What to do with Swiss Chard?

Is what I always think when I get Swiss chard in my veg box. I love receiving my veg box, because I get to cook food I normally wouldn't buy. Swiss Chard is a green I'm just not really sure what to do with. Once I just curried it, the same way I would make spinach curry. It was lovely and had a slightly denser taste than spinach.

I didn't want to boil, steam or stir fry it, so I decided to make Swiss chard quesadilla.

These are a fab fun meal to have. I've never made quesadilla before but I knew in my head exactly what I wanted, so I made it come true. And it got the thumbs up from the American Vegetarian as well.

Ingredients (makes 3 quesadilla)

A bag of Swiss chard
1/2 red onion; sliced
1 clove of garlic; chopped and crushed into a paste
1 can of black beans (drained)
Any cheese of your choice ( I used Red Leicester) grated
2 fresh tomatoes (de-seeded and chopped)
6 soft flour tortilla
some olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
Some spray oil.

Method

First prepare your Swiss chard. Wash and chop the chard. Now the way I wash my chard is by giving it a bath in the sink as opposed to rinsing it under water. This way all of the mud from the veg box has defiantly been washed away. I do this twice. You can see from the colour of the water when the Swiss chard is clean. Chop the stems and roughly chop the leaves. Set aside.

Make the garlic paste. To do this just peel a garlic clove and chop quite finely, then add a little bit of salt and with the back of your knife crush it. The salt prevents the garlic from slipping away. Keep crushing it with the back of your knife until the garlic is paste like.

Now heat some oil in a pan and fry the sliced onion and garlic paste then add the Swiss chard and season with salt & pepper. Cook until wilted for about 5-7 minutes. Set aside.

Now prepare your other ingredients. Chop and de-seed two fresh tomatoes, so you have some nice small squares, drain and rinse one can of black beans and grate your cheese.

Then prepare the tortillas. I should point out that when you add the ingredients to your tortilla make sure you leave about an inch space between the edge of the tortilla and the filling.

Now get one tortilla and sprinkle some cheese on it, then add the Swiss chard, then the black beans, then some tomatoes, then some more cheese. Season with salt and pepper and top with another tortilla.

In a big frying pan (big enough for your tortilla to sit) spray some spay oil and add the entire tortilla to the pan. Let it cook for about 3-4 mins until browned to your liking then before you turn it over spay some oil on the tortilla and then very carefully turn it over and cook for another 3-4 minutes. You might find some of the filling fall out but it doesn't matter.

Then slip it on to a plate, cut in quarters and enjoy!

If you have any ideas what else to do with Swiss chard then please let me know. Your opinion on this recipe and my new look blog is very much appreciated.