Chard Enchiladas

I wrote an article about spinach and chard for Salt Lake City’s monthly Catalyst Magazine, June 2012 issue. Enjoy my story and recipe for Chard Enchiladas.

“Enchilada” literally translates to “seasoned with chile sauce.” Most of us are familiar with the Tex-Mex version, filled with chicken or other meat, and gooey with melted cheese. Truly, enchilada variations are endless. You can include beans, maybe black or pinto. Or switch to whole wheat flour tortillas instead of corn tortillas. “Stack” the tortillas, with filling and sauce in between instead of rolling the filling inside each tortilla. The sauce can be green or red, purchased or homemade, it all depends on what’s in the pantry and how much time you have to prepare it all.

Cotija cheese, which is akin to Greek feta, is the classic enchilada cheese; try cheddar or Monterey jack instead—or since these enchiladas are fairly mild in their heat quotient—substitute pepper jack cheese if you want them more incendiary. Vegan cooks can skip the cheese altogether.

I learned to make enchiladas from my mother, who learned from a neighbor who owned a Mexican grocery store. Mom and many Mexican cooks fry their corn tortillas in oil to make them pliable, so they don’t absorb too much sauce and easily disintegrate. In the interest of lowering calorie content, mist the tortillas with cooking oil and warm them in the oven. Bathe the tortillas in sauce just before baking, as in the recipe below. Fresh jalapeño chile, especially with the seeds removed, is quite mild and hardly detectable in the filling; again if you want more “picante” heat, mince the jalapeño including its seeds. And if you don’t have a fresh jalapeño, use a smoked one from the can–these are the chipotles en adobo you may have used in chipotle mayonnaise or another recipe with Southwestern flavors.

As far as the yield, it will depend on the diameter of the tortillas and how much filling you put in each tortilla. Be cautious not to overfill, so you can easily roll the tortillas. It seems there is always more of one filling item leftover—just fill the last tortilla with whatever is left. Makes about 6 servings.

Chard Enchiladas

1 bunch chard, or fresh spinach, about 1 pound

2 tablespoons olive, canola or grapeseed oil

1 medium onion, cut in ¼-inch dice

1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeño chile, seeds removed, minced

¼ cup chopped cilantro leaves

½ teaspoon dried or 2 tablespoons fresh minced oregano

1 tablespoon balsamic or red wine vinegar

Salt, as needed

12 to 14 (preferably organic) corn tortillas

Oil mist, from purchased cooking spray, or from a refillable pump oil sprayer

1 bunch green onions, cut in ¼-inch dice

½ cup sliced black olives

8 ounces Cotija or feta cheese, crumbled

2 cups enchilada sauce, purchased or homemade

Wash the chard well. Trim the leaves away from the ribs. Cut the ribs in ¼-inch pieces and set aside, and then chop the leaves in 1-inch strips.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir the onion, chard ribs, garlic and chile for 5 to 10 minutes, until the onion is translucent and the chard ribs are soft. Add the chard leaves, the cilantro and the oregano and continue to cook and stir until the chard leaves have wilted and shrunk in volume. Sprinkle with the vinegar and season to taste with salt.

Pre-heat oven to 350° F. Lightly coat a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with oil and spread about ¼ cup of the enchilada sauce around the oiled dish. Place tortillas on a baking sheet, 4 to 6 to a pan, depending on the size of your pan. Lightly mist both sides of the tortillas with cooking spray. Heat in the oven 3 to 5 minutes, until the tortillas are soft and pliable, no more.

Fill the tortillas in assembly line fashion, filling all the warmed ones on the pan before rolling them and placing them in the baking dish. With your fingers, spread a heaping tablespoon of the chard filling down the middle of each tortilla. Follow with a sprinkling of the green onions and olives, and finally with about a tablespoon of the cheese. Roll the tortillas around the filling and place them seam side down in the dish. Mist, heat and fill the rest of the tortillas repeating the first assembly line. (You can cover the pan at this point and refrigerate overnight..)

Ladle the enchilada sauce over the rolled tortillas, making a point to cover the ends first and spreading lightly over the middle. You want to be sparing vs. generous with the sauce, even if there are thumbnail patches of tortillas showing. Sprinkle with cheese or olives, for optional eye appeal. Bake until heated through, about 20 minutes.

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Spinach Frittata

Tiny Perfection–Ranui Farm Eggs

Farm fresh eggs–some members of Ranui Gardens CSA signed up for the weekly egg option and are enjoying Sue’s cartons of Tiny Perfection. There is just no equivalent to eggs from chickens that gallivant freely and happily.

