Swiss Chard with Bleu Cheese

Swiss chard is another vitamin packed vegetable that kinda taste like spinach.  But in my opinion, less bitter with more bite.  I love swiss chard with cream, but wanted it to be light.  So I went internet surfing and bumped into Helen Rennie’s blog, Beyond Salmon.  Where she takes a béchamel laden swiss chard recipe and lightens it up, using the oven and only one dish.  That is my kind of easy!

I chose not to use the stems and only the leaves because they have a celery like texture and my family has a clear dislike for celery.  But the stems are perfectly edible and if you like cooked celery, you will like the stems.

The original recipe called for parmesan cheese as the topping but I didn’t have any so I used bleu cheese, which I found to be a wonderfully pungent finish, but I could easily skip the cheese and enjoy the lightly laced  creamed chard all by itself.

Swiss Chard

Wash and cut into large pieces and place in a 8X8 baking dish.   Drizzle with olive oil and  season with salt and pepper.  

Bake until tender and wilted.

Place on a serving dish and sprinkle with cheese and black pepper.

SWISS CHARD with BLEU CHEESE

1              bunch                     swiss chard, tough stems removed

1              Tbsp.                     olive oil

1              good pinch              kosher salt

2              good pinch              black pepper, divided

2              Tbsp.                      heavy cream

2              Tbsp.                      bleu cheese crumbles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cut off tough stems from the swiss chard and cut or tear leaves into large pieces.  Place leaves in a bowl and cover with cold tap water to wash.  Dry on paper towels or in a salad spinner.

Place leaves in an 8 X 8 baking dish and drizzle with olive oil and season with kosher salt and pepper.  Toss gently to mix and bake for 5 minutes.  Remove from oven and pour cream over chard.  Return to the oven for 10 minutes or until chard is tender and wilted.  Place in a small casserole dish and top with bleu cheese and a pinch of black pepper.