Rainbow chard is such a vibrant vegetable. Seriously, I wanted to put them all in a vase and just keep them forever to add a little pop of color to my dining area. The leaves are humongous, the stalks are really hearty and it’s fun to work with something that is so naturally beautiful and tasty. I was at Melissa’s Produce for The Blender Girl’s book signing and as always, leaving Melissa’s is just as exciting as walking through the doors of Melissa’s. The “thanks for coming” swag bag is always full of exotic fruits and veggies, kitchen gadgets and interesting things to try. It literally makes my day knowing I’m going to have some new things to cook and create recipes with that I may not otherwise have access to. This goodie bag was filled with a new varietal of candied seedless grapes, seedless lemons, precooked lentils, organic onions, kumquats and the rainbow chard. Okay enough about how they got to my house, let’s start cooking.
I was in the mood for the some soup and I’ve seen my mom use chard in her soups so I thought I would give it a try with the ingredients I had on hand.
Ingredients
Rainbow chard, lentils, garlic, onions
(not camera ready was the chicken stock)
Make sure to give the rainbow chard a good rinse before you start cutting them up.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSArT_9hyo_/?taken-by=kimlaiyingling
Slice or dice, it’s totally up to you. This was an organic onion from my swag bag.
Add a tbsp of olive oil to the pan and saute the onions and a tbsp of garlic
Slice up the stems first and add them to the onion and garlic mix. The stems are a bit tougher than the the leaf of the chard so it needs to be cooked a bit longer. Saute everything for about 4 minutes.
Next add in the chard leaves. I just did a rough chop. You can also tear the leaves by hand.
Mix everything together and let everything cook on low for 6-8 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on it and stir every few minutes.
Time for a taste bump. Go ahead and add in the chicken stock. I used 4 cups stock and 1 cup water. You’re gonna put the lid on and let it get boiling for a few minutes.
If you have any extras you want to add now’s the time! Another goodie in my bag was this box of steamed lentils. They are already cooked so I’m adding them in now since my soup only has 15 minutes to go. Cook the soup another 15 minutes uncovered on medium. You can go ahead and add a little pepper or chili flakes.
WALLAH! So tasty and so healthy.
