Grow Your Own!

How is it that this event has been going on for a full 12 months now, and I have only first heard of it! I was so excited yesterday when I stumbled on Andrea’s Recipes and saw the blogging event, Grow Your Own. The event is simple, you simply prepare something to eat that you have grown yourself.  I’ve been doing that a lot lately, and this week the pickings are getting even better.  I’ve really, really been enjoying my garden this year, and it’s been quite the education learning about new-to-me vegetables. The only thing I don’t like about my garden, and its square foot set-up is that so far, it hasn’t quite been enough to share.  Hopefully that will change with the tomatoes, squash and eggplant.  In the meantime though, I can share what I have been eating, because if I had known how delicious today’s vegetable was in the past, I would have tried it much sooner.

Chard.  Specifically, Rainbow Chard, was something that I added to the garden this year because Zander asked me to.  He liked the photo in the seed catalog of  the colored celery, and wanted to grow it.  I was game for anything at that point, so I ordered it, and then subsequently planted it.  It didn’t take long for these colorful baby shoots to start springing up in the dirt.  We first started picking the chard as baby leaves to add to salad- and the kids loved that.  As it’s grown though, the leaves have become more bitter- meaning that they need to be cooked to really be enjoyed.  It’s been fun trying out new recipes and adding wilted chard to things like pizza. Can I just say that a wilted chard and mushroom pizza is pretty darn close to what a last meal should be?

Today’s recipe is incredibly simple, easy, and you won’t believe how good it is until you actually try it.  Chard Burritos with Tomato-Chipotle Salsa came from my latest cookbook, A Year In A Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop.  I loved how quick and easy it was, and if you had leftover rice lurking about in the fridge, this would be a perfect way to use that up.  My only change to the recipe was that I didn’t make the salsa.  Tomatoes are not in season yet, and quite honestly, for just myself, I didn’t need a whole batch of salsa, so I simply used a bottled salsa.   And to further add to the theme of “Grow Your Own” I rounded out the meal with other fancies grown by my two hands.  Here on the plate with my burrito is a pile of shelling peas, which I grew and shelled.  I couldn’t believe how much bigger than store bought peas these were.  They were tasty, and I don’t normally like peas.  In the back of the plate, we have the very first picking of beets.  I was amazed to find that some beets were ready to be pulled!  I went back and forth on how to prepare them, but ultimately decided that for the first batch, I would simply cook them and dress them with a chive butter- the chives also snipped from my garden.  I adore beets, and these were simple and wonderful, and I’m looking forward for many more to spring forth from my garden.

So without further ado, here is my contribution to Grow Your Own #12, Chard Burritos with Tomato-Chipotle Salsa.   If you’ve grown something and would like to participate in this event, head on over to Andrea’s Recipes and check out the rules– even non-bloggers can participate in this one!

Chard Burritos with Tomato-Chipotle Salsa

Salsa:

1 pound ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into 1-inch dice

1 small chipotle in adobo sauce, minced (about 1 tsp)

1/2 teaspoon minced fresh oregano leaves

Salt

Burritos:

1 pound chard, preferably rainbow chard, leaves washed, shaken dry to remove excess water

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 medium garlic cloves, minced

Salt

4 large flour tortillas, warmed one at a time in a large skillet

2 cups cooked white rice

1/4 cup sour cream

For the salsa: Combine the tomatoes, chile, oregano and salt to taste in a medium bowl.  Set aside.

For the burritos: With a chef’s knife, separate the fleshy stalk from the green portions of each chard leaf.  Trim the ends of the stalks and chop fine.  You should have about 2 1/2 cups chopped stalks.  Stack the leaves and slice them crosswise into 1/2-inch thick strips.  You should have about 8 packed cups of sliced leaves.

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering.  Add the onion and chard stalks and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, about 8 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add the chard leaves (it’s best if they are still slightly damp from washing) and salt to taste.  Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until very tender, about 7 minutes.  If the greens are soupy, remove the cover and simmer for a minute or two.  Adjust the seasonings, adding more salt if necessary.

Lay the warmed tortillas flat on a work surface.  Spoon 1/2 cup of the rice over the bottom of each tortilla.  Top the rice with some chard (roughly 1/2 a cup) and 1 tablespoon sour cream.  Roll the tortillas, tucking the side toward the center to form neat bundles.  Slice each burrito in half and serve, passing salsa at the table.