Fresh Tomato Sauce For Stuffed Swiss Chard Recipes

FRESH TOMATO SAUCE FOR STUFFED SWISS CHARD

Steps:

• Heat oil in a medium, straight-sided skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes are soft, about 10 minutes.
• Remove from heat, and let stand 10 minutes. Pass through the medium disk of a food mill.

STUFFED SWISS CHARD LEAVES

Steps:

• Put a large pot of water on to boil.
• While it comes to a boil, trim the Swiss chard : cut out the stem, but also cut out any of the larger white "ribs" so the leaf will be very flexible and easy to work with.
• Finely chop the stems and set them aside.
• Blanch the chard leaves , dipping them into the boiling water until they wilt, about 30 seconds, drain and rinse with cold water to plunge into a bowl of ice water to cool and set the green color.
• Chop 1 of the onions, mince the garlic, and peel and finely chop carrots and/or parsnip. In a large saute pan, braising pan, or wide pot, heat the oil.
• Add the onion and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and saute, cooking and stirring frequently until the onion is soft and translucent about 3 minutes.
• Add the garlic and stir to combine. Add the carrot(s) and/or parsnip and the chard stems to the onion mixture and cook, stirring frequently until the vegetables are tender about 10 minutes total.
• Transfer the vegetables to a large mixing bowl.
• Add the rice and combine, then add the lamb and black pepper and mix to combine. Set aside.
• Wipe out the pan.
• Add the tomatoes, butter, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
• Peel and halve the other onion and add it to the tomatoes.
• Add the chile flakes, if using. Simmer the tomatoes over medium-low heat, reducing the heat if needed to keep the tomatoes simmering very gently until the butter separates out from the tomatoes and the onion is very soft, about 30 minutes.
• Taste and add more salt to taste, if you like.
• While the sauce simmers, prepare the stuffed chard leaves. Working with 1 leaf at a time, squeeze any excess water from the leaf and lay it on a clean, flat work surface. Put 2 to 3 tablespoons of the stuffing at one end of the leaf. Bring the shorter end of the leaf over the stuffing, fold in the sides to encase the stuffing, and then roll up with the remaining leaf. If you know how to fold a burrito or spring roll, it's the same principle; if you don't, don't worry about it-any way you get the stuffing encased and folded into the leaf will be fine. Wrap it like a package, just roll it up and tuck in the sides. The leaves are flexible and the final product can have your unique stamp.
• Remove the onion halves from the tomato sauce and discard them.
• Add about 1/2 cup water to the tomato sauce and bring back to a simmer.
• Set the stuffed chard leaves in the tomato sauce, cover, and cook until the meat and rice are cooked through and tender, 30 to 40 minutes.
• Check on the pot occasionally - if the tomato sauce seems too thick or is starting to stick to the pan, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water and sort of stir it in between the chard bundles and adjust the heat to maintain a steady but gentle simmer. Serve the Swiss chard bundles hot, with the sauce on top or on the side, as people like.

STUFFED SWISS CHARD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Choose 12 large chard leaves (each should be about 10 inches long and 5 inches wide) or 24 smaller leaves; set aside. Coarsely chop enough of the remaining leaves to make 4 1/2 cups; reserve remaining leaves for another use. Bring a large pot of water to a boil; add a pinch of salt. Blanch whole leaves, 1 at a time, until tender and bright green, about 5 seconds. Lay flat on a baking sheet lined with paper towels to drain.
• Melt butter with oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add leeks, scallions, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add chopped chard, and cook, stirring occasionally, until chard has wilted, about 3 minutes more. Transfer to a medium bowl, and add pine nuts; let stand until cool. Stir in rice, cheeses, and breadcrumbs. Season with salt and pepper.
• Place a blanched leaf facedown on a work surface. Cut out thickest part of stalk, about one-third of the way up leaf; slightly overlap the cut ends. If using smaller leaves, overlap 2 leaves so they are about 10 by 5 inches. Spoon 1/3 cup filling about one-third of the way up leaf. Fold bottom of leaf over mixture. Fold in sides. Roll to enclose filling completely, creating a 3-by-2-inch bundle. Repeat with remaining leaves and filling.
• Transfer to a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Tent with foil. Bake until heated through, about 15 minutes. Spoon warm sauce onto plates; serve 2 or 3 bundles per plate.

CHARD-TOMATO SAUTE

Steps:

• Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet. Add garlic, tomato, and capers; cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Add chard and sliced basil; heat through. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with more oil; top with basil leaves and grated Parmesan.

SWISS CHARD WITH TOMATOES

Steps:

• Trim coarse leaves and thick center ribs from chard; cut tender stems and leaves into 1/2-inch slices.
• Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet; add bread crumbs; cook, stirring often, until crisp and golden; remove from skillet and set aside.
• Cool skillet slightly; add remaining oil and garlic; cook, stirring, 2 minutes; add chard and cook until wilted, 1-2 minutes; add tomatoes, salt, and red pepper flakes to taste.
• Remove from heat and sprinkle bread crumbs over the top.

SWISS CHARD RAVIOLI WITH QUICK TOMATO SAUCE

Steps:

• Finely chop Swiss chard (you should have about 6 packed cups). In a large non-stick skillet sauté onions, garlic, and pine nuts in oil over moderately high heat until onion is softened and pine nuts are a few shades darker. Stir in olives, raisins, and half of Swiss chard and cook, stirring, until chard is slightly wilted. Stir in remaining chard and season with salt and pepper. Cook filling, covered, over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until chard is tender, about 5 minutes and cool. Chill filling, uncovered, at least 1 hour or, covered, up to 1 day.
• Set smooth rollers of pasta machine on widest setting. Cut dough into 4 pieces and wrap 3 of them separately in plastic wrap. Flatten unwrapped piece of dough into rectangle and feed through rollers. Fold rectangle in half and feed through rollers 8 or 9 more times, folding in half each time and dusting in half as necessary to prevent sticking.
• Turn dial down to next (smaller) setting and feed dough through rollers without folding. Continue to feed dough through, without folding, making space between rollers narrower each time, until narrowest setting is reached and pasta is about 3 1/2 inches wide.
• Put pasta sheet on work surface with long side facing you and put packed teaspoon of filling 2 inches apart lengthwise along half of the pasta sheet (you should have 10 to 12 mounds). Around each mound of filling brush dough very lightly with water. Fold dough lengthwise in half over mounds of filling, gently pressing around mounds to force out any air, and seal edges well. With a fluted pastry wheel trim edges and cut between mounds of filling to separate ravioli.
• Line a large tray with a dry kitchen towel and arrange ravioli in one layer. Make more ravioli with remaining 3 pieces of dough and remaining filling in same manner, transferring to kitchen-towel-lined tray and arranging in one layer. Ravioli may be made 8 hours ahead and chilled on towel-lined tray, covered loosely with plastic wrap.
• In an 8-quart kettle bring 7 quarts of salted water to a boil. Cool ravioli until tender, 3 to 4 minutes, and drain in a colander. In a heated large bowl immediately toss ravioli with sauce.
• Serve ravioli with Parmesan.