Cheese stuffed swiss chard roll recipe?

[SusanL]

LGBurns- could you possibly share this recipe? I must go to the Bookstore Saturday to get the Moosewood Lowfat Cookbook, but would love to make that recipe on Friday, does it have any meat in it? If you can, it would be greatly appreciated!!

[Jeanne G]

SusanL,
I love your suggestion and happily await this recipe!! I've never heard of this recipe before and welcome all swiss chard recipes because I grow this veggie and love it!!!
Jeanne

[SusanL]

JeanneG- is it hard to grow? We have a small garden but get lots of veggies from it. Would I need much room to grow them? When do you plant them? I know that depends on your zone.

[Jeanne G]

SusanL,
It is not hard at all to grow!! I was going to attempt spinach, but a friend suggested swiss chard b/c sometimes spinach doesn't grow well (for some reason) here in Ohio. And they produce beautifully - into November! I plant mine in May. They don't take up too much space, I forget exactly but I think spacing is about 1 1/2 feet after thinning. And it freezes well, so throughout the growing period I will cut some, blanch it, and freeze it for use in the winter. I would think it would grow well in PA. It does well after a little cold weather. This year I'm going to try growing kale too! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif Good Luck! I've posted a thread about other swiss chard recipes below:
http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/Forum1/HTML/001663.html

I sure hope you get the recipe you're asking for!

[This message has been edited by Jeanne G (edited 02-07-2001).]

[SusanL]

Jeanne -thank you so much for the swiss chard advise. I grow lots and lots of spinach so I am sure that I will be able to grow swiss chard. I remember that thread and have your recipes in my TO TRY folder. I will have to try one this weekend, they all look so tasty. We eat a tremendous amount of spinach, escarole, and kale each week, why didn't we think of swiss chard? Duh! Again, many thanks for the info and super recipes!! BTW - I am ordering the Moosewood from Amazon right after I get off this board, so if we don't get the recipe, I do understand if we don't, I will post it for you. I know that I am often busy or miss posts, I hate when I do that!Take care!

[emilycat]

Here you are, guys...I have Lowfat Moosewood Favorites, too, and this recipe does look delicious, doesn't it?

Swiss Chard Rolls Two Ways

Here are not one but two versions of stuffed Swiss chard rolls, one with a hearty grain and mushroom filling, the other with a low-fat cheese filling. Once you have the knack for folding the chard leaves into little packages, the preparation is quite effortless.
Anytime you have leftover bulgur and/or rice, remember they're perfect for the mushroom filling. If you're cooking the rice and bulgur especially for this dish, prepare the Swiss chard leaves and the rest of the mushroom filling while the rice simmers and the bulgur soaks. You will need 1/3 cup of raw rice and 3/8 cup of raw bulgur.
For entertaining of festive occasions, serve both kinds of rols; they complement one another nicely.

12 large Swiss chard leaves

Mushroom Filling

1 c. finely chopped onions
4 garlic cloves, minced and pressed
1 t. olive oil
1 celery stalk, chopped
1/2 t. dried marjoram
1 c. sliced mushrooms (about 4 ounces)
1 T. dry sherry
1 T. soy sauce
1/2 t. dill
pinch of thyme
1 c. cooked bulgur
1 c. cooked brown rice
2 T. currants
1 T. fresh lemon juice

Cheese Filling

2 leeks, well-rinsed and minced (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 t. olive oil
dash of salt
3 scallions, minced
1 1/2 pounds 1% cottage cheese (about 3 cups)
2 T. chopped fresh basil
salt and ground black pepper to taste

2 large tomatoes, sliced (optional)
1 c. tomato juice

nonfat sour cream or yogurt

Remove and discard the stems and any tough ribs of the Swiss chard. Blanch the leaves in boiling water for 3 or 4 minutes, until pliable. Set aside.
To prepare the mushroom filling, saute the onions and garlic in the oil for 3 minutes.
Ad the celery and marjoram, cover, and cook on medium heat from 5 to 10 minutes, until the vegetables are softened. Stir in the mushrooms, sherry, soysauce, dill and thyme and simmer until the mushrooms are tender and juicy. Remove from the heat and stir in the bulgur, rice, currants and lemon juice.

