Blanched Chard, Dressed or Braised

Name: Blanched Chard, Dressed or Braised (Acelgas)
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 2–3 tablespoons olive oil; juice of ½ lemon; 4 tablespoons olive oil; 3–4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced; 1 kg chard, red, white or Swiss, stalks removed and kept separate; 1 kg chard, red, white or Swiss, stalks removed and kept separate; 1 kg chard, red, white or Swiss, stalks removed and kept separate; sea salt and black pepper; 1 kg chard, red, white or Swiss, stalks removed and kept separate; sea salt and black pepper

Acelgas

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Moro

By Samantha Clark and Samuel Clark

Published 2001

About

Blanching, that is, boiling vegetables briefly in water, is a useful way of cooking chard, although you can, with equal success, blanch any number of vegetables such as spinach, asparagus, peas, green beans, sprouting broccoli, broad beans, cauliflower, beetroot tops and cabbage.

Ingredients

1 kg chard, red, white or Swiss, stalks removed and kept separate
sea salt and black pepper

Side dish
Gluten-free
Vegan

Method

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a rolling or proper boil (the salt fixes the green colour in the vegetable, as well as bringing out the flavour). Add the leaves and put on the lid to ensure the water will come back to the boil as quickly as possible. When the leaves are tender, about 1–2 minutes, immediately scoop out and place in a colander and, if required, cool under running water.