Chard Chicken
Need something new to do with the Swiss chard (and other greens) in your farm share? Try this easy, seasonal recipe with bright lemony flavor.
This newsletter is a bit later than I wanted it to be. I have been obsessed with an entirely different recipe, and wanted that to be in this newsletter, but it’s just not ready yet, and I’m not ready to share it.
Then I realized I had this recipe all ready to go, and all I had to do was cook and photograph it. So here it is.
Where I live, it’s the time of year that lots of leafy greens are available at farm stands, farmers’ markets, and in farm shares. The name of this recipe, chosen by my son (with a very purposeful play on words) indicates Swiss chard is the greenery of choice, but it will also work with a mixture of chard, beet greens, or spinach, if you don’t have a whole pound of Swiss chard available. Swiss chard has a natural lemony quality that joins with the rest of the ingredients to create a bright, full-flavored dish for these hotter summer days, without heating up the kitchen too much.
Chard Chicken
Ingredients:
1 medium lemon
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic
1 pound Swiss chard
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
Method:
Zest and juice the lemon, to get 1 teaspoon zest and 1/4 cup juice. Set the juice aside.
Mix the zest, 2 teaspoons salt, and pepper in a small bowl.
Pat chicken dry and rub with lemon zest mixture. Set aside.
Dice the onion. Mince the garlic. Dice the chard stems, and roughly chop the leaves into bite-sized pieces.
Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until simmering. Dredge the chicken in the flour and place in hot skillet. Cook until well-browned on both sides. Remove to a plate.
Lower the heat to medium. Carefully add the lemon juice to the pan (it will steam, don’t burn yourself), and stir to deglaze the pan. Add the onion, garlic, and stems, season with 1/2 teaspoon salt, and sauté until tender but not browned.
Add the broth and thyme to the pan, and bring to a boil.
Add the chard leaves to the pan in batches, tossing in the broth as you go, until the leaves have wilted.
Add the chicken to the pan, nesting it down in the chard mixture. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through, adjusting the heat to maintain a simmer.
Remove from the heat, and let rest 10 minutes, then remove the chicken to a carving board and slice crosswise into 1/4 inch slices.
Stir the chard mixture to distribute the cooking juices evenly, then arrange the chicken slices in the pan on top of the chard. Sprinkle the parsley over the top of the chicken.
NOTE: Just to be clear, while chard stems are delicious, spinach stems can be fibrous, so don’t use them in this recipe. Beet green stems are tasty, but they can bleed red color into the dish. Use them at your own risk, or if you don’t mind the dish’s color staining the chicken.
What are you cooking right now? What are your favorite seasonal ingredients, and what are you doing with them? Leave a comment, start a conversation!
If you are looking for other recipes for the summer season, I have more recipes on my home page here on Substack. Come visit, browse my other posts, or click on the Recipe Index link at the top of my home page.
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