This frittata recipe calls for spinach, though chard and arugula substitute easily. The same with cheese—use what you have on hand—I made my last frittata with diced fresh mozzarella and Kerrygold cheddar became the golden brown topping. And I am still whittling away at the jar of thyme in the fridge.

Serve your frittata warm, right from the broiler, or chilled, with a salad the next day.

Spinach Frittata

2 tablespoons grapeseed or olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 bunch spinach, chard or arugula, or a mixture any of these

Real Salt and freshly ground black pepper

6 farm eggs

1 clove garlic, minced

2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme

1 cup diced fresh mozzarella cheese

¼ cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

Heat half of the oil in a 9 or 10-inch skillet on medium low heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring every so often, until the onions are soft and very translucent, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove and discard the stems from the spinach and chop it coarsely. When the onions are ready, stir in the spinach, adding one third at a time, and stirring the spinach until it wilts to make room for more spinach. When all of the spinach has wilted and practically disappeared, season generously with salt and pepper.

In a bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Add the garlic, the wilted spinach, the thyme and the cup of cheese.

Wipe the skillet with a paper towel to clean out any spinach/onion residue. Heat to medium flame, adding the other half of oil. Pour in the egg and spinach mixture. Set the timer for 10 minutes. You don’t have to stir the eggs, just let them cook until they set.

Preheat the broiler. After 10 minutes the eggs should be cooked with a bit of liquid on the top. Sprinkle the cheddar cheese over those moist top eggs and slide the skillet under the broiler, about 6 inches from the flame. Cook until the cheese is golden brown, about 3 minutes.

Cut into wedges to serve.

Makes about 6 servings.

Spinach Frittata

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Grilled Portobello Mushrooms Stuffed with Spinach and Arugula

We just aren’t big grillers here at our house. Meat is pretty much never prepared and even though the weather has been divine, we have not been cooking outdoors. Two  years ago we didn’t have a grill at all, until I salvaged one at Recycle Utah and Robbie spent a day fixing and cleaning it. That grill continues to serve us well and last night was its inaugural firing for the season.

I confess we still had some of last week’s arugula and spinach left in the fridge, looking decent but begging to be used. (Last Tuesday they were washed, spun-dry, wrapped in a kitchen towel and plastic baggies.)

more time for thyme in a jar with water

The thyme continues to be healthy, standing in a jar of water, also waiting. When my friend Teri came from Costco and shared her tray of portobellos and a pack of (sliced!) fresh mozzarella, that completed my cooking inspiration—it was time to break out the grill.

I posted a recipe for Chard-stuffed portobellos once, in 2010. This one is similar, with an easy marinade, different filling and cheese. Use my ideas to create your own recipe. E.g. since we have garlic scapes in our Ranui Gardens CSA box this week, consider chopping a few to sauté with the onion.

portobellos, gills scraped and with gills

Portobellos are really just overgrown mushrooms that the mushroom farmers cultivate. Some people don’t tell you to scrape out the dark brown, almost black gills on the inside of the cap, but your mushrooms will be more appealing if you do–those gills color everything they touch.

weed vs (organic) arugula

And speaking of appealing, I also think it important to strip the leaves from arugula stems. Those stems never soften like the spicy leaves, and I find the texture unpleasant. Besides, when you strip the stems, you can inspect the bundle and sort out any weeds that snuck into the pick.

Grilled Portobello Mushrooms stuffed with Spinach and Arugula

4 large portobello mushrooms

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme

Real salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cups arugula, packed

2 cups spinach leaves, packed

Extra virgin olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

Fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced and cut into pieces

Tomato sauce, optional

Using a spoon, scrape out and discard the dark gills from the portobellos. Cut off the stem so it is flush with the underside of the mushroom. In a shallow bowl whisk the vinegar, olive oil, thyme and plenty of salt and pepper to make a marinade. Add the mushrooms, turning them occasionally so all sides are flavored.

Pick through the arugula and spinach, striping away and discarding the tougher stems. Chop coarsely.

Heat a grill to medium high heat. Grill the marinated portobellos about 5 minutes on each side, until tender. Be sure to save the leftover marinade.

Meanwhile prepare the filling. Heat some oil in a large skillet on medium flame. Add the onion and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes, then add the garlic and cook another minute. Stir in the chopped greens and cook until they wilt. Add the leftover mushroom marinade and continue to cook and stir until the liquid evaporates. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Grilled Portobello Mushrooms Stuffed with Spinach and Arugula

When the portobellos are tender, transfer them to a plate, gill side up. Divide the spinach and arugula filling among the mushrooms. Arrange mozzarella on top, more or less, as you prefer. Return to the grill and cook about 10 minutes, until the cheese has melted and has a bit of color.