To prepare the cheese filling, saute the leeks in oil for 2 minutes. Sprinkle with salt, cover and continue to cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until tender and bright green, stirring often to prevent sticking. Remove from the heat. Add the scallions, cottage cheese, basil and salt and pepper to taste and mix well.

Preheat oven to 350.
Prepare a 9 x 12-inch nonreactive baking dish with a very light coating of oil or cooking spray. Cover the bottom with the tomato slices, if using, and set aside.
Place about 1/4 cup of the filling in the center of each Swiss chard leaf. Fold the sides of each leaf toward the center, and then roll it up from the stem end to the tip to form a neat little package. Place the rolls, seam side down, in the baking dish, pour the tomato juice over them, and voer tightly with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until heated through. Serve the rolls with some pan juices spooned over the top and, in desired, garnish with a dollop of nonfat sour cream or yogurt.

Serves 4 to 6

[Jeanne G]

Woo Hoo!!
Thank you Emilycat http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif from myself & SusanL!! I had heard that there were two, and was very interested in them both. I think I will make them this weekend!!!
Sincerely,
Jeanne

[cindyluwho]

Anne--
I've never tried this, but I just saw an episode of that cooking show with Jacques Pepin and Julia Child, where they made stuffed cabbage. One of their tips was to freeze the cabbage, which allows you to skip the blanching step. Perhaps this would work for the swiss chard as well?

[Anne]

thanks for the recipies Emilycat. I have some whole frozen chard and collard leaves in my freezer and will see if either work - I suspect the chard will be to delicate after being frozen but will give it a whirl. fI have stuffed frozen collard and cabbage before and they worked great. I just never thought to try chard. Most of mine (frozen) goes into soup or stew.

[SusanL]

Emilycat- A Huge thanks from Jeanne and me. http://www.millan.net/anims/giffar/coffeepals2.gif
You know what we will be cooking this weekend!

[This message has been edited by SusanL (edited 02-09-2001).]

[emilycat]

You're most welcome http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif And I love the graphic, Susan!

[LGBurns]

Woops! Thanks Emily! Sorry, didn't see this message 'til today -- things get buried pretty quickly on this page now. I'll have to be more careful.

These rolls are really yummy. I made the cheese filled because the friends who were coming for dinner don't like mushrooms, but I plan to make the mushroom ones soon. Just wanted to warn you that the tomato juice turns really watery while the rolls are baking. It made the dish pretty messy to serve. I served it with a Barley Rice Pilaf and next time I would put the rolls over the pilaf in order to soak up some of the juice.

Also, Anne, I would think that if you just didn't blanch it the frozen chard should be fine. The chard I stuffed was pretty delicate but it was very easy to roll them anyway.

Enjoy!

[This message has been edited by LGBurns (edited 02-09-2001).]

[Anne]

Hi Cindyluwho and LGBurns thanks for the words of encouragement. I will definitely give the chard rolls a try. My chard leaves are blanched before freezing and when the moisture left in the leaves crystalizes upon freezing it seems to render the leaf a lot more delicate than it was after blanching. Also, when I pick chard it is a lot more tender than what I see in local stores. Kale doesn't seem to freeze well at all but collards and cabbage seem to keep their structural integrity a bit better for rolls. I guess if the chard completely falls apart I can claim to be making some new type of casserol, perhaps chard-lasagne sans noodles?

[SusanL]

Wow, made this last night and it was WONDERFUL!! My DH still doesn't believe that it was lowfat, "Why haven't we eaten swiss chard before?"
The only change I made was to add garlic to the onions. This is definitely a keeper! Thank you LGBurns for recommending it and Emily for the recipe. This is a once a week side for us, if I could only convince DH that is was his entree...wink, wink!