Sautéed Rainbow Chard

Here's the second recipe from last night's dinner of Spiced Lentils and Sautéed Rainbow Chard over brown rice.

Recipe:
Sautéed Rainbow Chard

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 bunch rainbow chard, rinsed
• about 1.5 teaspoons lime juice
• sprinkle of sugar (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

To prepare the chard for cooking, chop off the bottom third of the stems and discard.  This removes the toughest portion of the chard, leaving the rest for consumption.  Chop up the rest of the stems and leaves into bite-sized bits, keeping the edible stems and leaves separate at this stage.

Next, heat the olive oil and garlic in a skillet until the oil becomes hot.  Add the onion and chopped chard stems and cook for about 7 minutes, or until the stems begin to soften.  Then add the remaining chard leaves, lime juice, a sprinkle of sugar, and salt and pepper to taste and cook until the leaves wilt and the chard stem becomes tender.

Serves 3-4 people.  (It looks like a lot before it's cooked, but trust me--it really cooks down.)

Comments:
I'm going to abandon the carrot rating system for this post since I think it's pretty bizarre to rate a vegetable.  I really like chard, and rainbow chard is the best because of the incredible color of each stalk.  If you don't know what rainbow chard looks like, I recommend you look it up and prepare to be impressed.  It can be a bit bitter-tasting and that might not be universally appealing (hence the addition of sugar in the recipe), but a sprinkling of sugar can take care of that.