Swiss Chard Goodness

Garlicky Roasted Garbanzo Beans with Swiss Chard

(adapted from Michael Psilakis, Epicurious.com)

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

Beans:

2 15.5 oz cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained

10 garlic cloves, peeled

2 large shallots, chopped

3 bay leaves (fresh recommended, but I used dried)

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tsp fennel seeds (I don’t like fennel, so I used mustard seed)

Chard:

2 T olive oil

6 garlic cloves, crushed

3 bay leaves

2 shallots, sliced

large bunch swiss chard, center stems cut out (or not – I didn’t), leaves coarsely torn

½ cup chicken or vegetable broth

pasta and parmesan cheese

Preparation

Beans: preheat oven to 350°. Combine first 5 ingredients in a glass baking dish (8x8 or similar). Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then pour oil over (original recipe called for 1 ½ cups of oil – I used A LOT less, ½ - 2/3 cup). Cover with foil and roast until garlic is tender, about 45 mins.

Chard: Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add garlic, bay leaves and shallots, cook until shallots are tender, about 2 mins. Add chard in a couple batches if necessary, allowing first batch to wilt and make room for the rest. Add broth and cook until chard is tender and most of liquid has evaporated (7-10 mins). Season with salt and pepper. Combine beans and chard, season if necessary.

Serve over pasta (or barley?) with grated parmesan cheese.

Lovely poem from Wendell Berry

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry