Swiss chard with cumin, tomatoes, and cilantro

This recipe is deceptive—maybe it doesn’t look all that phenomenal, but I’m telling you, it is fabulous. The fresh Swiss chard at the market now is so sweet and delicious, and those big red tomatoes are so good… You can get fresh cilantro, and I even used Alaskan storage onions! Even if you don’t have the cilantro, make this anyway!

It’s a variation of a recipe in a Cooks’ Illustrated from many years ago. I have all the back issues, and I love mining them for good ideas!

If you happen to have a fresh jalepeno hanging around, by all means use it, but otherwise, just use a small can of chopped green chiles. I always keep a few cans in the pantry just for these sorts of occasions. The chiles really do add a great taste.

I ate this with spicy roasted cauliflower with red peppers and cumin and a little brown basmati rice (recipes in the cookbook and on the website), and it was SO GOOD!

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, minced
sea salt or kosher salt
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 medium jalepeno pepper, OR 1 small can chopped green chiles
1 ½ teaspoons cumin
2 large tomatoes, chopped
2 pounds Swiss chard with stems
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
freshly-ground black pepper

1. Wash the chard and cut the stems off each leaf. Holding the stems in a bundle, cut them into ½-inch slices. If the leaves are large, slice them into 1-inch wide ribbons, but if they are small, you can leave them whole. Drain the leaves, but don’t dry them.
2. Heat oil in a large saute pan. Add onion and ½ teaspoon of salt, sauté for a minute or two until starting to soften, then add the chard stems. Cook until stems are tender and onion is cooked. How long this takes will depend on the age of the chard. If the pan is drying out before the stems are tender, just add a bit of water to steam them and finish cooking them.
3. Then add the garlic, chiles, and cumin; sauté another minute or so. Add the tomatoes and cook until their juices release, about another minute. Add wet greens to the pan, stir around a bit, then cover and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until greens completely wilt but are still bright green, about 5 minutes. Uncover, and if needed, finish cooking until just tender. Add cilantro. Taste and season with additional salt if desired, and pepper if it’s not spicy enough already from the chiles.