I had some swiss chard and corn left from yesterday’s visit to the Farmers’ Market and wanted to use it up while it was still fresh. Then I got involved at work and before I knew it dinnertime had arrived and no meat had been removed from the freezer to go with the veggies.
So I put on my thinking cap, pulled out a couple of frozen chicken breasts, and proceeded to prepare a meal I’m not sure my kids would eat. Each breast was split into quarters and then wrapped in a chard leaf with a slice of onion, a bit of salt and pepper, and a couple of leaves of fresh basil. Italian squash (think zucchini, but much lighter in color) was split in half, brushed with EVOO, and given a liberal coating of a no-salt onion and garlic seasoning mix and Parmesan cheese. The corn was dunked in water and then onto to Bubba Ho-Keg for about twenty minutes, then joined by the squash and chard-wrapped chicken. After about 5 minutes per side for the chicken, dinner was ready.
The chard-wrapped chicken looked a little lonely without any topping once it hit the plate, so I sprinkled a little Parmesan cheese over it to dress it up a bit.
The results were actually very good albeit somewhat unusual. The fresh basil combined with the sweetness of the onion had permeated the chicken, and there was a bit of bitterness imparted by the chard. I think this might have been improved by a bit of sweetness to offset the bitterness of the chard; perhaps I’ll add some balsamic vinegar when I eat the leftovers tomorrow. The Italian squash was also very good, and the corn was excellent.
Not bad for a Monday…
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I had never even heard of chard, interesting stuff!
It’s sort of a cross between beet greens and collard greens. Comes in a couple of different colors (the stalks are either red or white with dark green leaves) and it pretty good stuff. Easy to grow; I grew up eating the stuff as my dad always had some going in the garden. Will grow almost all year-round if you have a mild climate. Which you don’t, so I don’t know what your growing season might be…
I stopped growing in 9th grade, HA!
I would have to look for them; my green thumb was put on permanent vacation after what is refered around here as “the potato attempt disaster”.
I hope that wasn’t in any way related to the great potato famine…
Way to many veggies for me !!!
Trust me when I say I would never waste something like this on you. Although you would have enjoyed the corn…
That chard is some durable stuff to take 10 minutes on the grill. I think you are on to something about the balsamic.
Nice job on thinking of creative ways to use good produce.
I kept the temps down in the 400-450 range and the chard-wrapped chicken away from the direct flames, but yes, it is some durable stuff. If nothing else it protected the basil leaves and allowed the flavor to heavily infuse the chicken. Even the leftovers were pretty good for lunch the next day…
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