Then toss with the dressing to taste.
This is garlic from our CSA. Four enormous cloves per bulb. Isn’t it pretty?
Description
Slightly adapted from Food52.
Note: If possible, get your hands on some good, tender Swiss chard for this recipe. We’ve been getting beautiful chard from our CSA as well as from the Niskayuna Co-op, which carries chard from Hope Valley Farm. Farmers’ markets, obviously, are a great source.
Bread crumbs: Once, when I made this, I was out of bread — the horror! — and I used two English muffins instead. Worked like a charm.
- 1 bunch Swiss chard, about 12 ounces
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1½ cups ( 2.5 ounces ) fresh bread crumbs , see notes above
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- sea salt to taste
- crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- 1 lemon
- ¾ cups (1.5 – 2 ounces ) grated Parmesan, Grana Padano or Pecorino
- Wash and dry the chard and remove the stems from the leaves. (Save stems for another use .) Stack a few of the leaves on top of each other, roll them like a cigar and cut the cigar into thin (1/8-inch) ribbons. Repeat until all the leaves are shredded. Put the leaves into a large salad bowl.
- Warm ¼ cup olive oil in a small, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the bread crumbs and cook, stirring frequently, until they are crisp and golden brown (about 5 minutes). Be careful not to burn them! Stir in the garlic, a pinch of salt and pepper flakes, and let them toast for another minute, then remove from the heat.
- Zest the lemon into the bowl of chard. Juice the lemon into a small mixing bowl. Add a few generous pinches of salt. Slowly whisk in ¼ cup of the olive oil.
- Add the Parmesan and about ⅔ of the lemon dressing to the bowl. Toss until nicely coated. Taste and add more dressing if you like. Toss in the toasted bread crumbs and serve immediately.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Method: Toss
- Cuisine: American
If you love a kale salad, you will love this Swiss chard salad. When dressed with a light, lemony dressing and tossed with garlicky bread crumbs and parmesan, Swiss chard’s leaves become soft and buttery. A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes offers a welcomed kick, too. As soon as the Swiss chard begins arriving in our CSA and popping up in the garden, this becomes our go-to salad — it’s irresistible!
My introduction to kale salads came by way of a restaurant, True Food Kitchen, that my aunt and I frequented for lunch in the summer of 2010.
At TFK, they marinated the kale in lemon and olive oil, then tossed it with bread crumbs and parmesan. Back then, eating kale raw (for many of us) was revolutionary, but it quickly became an obsession.
In the years that followed, I ate and prepared many raw kale salads, but it never occurred to me until many years after that TFK lunch, to try treating Swiss chard in the same manner. I had relegated chard to the vegetables-that-require-cooking family, which is a seriously misguided placement.
Chard, like kale, loves a lemon dressing, and when tossed with bread crumbs and parmesan, its leaves relax, more so than kale in fact, and any bitterness disappears. Last week, when I asked Google if chard could be eaten raw, it pointed me to a salad on Food52, which I made immediately, and then again and then again.
The dressing is simple — the juice of one lemon plus a quarter cup of olive oil — and the bread crumbs, seasoned with garlic and pepper flakes, are irresistible.
If you’ve yet to give Swiss chard the kale salad treatment, now’s the time! Light, lemony, and refreshing — Swiss chard will never taste so summery.
PS: All-Purpose Lemon Vinaigrette
Raw Swiss Chard Salad, Step by Step
Gather your ingredients: Swiss chard and…
… parmesan, pepper flakes, lemon and garlic.
You’ll also need some fresh bread crumbs: simply pulse stale bread in the food processor until it forms fine crumbs.
Make the dressing.
Combine the chard, bread crumbs, and lemon zest in a large bowl.
Shave in some parmesan.
Then toss with the dressing to taste.
This is garlic from our CSA. Four enormous cloves per bulb. Isn’t it pretty?
Description
Slightly adapted from Food52.
Note: If possible, get your hands on some good, tender Swiss chard for this recipe. We’ve been getting beautiful chard from our CSA as well as from the Niskayuna Co-op, which carries chard from Hope Valley Farm. Farmers’ markets, obviously, are a great source.
Bread crumbs: Once, when I made this, I was out of bread — the horror! — and I used two English muffins instead. Worked like a charm.
- 1 bunch Swiss chard, about 12 ounces
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1½ cups ( 2.5 ounces ) fresh bread crumbs , see notes above
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- sea salt to taste
- crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- 1 lemon
- ¾ cups (1.5 – 2 ounces ) grated Parmesan, Grana Padano or Pecorino
- Wash and dry the chard and remove the stems from the leaves. (Save stems for another use .) Stack a few of the leaves on top of each other, roll them like a cigar and cut the cigar into thin (1/8-inch) ribbons. Repeat until all the leaves are shredded. Put the leaves into a large salad bowl.
- Warm ¼ cup olive oil in a small, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the bread crumbs and cook, stirring frequently, until they are crisp and golden brown (about 5 minutes). Be careful not to burn them! Stir in the garlic, a pinch of salt and pepper flakes, and let them toast for another minute, then remove from the heat.
- Zest the lemon into the bowl of chard. Juice the lemon into a small mixing bowl. Add a few generous pinches of salt. Slowly whisk in ¼ cup of the olive oil.
