One of the vegetables in the Family of 4 Garden that I mentioned yesterday is Swiss Chard. One of the reasons we included Swiss Chard in the Family of 4 Garden is because it is a leafy green vegetable that will grow all spring, summer, fall, and has the ability to be over-wintered. However, few people are familiar with it and have some good recipes for it.

I personally have never cooked Swiss Chard, although I have used the young leaves in salads. Swiss Chard can be used in a manner similar to spinach when the leaves are younger, but it has a earthier flavor (similar to beets or beet greens).

However, I have found some recipes that sound very delicious for cooking with Swiss Chard. Keep in mind when looking for recipes that there are recipes that focus more on using the stalks and some that focus more on using the leaves. Some recipes use both. The Swiss Chard we harvested yesterday is still fairly young, so it only has small stalks.

Here are some recipes that I look forward to trying with Swiss Chard:

Sauteed Swiss Chard

Very Simple Sauteed Swiss Chard (Food Network)

Spicy Swiss Chard (or Spinach)

Bacon and Swiss Chard Pasta (What isn’t good with bacon and pasta?!?)

These recipes are all fairly simple and straight-forward. If you go searching (and really love cooking), you can find tons of more complex recipes including rack of lamb, tarts, gratins, stews, and sauteed dishes with lots of gourmet ingredients.