Chard Leaves Stuffed with Bacon and Mushrooms, meanderings Recipe
I cut all of my chard back about 3 weeks ago. The leaves were all getting too big and too full of holes from the snails for my taste.
Not that I begrudge the snails their food (well, I do….) but I prefer my leaves to be intact, especially if I’m stuffing them.
The leaves that grew back were so much nicer than the first batch that I couldn’t resist making more chard rolls.
This time, rather than making a sauce I just melted some soft goat cheese. The skillet was nonstick and the goat cheese got just soft enough to scoop it onto the rolls.
I use a large skillet for blanching the big leaves. If I am doing more than 5 or 6 leaves I do a few at a time otherwise they tend to get too soft. I want to be able to roll them without tearing them.
Chard Leaves Stuffed with Bacon and Mushrooms
Total time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
- 10 medium – large chard leaves
- 3oz (90gr) bacon, chopped
- 1 large red onion, chopped
- 2oz (60gr) mushrooms, trimmed and chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 3 tbs fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped
- 3 tbs soft goat cheese
Instructions:
Blanch the chard leaves in boiling water for 20 seconds.
Remove and refresh in cold water, separating the leaves from each other. Drain well.
Cut the stem out by slicing on either side of the stem, about half way up the chard leaf. Discard stems.
Sauté bacon until crisp. Remove and set aside.
Add onion to skillet and sauté until just starting to get tender.
Add mushrooms, garlic; continue to sauté until onion is tender and mushrooms start to brown.
Combine bacon, onions, mushrooms and parsley.
Place about 1 tbs on a chard leaf, about 2 inches from the tip.
Roll the end of the leaf over, then roll the whole bundle over once more.
Tuck the sides of the leaf in and do one more complete roll, making a neat bundle. Trim any excess and discard.
Repeat for remaining leaves or until you’ve used the filling.
Put chard bundles into a skillet, add 1/4 inch of water, cover and simmer for 6 – 8 minutes. They don’t need to cook, just warm through.
Remove from skillet and place on a paper towel to absorb any excess water. Cover to keep warm.
Drain skillet, then add the goat cheese to the still hot skillet. It should melt in 10 – 20 seconds. If not put the skillet on very low heat. Don’t cook it, just melt it.
Divide chard rolls onto 2 plates.
Using a spatula, put a dollop of soft goat cheese on each of the chard rolls and serve.
The next room to be work on was the living room.
This is how it looked when we bought the house.
The original house had 4 fireplaces, three of which didn’t have chimneys that went all the way to the top.
We didn’t know that when we bought it. It wasn’t until after the closing that we realized it. We had taken a different road to the house to admire our new property. As we came down the hill I noticed that there was only one chimney coming out of the roof. I looked at mon mari and said: ‘There are 4 fireplaces, right? Why is there only 1 chimney?’
When the roof had been redone at some point in the past, they had just lopped three of the chimneys off.
This was one of them.
It’s a decorative fireplace.
We could put a stove in but I really don’t want to be tending more fires in the winter….
Even though I know mon mari would love having to chop more firewood.
I do love the big windows on this side of the house.
This is a good photo of the original floors.
This is what the room looked like for the first year we were working on the house.
We just kept moving stuff around as we worked, and little by little stuff found a home.
Once we got the room cleared out we went to work stripping the wall paper. The walls were in pretty good shape so only a little patching was required before we painted.
That saucer on the tripod (purple arrow) is a laser level the mon mari used to mark the new, level floor.
After the walls and ceiling were painted he started building the sub-floor so the actual floor would be level.
He used more bricks to extend the hearth a bit – purely for aesthetics.
There had been no insulation under any of the floors so that was added wherever possible.
When the floor was finished it was on the the trim and finishing around the windows.
Finally, we got to move the furniture in….
And unpack a few more boxes.
That dog behind the table is the most obedient, clean, well-behaved dog we’ve ever owned.
Not very cuddly, though.
Last update on August 3, 2015
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