More Cooking Adventures
So, I got this red chard in my organic delivery and I had no idea what to do with it. It's not even listed in four of the many cookbooks on my shelf so I gave up and decided to use the recipe that they'd conveniently given me. It was pork chops and a chard/cranberry sauce.
Man, what a lot of work. There was lots of simmer this, transfer that, bake those, boil that and add this while reducing... Lots of ingredients, too. Chard, garlic, scallions, wine, fresh thyme, cranberries, olive oil, chicken broth, butter, pork chops, sugar, salt and pepper. I think that's it but it's all a blur now.
I got totally confused by what to do with the chard. The ingredient list said " 1 lb chard, stems & center ribs removed, leaves coarsely chopped". That implies to me that I should then discard the stems and center ribs. However, in the cooking directions it said, "Add chard stems & center ribs cook." No where did it say anything about the leaves.
What to do.
I consulted with Steven (the blind leading the blind). He had no idea but felt we should just use the leaves. I cut off a small bit of a stem and tasted it. It was really bitter but we were going to add sugar later so maybe that would be OK. Deciding to err on the side of caution, we decided to leave the stems and ribs out.
After all the cooking and reducing, the quantity of sauce didn't turn out to be very much. We were a little afraid to even try it. I had a small spoonful out of the pan and decided it wasn't bad at all. We both dished some up with our chops and sat down for a quality family dinner in front of the TV.
It was actually pretty good. The cranberry flavor was smooth. I have no idea if you could taste the chard or not since I've never had it before. I asked Steven if it would be worth making again. He wasn't enthusiastic but didn't give me a straight out "no" so I considered him neutral.
I kept the recipe but I'm not sure I will make it again, just because it was a pain in the arse to prepare.
BTW, if anyone thinks I was supposed to use the stems, please feel free to let me know.
Man, what a lot of work. There was lots of simmer this, transfer that, bake those, boil that and add this while reducing... Lots of ingredients, too. Chard, garlic, scallions, wine, fresh thyme, cranberries, olive oil, chicken broth, butter, pork chops, sugar, salt and pepper. I think that's it but it's all a blur now.
I got totally confused by what to do with the chard. The ingredient list said " 1 lb chard, stems & center ribs removed, leaves coarsely chopped". That implies to me that I should then discard the stems and center ribs. However, in the cooking directions it said, "Add chard stems & center ribs cook." No where did it say anything about the leaves.
What to do.
I consulted with Steven (the blind leading the blind). He had no idea but felt we should just use the leaves. I cut off a small bit of a stem and tasted it. It was really bitter but we were going to add sugar later so maybe that would be OK. Deciding to err on the side of caution, we decided to leave the stems and ribs out.
After all the cooking and reducing, the quantity of sauce didn't turn out to be very much. We were a little afraid to even try it. I had a small spoonful out of the pan and decided it wasn't bad at all. We both dished some up with our chops and sat down for a quality family dinner in front of the TV.
It was actually pretty good. The cranberry flavor was smooth. I have no idea if you could taste the chard or not since I've never had it before. I asked Steven if it would be worth making again. He wasn't enthusiastic but didn't give me a straight out "no" so I considered him neutral.
I kept the recipe but I'm not sure I will make it again, just because it was a pain in the arse to prepare.
BTW, if anyone thinks I was supposed to use the stems, please feel free to let me know.
