If you’re anything like me, when you go grocery shopping you have every intention of eating those eight bunches of greens you carefully selected. My eyes are often bigger than my ability to cook through all those greens, but I have a new system: precooking my greens so they’re ready to go when I am. Perfect for packing in your lunch or adding to the side of an easy pasta dinner (mac and cheeze, anyone?)!
I like Swiss chard more than other greens because the stems aren’t quite so tough and it tastes a lot like beet greens, which aren’t always readily available. You can substitute absolutely any green you like here, just be careful to cut out the stems, if you don’t like them and slightly increase the cooking time, as other greens have much thicker leaves.
Easy Swiss Chard
Serves 4, as a side
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, any kind, peeled and thinly sliced
2 heads of Swiss Chard, stems trimmed, rinsed and roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, or more to your taste, peeled and grated
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
Pinch of chili flakes
Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok, over medium-high heat. Add the onions and let start to sweat. Chop the chard, rinse and without drying off, add the chard to the onions. Sautee for a minute, until the chard starts to release its moisture. Grate the garlic cloves over the Swiss chard and add the lemon juice, salt, black pepper and chili flakes and sautee until the chard has released most of its liquid, about four or five minutes. Taste for seasoning and adjust to your taste.
