Italian Style Swiss Chard

We had my parents over for dinner this evening and, thanks to my mom reminded me, I took this quick photo after I'd already had a few bites.

So of course there's the salad - the same salad we eat every night because we have SO much lettuce! Then mashed potatoes with kale which has also become a dinner staple around here. The sausages are turkey cranberry and they came from the Italian Market. This is the second time we've had them and they're great. Actual pieces of cranberry in the sausage make it delicious. I tried a new recipe for swiss chard from RecipeZaar:


Ingredients

2 lbs swiss chard
1 1/3 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic (minced or pressed)
2/3 tablespoon capers, mashed
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Trim stem ends of chard. Thinly slice stems crosswise up to base of leaves; set slices aside. Reserve a few whole leaves to line serving dish; coarsely chop remaining leaves.

2. In a 6 to 8 quart pan over medium high heat, stir oil, garlic and capers until garlic is slightly softened, about 2 minutes. Add chard stems; stir until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir in chopped leaves, part at a time if pan if full, cover and cook until wilted, about 4 minutes.

3. Mix in vinegar; season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish a serving dish with reserved chard leaves; spoon greens along side.

For dessert, we had Jasons saskatoon pie! I apologize for the picture quality - again I forgot to take a picture of the actual slice so I only have half of the pie in its plate.

If anyone's interested in the recipe, you'll have to leave me a comment and I'll get Jason to type it out. The filling was super good and pastry flaky as always.

JASONS REVIEW: The swiss chard was a good change from just straight up steamed. It added alot of flavour. The pie was very good. I can't believe everyone is so astonished that I can make good pastry - it's easier than it looks!

MY REVIEW: I really liked the swiss chard. I could have let it sit in the pot a little longer as some of the stems were still a little hard but the flavour was very good. The pie was fabulous and I look forward to leftovers tomorrow. I COULD NEVER MAKE PASTRY.

My pictures have all been cell phone pictures lately and not looking so hot! I will be sure to bring out the big camera sometime this week and post some pictures of my garden as it's been doing great.