Swiss chard, or other leafy green, sautéed with green olives, capers, green onions, and rosemary.
I’ve been on a chard kick this season, getting one or two bunches a week for the last several months. Chard cooks down to something more substantial than spinach, and is more tender and therefore cooks faster than kale or collard greens.
A few weeks ago I had some leftover olive tapenade from another cooking experiment and decided to toss it in with the sautéing chard. Wow, what a combo!
We’re used to cooking up our greens with bacon, the bacon countering the bitterness of the greens. Well, oddly the olives and capers seem to do the same thing here, providing an earthy richness and a perky saltiness to balance the bitter of the green.
The olive mixture would work well with other greens as well, such as rabe or dandelion greens.
Make extra of the tapenade mixture (the olives, rosemary, capers, onion) and cover it with olive oil, store for several weeks in the refrigerator and then just take a scoop to add to whatever greens you are cooking.
Swiss Chard with Olives Recipe
- Prep time: 5 minutes
- Cook time: 10 minutes
- Yield: Serves 2-3
Ingredients
- 1 ounce pitted green olives (about 10 medium sized), roughly chopped or sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
- 1 green onion or shallot, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon capers
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large bunch of Swiss chard, rinsed and patted dry
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Method
1 Make olive, rosemary, green onion, caper mixture: Mix together the olives, rosemary, green onion, and capers with a tablespoon of olive oil and let sit while you prep the chard.
2 Prep chard leaves and stems: Use a knife to cut along the edges of the main stem of each leaf of chard, remove the stems. Cut the stems into 1/2-inch slices and set aside.
Cut the leaves separately into 1-inch thick crosswise ribbons. Keep the leaves and the stems separate as you will be cooking them separately.
3 Sauté chard stems: Heat a large, stick-free sauté pan on medium high heat. Coat the bottom of the pan with about a tablespoon of olive oil, just enough to coat. When the oil is hot, add the chard stems. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring often, until they begin to soften.
4 Add olive mixture, then chard leaves: Stir in the olive mixture. Cook for a minute more, then add the chopped chard leaves to the pan.
Use tongs or two large spoons to toss the chard leaves in with the rest of the mixture, so that the chard gets coated with olive oil.
5 Cover, reduce heat: Cover the pan and reduce the heat to low. Let cook a few minutes, lift the cover every once in a while to turn the leaves over in the pan. Once the chard has all wilted, remove from heat.
Sprinkle with black pepper to taste.
