Week 12: Chard!

THIS WEEK'S HIT: Greened Beans (aka Chard, White Beans, and Tomatoes)

Our vacation week straddled the CSA pickup day, so this week we shared with a friend. She kept the green beans, some corn, a tomato, and the first apples of the season. Waiting for us at home were radishes, more corn, kale, a couple of tomatoes, and (yeah!) Swiss chard.

We were beginning to miss the chard.

In any case, we put our "leftovers" to good use. The radishes became a salad with a lime-orange dressing and the corn was simply boiled. Everything else went into an Italian-tinged side dish that I served with baked haddock.

You can use any combination of hardy greens for this recipe, which I adapted from one by Lidia Bastianich. Kit gets credit for coming up with the punny name.

Greened Beans (aka Chard, White Beans, and Tomatoes)

Ingredients

1 bunch Swiss chard, stems trimmed and leaves sliced into strips
1 bunch kale, trimmed and sliced as above
1 Tbsp olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or less, if you don't like the heat)
2 to 3 tomatoes, diced
1 can (15 ounces) cannellini or other white beans, drained and rinsed
Salt
Black pepper
Lemon juice (about 1 Tbsp)
Extra olive oil

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the greens, cover, and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until tender. Drain.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes or until the garlic turns golden. Add the tomatoes, and cook, stirring, for another 2 minutes, or until the tomatoes begin to soften.

Add the beans and greens and cook for about 5 minutes more. Add salt, black pepper, and lemon juice to taste. If desired, sprinkle with extra olive oil before serving.