Berkshire Eagle Column: My own “Chopped” challenge

I am so happy it CSA season again! We belong to the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) at Woven Roots Farm in Tyringham and it is always a joy to go and get our share of produce throughout the season. We do a half share, every other week, because now that our kids are grown and gone, that’s plenty for us. Other farms have different arrangements or perhaps you just prefer to go to a farm stand or farmers’ market when you need something, but whatever you do, please do try to support local growers and producer wherever you live!

Early in the season, among other things, we got a lot of rhubarb. I made a chicken tagine with rhubarb from The New Your Times Cooking site, a strawberry-rhubarb cobbler (bonus recipe below), and with a bunch of chard, also from Woven Roots, I came up with the recipe I wrote about this past week for my Berkshire Eagle column.

MY OWN “CHOPPED” BASKET

by Elizabeth Baer

I first learned about Woven Roots and so many other Berkshire farms and food producers when I was doing recipe-testing and copyediting for The Berkshires Farm Table Cookbook, written by Elisa Spungen Bildner and Robert Bildner with Brian Alberg. I’m not sure why we didn’t buy a share in a CSA (community sponsored agriculture) sooner, but I adore our regular visits to the farm during the growing season and seeing what produce shows up.

As soon as I glance along the tables in the greenhouse where pick-up takes place, I begin to plan what I will make. I kind of like not knowing what I will get from week to week, and letting the ideas and creativity guide me as we work our way through the week’s offerings.

For the first pick-up this year, of course there were radishes. The first thing I did when I got home was to enjoy thin slices on good sourdough bread with sweet butter, as Rachel Portnoy of Cafe Triskele suggested in these pages in her recent column on radishes. I knew we would be getting lots of early season greens, and we had a great dinner using leftover proteins from prior dinners in a Cobb salad, and then a salade Niçoise. The bok choy went into a wonderful stir-fry with ramen noodles and ground pork with six-minute eggs on top.

We also got a batch of one of my favorites, rainbow chard, which I know is not the most well-known vegetable out there. This hearty green can be used in most recipes calling for spinach, and I love it sautéed simply, with a squeeze of lemon. On this visit to the farm, however, we also got some rhubarb, and I had read in several places recently suggesting that in savory dishes, rhubarb can replace lemon to add tartness to a dish. I tried it and came up with a winner!

If it’s not rhubarb season, fresh lemon juice works just fine. Also, early in the season, the chard stems are quite tender; later when the leaves and stems are bigger, it helps to start cooking the chopped stems before the leaves. I offer the relevant adjustments below.

Of course, when you can get local, farm-fresh produce, the flavors shine all on their own, and the recipes are quite simple. So whether you belong to a CSA or just frequent any of the many farmers’ markets in our region, be adventurous and try making chard, or something else new!

SAUTÉED CHARD WITH RHUBARB

Serves 2 as a side dish, can be doubled, but be sure to use a big enough pan

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

• 1 small onion (or ½ medium), sliced thin into half-moons

• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

• ⅓ cup thinly sliced rhubarb (or lemon juice, see below)

• 8 ounces rainbow or other chard, any larger leaves cut in half; if older, tougher pieces, separate stems and chop); leaves rinsed

• ¼ teaspoon Aleppo pepper, or ⅛ teaspoon fresh ground pepper

• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice if not using rhubarb

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium to large sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat until shimmering and fragrant. Add the onions and salt. Sauté, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft and just beginning to become golden on the edges, about 3-5 minutes.

Add the rhubarb, and the chard stems if using older, tougher greens. Continue to sauté until the rhubarb has softened, another 3-5 minutes.

Add the chard and the Aleppo pepper. Depending on the size of your pan, you may not be able to add all at once, which is just fine. As the leaves cook down, add more chard until all is in the pan. Sauté until all the leaves are softened and wilted. If not using rhubarb, add the lemon juice just before removing from the heat. Drizzle with the remaining teaspoon of olive oil and serve.

Bonus recipe (not from the Berkshire Eagle column)

STRAWBERRY-RHUBARB COBBLER

• 2 cups chopped rhubarb

• 2 cups hulled and cut strawberries

• 1½ tablespoons instant tapioca

• ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

• ¼ teaspoon fiori di Sicilia or vanilla

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• Scant ¾ teaspoon baking powder

• Pinch salt

• ⅓ cup unsalted butter (5 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon), cold, cut into small pieces

• ⅔ heavy cream, cold, plus more for brushing biscuit tops

• Vanilla sugar for sprinkling, or cinnamon sugar or other sugar

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Spray 9-by-9-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray.

Put the fruit, tapioca, ½ cup sugar, fiori di Sicilia in the pan. Mix and let sit while you make the biscuit dough.

Mix the flour, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Using a pastry cutter or two forks, break up the butter into small pieces (⅛-¼ inch). Add heavy cream and mix until just combined. Divide the dough into nine portions, flatten into thick round disks, and arrange on top of the fruit. Brush the tops of the biscuits with heavy cream and sprinkle with vanilla sugar.

Place baking dish on a foil-lined sheet pan in case of drips and bake 45-55 minutes until tops of biscuits are golden. Serve warm or at room temperature with ice cream or whipped cream if desired.