You know how sometimes you pack a suitcase, zip it up, try to lift it, and wonder what on Earth could have made it so heavy? My journey back from the UK was not one of those times — I knew exactly what was weighing down my bags: cookbooks, of the extra-heavy variety.
It started with The Kitchen Diaries, which Rob kindly bought me after I mentioned it several times (not in a hint-dropping way, just conversationally). This led to the other Nigel Slater books being bought, and I picked up the other two just before I left. The cookery book section in UK shops has to be one of the most gorgeous — all the up and coming photographers must be going down the food route these days.
As if in reaction to the vast quantities of prepared food I wolfed down during my holidays, I’ve been feeling a bit frenzied to make everything from scratch. I paid a visit to The Wedge co-op today and stocked up on all the essentials, which apparently included rainbow chard.
I’ve nearly bought it several times before, and was finally convinced by a few mentions of it in The Kitchen Diaries. I just steamed it and topped it with balsamic vinaigrette and some feta. It was nice, if a bit (a lot) chewy. The big successes of the day were the brown bread and baked beans:
Rob and I had breakfast at a little cafe one day in Ireland, and in our toast basket were several slices of a brown quick bread. A Google search for ‘Irish Brown Bread’ turned up several recipes, and I tried the first. Seems about right. The baked bean recipe is from the book Grub; I used fake bacon — and wholegrain mustard in place of Worcestershire sauce — and they’re pretty darn good.
I’ve also just made rice pudding, from the same book as the beans, but it’ll have to have its own post. Phew.
You could try cutting up the chard and cooking the stems before the leafy parts. They are the chewiest and take a little longer to cook. I always forget to do that. Most recipes suggest discarding the stems outright, but that feels wasteful to me. That brown bread sounds great. I’ll have to give it a try.
I agree with jean, chard stems need a little longer to cook. Actually, I adore chard in soups, cutting the stems like celery. They go nicely with some miso, or beans if you want something more filling. The beautiful colors of the stems stay nice and bright.