Garlic & Onion Sautéed Chard

YOU GUYS.

I feel like I hit an edible gold mine tonight. On my way home from work this afternoon, I stopped at the grocery store to grab a handful of items we had run out of. I buy all of our apples organic, so I've been anxiously awaiting honeycrisp's appearance in the organic section...and today there were there! Anyway, while I was over there, I was eyeing the organic greens and my eyes stopped on the chard. For a long time (as in years), I've been wanting to expand my vegetable resumé, which includes mustard & collard greens, rainbow & red chard, etc. Growing up, my dad was always a very experimental cook, which is what inspires me to do the same; but for some reason, I have no real memory of him cooking these kinds of greens. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but I have no memory of ever eating these things.

Sooo...long story long, I bought a bunch of red chard. I brought it home and sautéed it. And then I fell in love with it. How have I never cooked this before?! It has a peppery flavor, not unlike arugula, wilts like spinach, but still keeps it's structure like kale does. Oh, and it was sautéed with garlic, onions, EVOO and sea salt, so you can't go wrong there.

What you need:

• One bunch of organic* chard (any color...red was beautiful, I can't wait to see what rainbow looks like!) per two adults
• Five cloves of garlic
• One yellow onion
• EVOO or oil of choice
• Fine grain sea salt
  *Chard falls under the kale/leafy greens category on the dirty dozen, so this is one you'll want to buy organic. 

How you do it:

1. Hand wash your chard, dry it and then tear the leaves off of the stalks. Lay your stalks aside.
2. Slice the onion into strips and chop the garlic, meanwhile heating the EVOO over medium heat in a skillet or wok. Chop the chard stalks, much like you would a stalk of celery (they look and feel the same). Once the oil is heated, add the garlic and sauté for a couple of minutes. Add the onion and chard stalk, stirring every minute or so. Allow these to cook for 4-5 minutes, or until the onion is translucent and chard is softened.
3. Add the chard leaves and wilt them, just like you would spinach. Remove from heat and toss with some fine sea salt.

It will all meld into this beautiful blend of flavors and textures that can be eaten alone or served over pasta, quinoa, rice or you could throw a few eggs in and have an amazing omelette in minutes!

I'll be wanting to try chard in a myriad of new ways, now. Especially since it's such a super food. Do you guys have any favorite chard recipes?