Swiss Chard Tart!!!

As we have mentioned, we have discovered that we love Swiss Chard.  After our trip to see our beautiful Grandson, (here you see Pickles trying to figure out what this little creature was- the look on her face explains it all!)

it was time for us to get into the kitchen and make some comfort food. Mamie found a recipe for a tart that sounded like it would be just the ticket. First she made tart pastry and placed it, rustic style, into a 9 inch springform pan, and baked till golden. 

Out to the garden, (oh how we missed our little veggie patch while out-of-town!) to get some of the swiss chard.

It is quite satisfying to walk out and snip some beautiful veggies that you yourself have planted from seed, nurtured and coddled, all the while realizing a great designer put it there for you to work with and enjoy...

What a beautiful color of red and green!

We washed the swiss chard and then the chopping began! Of course, we did have to first turn on some music and pour a good glass of red wine... Below is a recipe we credit to Laura Calder. In the directions we will add some of the things we like to appease our particular palates. 

Now we are ready to go to work...chop...chop...sip...chop

Here are the chard stems ready to go. Don't the leaves look so healthy? 

You've got to love it; so fresh and wholesome-well, at least we do!

Gorgeous!!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 shallots, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 4 ounces bacon, cut into lardons
• 1 1/2 pounds Swiss chard, ribs removed
• 3 eggs

• 1 cup creme fraiche or heavy cream and sour cream combined
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (we used 1/2 parmesan, 1/2 Gruyere)
• Handful raisins
• Handful toasted pine nuts
• 1 deep tart shell, pre-baked in a 9-inch springform pan or a frozen deep dish pie dough, thawed

See our notes 

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. 

Heat the oil in a saute pan and fry the shallots until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Remove to a plate. In the same pan, fry the bacon until the fat has rendered and the lardons are crispy. Remove to the plate with the shallots. Divide the chard leaves from the ribs: chop the ribs quite small and shred the leaves. First, fry the ribs in the bacon fat until tender. (Cook's Note: You may want to cover the pan for a few minutes to speed up the process.) Add the chard leaves to the pan, cover, and wilt, about 3 minutes.  (NOTE:) We have found a splash of white wine at this point really adds to this dish.  If there is quite a bit of juice after cooking, just remove the chard with a slotted spoon, then sop up juice with a piece of crusty bread as a starter-mmmmmm!

Beat the eggs together with the creme fraiche (we made our own with sour cream and heavy cream mixed together), and season with salt, and pepper. 

In a large bowl, toss the shallots, bacon, chard stems and leaves, cheese, raisins, and pine nuts, to combine evenly. Taste, and season. Fill the tart shell with the vegetable mixture, and pour over the cream mixture. Bake until the tart has set, about 30 minutes. Remove the tart from the oven, and cool. Serve at room temperature.

Shallots are sauteing and soon we will add the garlic. At this moment the aromas let you know you have made the right choice. Smells soooo gooood. :~)

Now we saute the swiss-chard stems in the bacon drippings.

 Next the greens are cooked.

 After it is all cooked mix it all together. We did add the raisins to this; we chopped ours roughly (we thought it added an extra bit of sweetness that was perfect for this dish).  At this point you could have eaten this right out of the pan, or as a side dish.  This is where you need to try not to eat all before you finish your recipe.  But you do need to get a good sampling to make sure you don't need more seasoning... we had to try ours a few times (Poppy must be really critical tonight because he had to keep trying it- at least that was his excuse)!

Now for the cream mixture.

Then pour it into the crust. Ours turned out a little rough around the edges, but that just added to the charm of the dish.

Nice and rustic! Just the way we like it.

"Try it you'll like it" !
We can just imagine sitting at a long rustic table in some European countryside with our loved ones...sipping on a glass of vino and enjoying this tart!  But even on the deck of Sweet Pickles Farm is a treat...

It looks as if we will be having a bumper crop of chard very soon.  We are trying out different ways to use this versatile and healthy vegetable, and we will be posting them along the way. :)

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