Serve with tomato sauce, if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

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Grand Canyon Memories

We are all back safe from 16 days on the Colorado River, trying to integrate into our normal lives. Many of us are still recovering from bruises and cuts and tweaked backs but we are mostly sound. Oh the stories to be told…

I can’t wait to see photos–one morning a camera took on everyone’s feet, because each person’s tell a slightly different tale of wear and abuse–desert sand, dry air, hot sun, sharp rocks and bushes, insects, from biting flies and red ants to ½-inch-tiny scorpions, and the daily time in water–magical fresh-water springs, white travertine pools and the brown silty Colorado.

We ate very well. Recipes for 2 dinners I posted in recent blogs. Team 5 ended up preparing stuffed portobello mushrooms, since the shrooms were looking a little worse for cooler wear by day 5. We drizzled them with purchased Italian dressing and stuffed them with diced red peppers—pan-sautéed instead of grilled, they were a hit!

We have chard in our CSA boxes this week so here is a variation.

Grilled Chard-stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Sea salt

1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon dried “Italian” herbs

Freshly ground black pepper

4 medium to large portobello mushrooms, stem removed

1 medium potato, cut in ½-inch dice

1 bunch chard, stems removed, cut in ½-inch pieces and reserved

1 red onion, cut in ½-inch dice

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 pinches red pepper flakes

¼ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Make a vinaigrette: Whisk 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar with the mustard and some salt in a bowl. Drizzle in 1/3 cup of olive oil, a little at a time, whisking. Season with the herbs, black pepper and more salt to taste.

With a spoon, scrape and discard the dark gills from inside the mushrooms. Pour about a tablespoon of vinaigrette into the open bottom of each mushroom and set aside to marinate.

Drop the diced potato into a pot of boiling salted water and cook until almost tender, about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon. Add the chard leaves to the pot and cook until the leaves are tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain and chop coarsely.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet. Cook and stir the reserved chard stems and the red onion until the onion is translucent. Stir in the garlic and the pepper flakes and cook and stir a few more minutes. Add the cooked diced potato along with the chard leaves and about 1/3 cup of water. Cook until the water is absorbed and the vegetables are heated through. Season with salt and 2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar.

Heat the grill. Grill the mushrooms on both sides until they begin to brown and are soft to touch, 5 to 8 minutes. Divide the filling into the mushroom bottoms. Sprinkle each with about a tablespoon of the cheese and grill until the cheese melts. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 filled mushrooms, serving 2 to 4 persons.

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Potato and Garbanzo Bean Curry

It’s day 12 of the rafting trip.  This trip through the Grand Canyon has been called “ a trip backwards through time” as the river cuts through progressively older strata.  The days are hot, hovering at 110 degrees F., and the water coming straight out of Glen Canyon Dam is cold, around 50 degrees F. We have all become part of the desert and our worldly cares have melted away. Ahhh. We are deep in the canyon and it’s not my night to cook.

(But I am posting this as a draft and will store it to be published on a future date from my desk in Park City before we even launch at Lee’s Ferry, so the desert rat in me has yet to come out, nor have I felt the thrill of a dangerous-class rated rapid.)

Back to the river. Our coolers still have ice because we pre-froze them in the walk-in freezer at Deer Valley. But we are using more and more canned food each meal along with the now-thawing goods we broke into on Day 8. This particular recipe is sometimes called Curry from a Can because it uses groceries that will be edible on Day 15, my team’s last night in the kitchen and the night before take-out at Diamond Creek, garbanzo beans, coconut milk, canned pineapple, water chestnuts, button mushrooms and aseptic packages of tofu. We’ll serve our curry over whole wheat couscous because couscous cooks with just hot water, and therefore doesn’t use as much propane.

Enjoy my non-river trip version, with fresh vegetables from the CSA box or your garden, over steamed basmati brown rice.

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons plus 2 tablespoons olive oil

12 to 16 ounces extra-firm tofu, drained

1 large onion, chopped

2 teaspoons finely chopped peeled fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans

1 cup diced fresh tomatoes or 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes

2 potatoes, diced (1/2-inch)

1 sweet potato, peeled and diced (1/2-inch)

2 carrots, cut in ½-inch dice

1 (14 ounce) can lite coconut milk

1 zucchini, cut in ½-inch dice

1 bunch chard, kale or other green leafy vegetable, washed and stems removed.