- Add the Parmesan and about ⅔ of the lemon dressing to the bowl. Toss until nicely coated. Taste and add more dressing if you like. Toss in the toasted bread crumbs and serve immediately.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Method: Toss
- Cuisine: American
Description
Slightly adapted from Food52.
Note: If possible, get your hands on some good, tender Swiss chard for this recipe. We’ve been getting beautiful chard from our CSA as well as from the Niskayuna Co-op, which carries chard from Hope Valley Farm. Farmers’ markets, obviously, are a great source.
Bread crumbs: Once, when I made this, I was out of bread — the horror! — and I used two English muffins instead. Worked like a charm.
- 1 bunch Swiss chard, about 12 ounces
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1½ cups ( 2.5 ounces ) fresh bread crumbs , see notes above
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- sea salt to taste
- crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- 1 lemon
- ¾ cups (1.5 – 2 ounces ) grated Parmesan, Grana Padano or Pecorino
- Wash and dry the chard and remove the stems from the leaves. (Save stems for another use .) Stack a few of the leaves on top of each other, roll them like a cigar and cut the cigar into thin (1/8-inch) ribbons. Repeat until all the leaves are shredded. Put the leaves into a large salad bowl.
- Warm ¼ cup olive oil in a small, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the bread crumbs and cook, stirring frequently, until they are crisp and golden brown (about 5 minutes). Be careful not to burn them! Stir in the garlic, a pinch of salt and pepper flakes, and let them toast for another minute, then remove from the heat.
- Zest the lemon into the bowl of chard. Juice the lemon into a small mixing bowl. Add a few generous pinches of salt. Slowly whisk in ¼ cup of the olive oil.
- Add the Parmesan and about ⅔ of the lemon dressing to the bowl. Toss until nicely coated. Taste and add more dressing if you like. Toss in the toasted bread crumbs and serve immediately.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Method: Toss
- Cuisine: American
Find it online : https://alexandracooks.com/2014/08/07/swiss-chard-salad-with-lemon-parmesan-breadcrumbs/
I first posted this recipe for tomato and bread soup (pappa al pomodoro) several years ago, but since publishing it, I’ve learned two things about the soup that inspired its creation:
- The chef used water as opposed to stock.
- The chef used canned San Marzano tomatoes.
Both details surprised me, and while I have never successfully made the soup with canned tomatoes, I now only use water.
If this sounds suspicious or if you can’t help but think stock could only make this soup taste better, let’s review: remember that French onion soup we made last winter? Or that delectable fresh tomato-red pepper pasta sauce we made last summer?
Each of these recipes calls for water exclusively.
Here, slow-roasting the tomatoes, onions, carrots and garlic concentrates all of the flavors, making any liquid but water unnecessary. Furthermore, water doesn’t muddy the pure tomato flavor. As with the onion soup, you need to plan ahead — the onions roast for almost three hours — but the work is mostly hands off.
I know it’s hard this time of year not to eat tomatoes any other way but raw, with a sprinkling of salt and a drizzle of olive oil , but if you’re lucky enough to have a glut, this one’s for you.
Of course: peasant bread on the side.
Description
Inspired originally by a soup served at Cafe Mimosa in San Clemente.
- 3 lbs (1.36 kg) tomatoes, about, halved if large, left whole if cherry or grape, enough to fill a sheet tray
- 1 onion, peeled and chopped into big chunks ( 9.5 oz | 256 g once trimmed)
- 1 shallot, peeled and chopped into big chunks ( 3⅛ oz | 88 g once trimmed)
- 1 head garlic, cloves separated but left peeled, lightly smashed ( 1.5 oz | 42 g )
- one large carrot, unpeeled, roughly chopped ( 2 oz | 55 g )
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, about
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste
- fresh cracked pepper
- 4 to 5 oz | 135 g (a couple slices) bakery style bread or peasant bread
- 2 to 3 cups water
- 1 bunch (1 oz | 28 g) fresh basil
- crushed red pepper flakes to taste
- Shaved Parmigiano Reggiano and more bread for serving, optional
- olive oil for drizzling, optional
- Preheat the oven to 300ºF. Line a rimmed sheet tray with all of the vegetables. The vegetables should cover the tray in a single layer. (Note: the total weight of vegetables is about 4 lbs or 1.812 kg.) Drizzle olive oil over top. Season with 1 teaspoon kosher salt and pepper to taste. Roast for about three hours, but start checking after 2 hours — sometimes they are done in 2.5 hours. The vegetables should be soft and slightly caramelized.
- Meanwhile, toast the bread. If you haven’t already, slice the bread into ½-inch thick pieces. Place on the counter to dry or toast briefly in the toaster. You can also stick the bread in the oven for about 20 minutes or so while the tomatoes are roasting. You just want to dry out the bread; you’re not trying to brown it.
- When the vegetables are done, place them in a pot with 2½ cups of water. Bring to a simmer. Note: It’s best to bring this soup to a simmer slowly — it spits violently if you heat it too quickly. Also, reheat with the lid on over low heat for the same reason.
- Season with a pinch of salt and crushed red pepper flakes if using. Add the bunch of basil. Break one slice of bread into medium-sized cubes and add to the pot. Using an emersion blender or food processor or traditional blender, puree the soup roughly. Add the other slice of bread if necessary. The soup should be slightly chunky. Taste and add more salt or bread if necessary. Thin with more water until soup reaches desired consistency.
- Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and a few shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Category: Soup
- Method: Oven, Roast
- Cuisine: American, Italian
