Thursday, February 18, 2010

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You Can't Beet 'Em 

It's been a while, but I had to share a dish I made for dinner tonight. It's probably more of a side dish, but we ate it as our main meal. I could've used a bit more, so doubling the recipe would be a good idea if you want to serve two people a hearty meal. I'll bold the organicstoyou items again just for fun.

Middle Eastern Side Dish with Green Chard

1 bunch of Green Chard 
4 beets (roots only)
1 can chick peas
1 avocado 
4 or 5 cloves of garlic, smashed and then minced
1 small bunch of parsley, chopped
lemon juice 
soy sauce
garlic salt
cayenne pepper
paprika
olive oil

Wash off excess dirt from beets, place in baking pan and bake at 400 for 1 hour or until a fork can go in about half way or more easily.

Meanwhile: Rib the chard and discard the ends only. Chop ribs into small pieces, rinse, and put aside. Do the same for the leaves and keep separate. Chop garlic. Drain and wash out chickpeas. Chop parsley. Halve avocado, pit, carefully remove "meat" and slice lengthwise into about 6 slices per half. 

When beets are done, dunk in a bath of very cold water and then peel the skins (should come off fairly easily with fingers).

Sautee garlic in olive oil. When half done, add beets and chard ribs. Cover and cook until mostly soft. (this took longer than I expected!) Add chard leaves and cook until mostly wilted, then add chickpeas and cook through. Add a touch of paprika and cayenne pepper according to desired spice level, garlic salt to taste, a splash of soy sauce, and then shut off heat and add several generous splashes of lemon juice and the parsley.

Garnish plates with avocado.

The whole mixture will turn nicely pinkish -- this was fabulous!