1 (8 ounce) can pineapple chunks in juice, drained

2 cups toasted cashew pieces (salted OK)

Premix all the spices.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large (non-stick) skillet. Over high heat, cook and stir the tofu until it is golden on most sides. Remove from the pan.

Reduce heat to medium. Add the remaining olive oil and the onion, cook and stir until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in ginger and garlic; cook another minute. Stir in the spice mixture and cook and stir constantly for another minute. Add the garbanzo beans and tomatoes with their juices, along with both potatoes and the carrots. Stir in the coconut milk. Cook, covered, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

If the green leafy vegetable is kale, pre-cook the leaves in boiling, salted water until just about tender. Drain and chop coarsely. If the green leafy is chard, chop into 1-inch pieces. Add the greens and the zucchini, cover and cook until the potatoes are tender, another 10 minutes or so.

Add the reserved cooked tofu and pineapple and heat an additional 5 minutes. Just before serving sprinkle the cashews over the top.

Serve with Patak’s Major Grey Chutney and plain yogurt.

Makes about 8 servings.

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Soba Noodles with Chard and French Green Lentils

This might be my very favorite recipe using chard. It’s a variation on one from my very favorite cookbook author–Deborah Madison–from The Greens Cookbook.

French green lentils are the little dark ones that hold their shape well; as opposed to the larger brown ones I grew up with, made into lentil ham soup from the leftover ham bone. To further differentiate, there is an elegant specialty appellation-controlled French green lentil called Lentilles de Puy that makes it onto menus of high end restaurants as “lentil caviar.”

8 ounces soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles)

1/2 cup French green lentils

1 bay leaf

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon plus 1/4 cup virgin olive oil

Fresh ground pepper

1 bunch red or green chard

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 carrots cut into 1/4-inch squares

3/4 cup vegetable stock

1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

5 ounces goat cheese, optional

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Rinse the lentils, checking them over for little rocks masquerading as lentils. Put them in another pot with water to cover plus 2 inches, along with the bay leaf and salt. Cook until tender, about 30 minutes at Park City altitude. Drain them, saving the liquid for stock. Toss the lentils with a tablespoon of the oil. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and set aside.

Wash the chard well. Cut the leaves away from the stems. Cut the stems in 1/4-inch pieces and set aside, and then chop the leaves into 1-inch strips.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet on low heat. Cook the garlic about a minute. Add the carrots and the chard stems and cook over medium heat another minute. Season with salt; add the veggie stock, the chard, and the lentils. Cook until the carrots are tender.

Cook the noodles in the boiling water until they are just tender. Drain and add them to the chard. Toss with the parsley and more freshly ground pepper. If you are using the goat cheese, crumble it into the pasta and vegetables at the very last minute.

Makes 2 to 4 servings.

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Incredible Shrinking Greens and Spaghetti with Beet Greens

Do you feel as if you’re overwhelmed with greens? Besides salad greens, you have spinach, kale, chard, beet greens, radish greens, collards, mizuna, mustard greens, arugula—you name it. What to do? Shrink them. Wilt your greens down to manageable, edible amounts. A pound of greens, occupying half of the veggie bin in the fridge, cooks into just about 2 cups of tangy cooked sweetness.

Spaghetti with Beet Greens

You want to trim the center rib and stem off most greens. With chard and beet greens, reserve these ribs, dice into pieces and sauté with onion and/or garlic. Last night I made Spaghetti with Beet Greens and the beet ribs tinted the spaghetti pink. I still have a stash of Pesto 2008 in the freezer so I added 3 large dollops of pesto for seasoning. If you don’t have any pesto, add a couple of minced garlic cloves with the onion and beet stems.

1 large bunch beet greens

8 ounces whole wheat spaghetti

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 yellow or red onion, sliced

About 1/4 cup basil pesto

1 tablespoon sherry wine vinegar or other vinegar or lemon juice

Sea salt and red chile flakes

Wash the beet greens. Trim the leaves from the ribs. Cut the ribs into 1/4-inch pieces. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti until it is tender to the bite (al dente).

Onions and Beet Stems

Over medium high flame, heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and beet stems and cook and stir until the beet stems soften a bit. Add the garlic, if using. Chop the beet greens into 1-inch ribbons and add to the skillet. Reduce the heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the greens wilt and shrink. Stir in the pesto, and gently toss in the cooked spaghetti, stirring to mix well. Sprinkle with the vinegar. Season to taste with salt. Serve red chili flakes at the table for those who like some heat.

Makes 2 or 3 servings.

Beet Green Ribbons before shrinkage

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