Thursday, September 5, 2013

Swiss Chard

This year was the first time that I grew Swiss chard; when we were drawing up our garden map we decided that we would grow kale and/or chard. With map and list in hand I arrived at the garden centre and came across the beautifully coloured stocks and decided that it would be fun to grow. So I bought a whole flat of it; which was a little over zealous seeing as I had never even tried the stuff. It was one of first things I got to harvest and although it is not my new favourite vegetable it can be quite yummy. 



It is not something I really enjoy eating on it's own but I have concocted several different recipes to incorporate our colourful veggie into our diet. It started off on pizza, then moved into an orzo salad (picture above right) and ended up in my biggest masterpiece yet...stromboli! (pictured below). I found a few recipes on Pinterest but most recipes called for spinach so I had to do a bit of tinkering with the recipe to make it work. And her you have my stromboli, which was a HUGE hit. 


Stromboli
1 pkg of frozen bread dough (I made my own in bread maker)
1/2 cup Pesto Sauce
2 cups Swiss chard chopped
2 cups Cooked Shredded Chicken
2 cups Shredded Mozzarella (or any cheese you have in the fridge)
1/2 cups Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided
1 tsp. Garlic Salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
Thaw bread according to package. I make my own in the bread maker using a pizza dough recipe.
Roll out dough into a rectangle about the size of a cookie sheet
Spread Pesto all over leaving a 1 inch space from edge
Sprinkle 1/4 cup Parmesan on top of pesto. Sprinkle Mozzarella the layer of spinach, last your shredded Chicken, you can also add things like chopped tomatoes.
Now roll up like a jelly roll , starting at the long end and roll all the way so it makes a long tube.
Place on cookie sheet, with seam  on the bottom.  Tuck ends under.
Brush with egg. Sprinkle with Parmesan and Garlic Salt.
Cut 3 or 4 slits along the top to vent
Let it rise for about 30 minutes then bake @350 until golden brown, 20-30 minutes.