Swiss Chard Variations: Tarts and Soup

Someone asked me what you can do with Swiss chard the other day, so of course I had some suggestions . . . and I thought I’d post them on the blog, too.

The first idea is Swiss chard tarts, pictured here, and inspired by Enright CSA member Mary Jo Bazeley and Pam Ford, who is not a member of the CSA, but who is a food stylist (an intriguing occupation) and who brought some tasty little tomato tartlets to EdenSong last week.

Mary Jo’s idea was to put little pieces of dough (wonton wrappers, perhaps) in the crannies formed on the back of a muffin pan by the muffin indents, as pictured here.


I tried this, and it worked okay, but because the filing was fairly liquid, it seeped out. I think if I made these Swiss chard tarts again, I’d use the muffin pans right side up and line them with the dough (in this case, store-bought puff pastry).

Swiss Chard Tarts
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 Tbsps. Olive oil
1 bunch Swiss chard
6 eggs
1 cup shredded cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pkg. Pepperidge Farm frozen prepared puff pastry

Take the pastry out of the freezer to thaw and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Brown the onion and the garlic in oil in a largish pan. Trim and chop the chard and add it to the pan, cook down until wilted.

Meanwhile, lay out the two pieces of puff pastry and cut each large square into four smaller squares. Grease 8 muffin cups and line them with the squares of pastry. Beat the eggs in a bowl and mix in the cheese (I used cheddar, but Swiss would also be appropriate), salt, and pepper.

Divide the chard and onion mixture among the 8 dough-lined muffin cups, then pour the egg and cheese mixture over each. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until pastry is golden brown and filling puffs up.

You can use one piece of puff pastry and make half the recipe to make four tarts; you could also put all of the chard and egg/cheese mixture in one conventional pie crust; you’d probably want to bake it for 35 to 40 minutes in that case. Delicious!

Swiss Chard Soup
Now, for Swiss chard soup, which is so easy it barely needs a recipe (but it is in the Asparagus to Zucchini cookbook if you want to look it up). You need a bunch of chard, washed and chopped, 3 to 4 cups of chicken or vegetable stock, and 4 ounces of cream cheese (half an 8 ounce bar). Heat the broth, add the chard, and cook until the chard is wilted, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add some salt and pepper to taste (if you are using canned chicken broth, forget the salt, it already has enough). Cut the cream cheese into small squares and divide the squares among three or four soup bowls. Pour the hot soup over the cream cheese croutons and serve hot. Double delicious.