Swiss chard: Easy in the garden and kitchen

Our crop of Swiss chard has been coming in full-force these last couple of weeks, and it’s been fun putting the tasty green to use. On Sunday morning, it made it into omelets with feta, tomatoes and mushrooms, and later that night, into vegetable lasagna. It’s also one of my favorite pizza ingredients, especially when paired with salty ham or prosciutto and fresh mozzarella. Packed with vitamins, Swiss chard has a mild and nutty flavor and remains toothy when cooked. Best of all, its scarlet stalks bring added beauty to a dish. Having it in a garden box outside my kitchen means I can also snatch it up when it’s young and tender and use it raw in salads. According to the LSU AgCenter Vegetable Planting Guide, it’s one of those crops you can have for several months out of the year in Louisiana. Plant a spring/summer crop of Swiss chard between January and May 1, and another in the fall between mid-August and the end of October.

A side note about constructing a spring veggie lasagna: It can be ridiculously fast and delicious if you do the following. Find a good jarred pasta sauce or keep homemade in your freezer. I’m often relying on the former, and after years of experimenting and I found one I like, Muir Glen Organic Garden Vegetable. Use no-boil lasagna sheets, and don’t worry about sautéing the chard. Slice by chiffonade and layer it, just as you would meat or cheese, along with thin slices of raw zucchini and grated carrots. Because none of this needs cooking in advance, the prep is minimal. Once the assembly of sauce, pasta, veggies and cheese layers are complete, bake it at 375 for 45 minutes.