Рецепт Stuffed Rainbow Chard Leaves with Bacon and Mozzarella, my French
I love making Stuffed Rainbow Chard Leaves. One can fill them with almost anything and have them for a first course, like these, a light lunch or use more meat and rice or couscous for a main course.
As to using the cherry tomatoes…..
It happens every year….
I plant cherry tomatoes (this year only 2 plants) because they’re ready a few weeks before the big ones and I get impatient.
I like them well enough, but I prefer the big slicers, so, when the big tomatoes are ready the little cherries tend to end up in the compost.
Which makes me feel guilty.
I had a big basket of them sitting on the counter, waiting to be taken out when I decided to just toss the whole lot into the blender (I did remove the leaves) and see what happened.
It was good.
There is now cherry tomato sauce in my freezer and one less thing for me to feel guilty about.
Stuffed Rainbow Chard Leaves with Bacon and Mozzarella
Total time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
- 8 large chard leaves
- 2oz (60gr) chopped bacon
- 3 medium shallots, chopped
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tbs chopped sage leaves
- 2oz (60gr) fresh mozzarella, cut into small pieces
- olive oil
- Tomato Sauce:
- 8oz (240gr) cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
Instructions:
Blanch the chard leaves in boiling water for 20 seconds.
Remove and refresh in cold water, separating the leaves from each other.
Cut the stem out by slicing on either side of the stem, about half way up the chard leaf. Discard or reserve for another use.
Sauté the bacon and shallots until the bacon is cooked through and the shallots are tender.
Add chili powder, sage leaves and sauté briefly.
Roughly divide mixture into eighths.
Place one portion of bacon / shallot mixture on each leaf, about 2 inches from the tip.
Divide the cheese and place on the bacon / shallot mixture
Roll the end of the leaf over, then roll the whole bundle over once.
Tuck the sides of the leaf in, folding as necessary and continue rolling to make a neat bundle.
Put the cherry tomatoes into a blender and purée.
Put the cherry tomato sauce into a skillet and heat to a simmer.
Add chard bundles and simmer for 15 minutes.
Spoon sauce onto 2 plates, top with stuffed chard leaves and serve
One of the things I continue to feel guilty about is not practicing my French this summer.
Oh, I had good intentions…. And we all know what the Road to Hell is paved with, now don’t we….
School starts in two weeks.
I haven’t done my summer homework yet.
The only French words I’ve spoken in two months are ‘bonjour’ and ‘bon appétit’.
In my defense I’ve spoken those many, many, many times.
Hundred and hundred of times.
In the US people smile when the pass each other on the street and happen to make eye contact.
That is not done here.
If you start flashing smiles around, people will start thinking you are a bit daft and give you more ‘personal space’. If you keep it up, they’ll cross the street to avoid you or wonder if you have a ‘condition’.
But we do greet people here. (Just not with a smile.)
I’m not sure of the rules…. Obviously if I were to walk down a busy street in Paris or Bordeaux I would not greet every single person with a ‘bonjour’.
But out here in the country, not only does one greet people, one does it properly: brief eye contact and a ‘bonjour madame’ or ‘bonjour monsieur’ or, if it’s one of each, ‘bonjour messieurdames’ .
And, if one happens to be walking by people who are eating, one tosses off a ‘bon appétit’. Since people eat in courtyards and have picnics in the summer, that happens more than you might think.
We’ve been riding our bikes along the paths next to the canal.
Whenever we meet or pass other bikers or walkers, it’s a brisk nod and a ‘bonjour’.
In August, when everyone is on holiday, the canal paths got rather busy.
Actually, they got crowded.
It was kind of funny, actually…. We could always tell the non-French. They were the ones that avoided eye-contact and didn’t return our greeting.
One day I even got to use the ‘rebonjour’. It was a first for me.
You see, one only says ‘bonjour’ the first time one sees someone that day. If one sees them again, it’s ‘rebonjour’ – basically ‘hi, again’. If one is really cool, one can shorten that to ‘re’.
I’m not that cool.
But the guy I said ‘rebonjour’ to actually smiled at me.
I tossed off a lot of ’bon appétit’s as well – there were a lot of groups that stopped in the shady spots for a picnic.
Like we did.
I’m not certain that my French teacher will be overly impressed if I tell her that I said ‘bonjour’ 500 times.
Or even 1,000 times.
Maybe if I tell her the whole story in French….
Best start practicing. School starts in two weeks.
If you want nutrition information, try this site: Calorie Count
Last Updated on September 4, 2013