As I’ve mentioned in the past, one of the more challenging (and oftentimes frustrating) things about belonging to a CSA is trying to find new ways to use up the bounty before it goes bad. While not much of a problem once summer is in full swing and the options are plentiful, after a long cool spring this year we’ve been getting a barrage of various greens for the past few boxes and not much else. In the box we received on the weekend ($35) we had;
- 1 pint strawberries
- 4 baby bok choi
- 1 bundle chard
- 1 bundle kale
- 1 bunch radishes
- 1 head romaine
- 1 lb beans
- 1 tangle garlic scapes
- 1 bag mixed baby greens
- 1 bundle baby chards
Truth be told, neither of us is all that big on greens other than salad, though I do enjoy the odd experiment every now and then. That means that more often than not I have to find a captivating way to use the produce, or assume the guilt tantamount to my wastefulness, when a week later I have to throw it out, limp and lifeless from the back of the fridge.
I’m determined not to do that so much this year, so with that in mind, I started combing my brain for ways to use the chards and kale (our least favourite items aside from the radishes, which I will probably have to give away). As a worst case scenario I knew I could always use the kale to make my awesome bread soup with the parm rind and beans (a riff on ribollita) but being that it’s summer I didn’t want to resort to that because it’s hot and rather filling; more of a winter dish really. If I really wanted to I could just make it and freeze it for later, or lunches, but I wanted to try and find something new.
And then I remembered this.
I read about these kale “chips” several months ago in my weekly Chowhound newsletter, and at the time was intrigued, but had no kale in the house. Re-reading the descriptions and vague recipes, I decided to attempt my first batch with the larger head of chard. After washing and spin-drying the chard, it was tossed with coffee olive oil, salt and jalapeno flakes in a bowl. Into a 250* oven for 25 minutes, it slowly began to dehydrate into rich, emerald green shards.
Once done I took a tentative nibble. I don’t know if I’d call it “crack-like” or “chippy” the way the boosters do on Chow, but it was definitely miles ahead of anything else I’d thought to make with chard, so I guess that defines it as a keeper. Once we’ve gone through all of this, I’ll do up another batch with actual kale. Perhaps I’ll coat it with a masala blend… or some herbes de Provence… hmm…
Until next time…
Tags: chard, Cooking, farmshare, kale, New Projects
