primitives discuss red stems on Swiss chard

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x75341

Oh my.

The quandaries in which the primitives find themselves.

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Fri Feb-26-10 09:56 AM
Original message
 
What should I do with the red stems of my Swiss Chard?

I always chop them off and throw them away. Is there another use for them?

kfred  (81 posts)     Fri Feb-26-10 11:09 AM
Response to Original message

1. I always wondered to, but I haven't tried this one: Using them for skewers like you can with rosemary for kabobs on a grill, not sure how they would hold up.

I have chopped them into chucks and used them for soup base much as you would carrots, onions and celery.

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Fri Feb-26-10 12:04 PM
Response to Reply #1
 
2. Oh, I assumed they were bitter...but then I never tasted them!

Warpy  (1000+ posts)        Fri Feb-26-10 02:26 PM
THE DEFROCKED WARPED PRIMITIVE, #09 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Reply #1

7. That's what I'd try, too

The reason we discard them is because they're tough and fibrous. Finely chopping them might solve that little problem and you wouldn't have to "waste" them on the compost pile if you were starving. Chopped and hidden in a veggie soup sounds good.

I would not, however, use them as kabobs anywhere but on a broiling pan in the oven because they'd tend to mush out and get limp, leaving you with the equivalent of food skewered on string, not fun to try to pick off a grill. Rosemary stems work because they're woody.

Paper Roses  (740 posts)      Fri Feb-26-10 12:26 PM
Response to Original message

3. Can the stems be julienned and added to your cooking?

As a matter of fact, I might try to do just that. I have not bought any chard for a while, usually stir fry it up after washing and spinning it dry. A little salt and pepper, a little minced garlic or shallot.

I would think that the julienned stems would cook up nicely, just need to add them a minute before adding the leaves.

I don't know any other way to cook it.

CTyankee  (1000+ posts)      Fri Feb-26-10 12:52 PM
Response to Reply #3
 
4. Like broccoli rabe? I got the chard for an Italian pappardelle, sausage and chard dish, so the chard stems sound like they'd cook up pretty nicely with this dish. I could try it...

grasswire  (1000+ posts)      Fri Feb-26-10 02:04 PM
THE FARMERETTE IN WISCONSIN
Response to Original message

5. in vegetable stock if nothing else

Or in a nice soup or braise.

Arkansas Granny  (1000+ posts)      Fri Feb-26-10 02:16 PM
Response to Original message
 
6. I just cut them up and cook them along with the leaves. 

I've seen recipes that call for braising the stems separately since they take a little longer to cook.

Hmmm.  One wonders why Mrs. Alfred Packer, the "hippywife" primitive, hasn't shown up at this campfire.

[GOBUCKS]

If Iowa and Nebraska farmers had taken the advice of Governor DUkakis during his campaign against Bush 41, and switched their corn and soybeans over to Belgian endive, they could have used Swiss chard when rotating crops. I wonder if the globalwarmers can make biodiesel out of chard?

[franksolich]

You know, after noticing the absence of Mrs. Alfred Packer, who's been hiding out in the Lounge on Skins's island, rather than where she belongs, I thought I would consult the late Gloria Swanson.

I blew the fuses of people like pengillian and kestrel and hippywife, who were all pushed out of shape when a woman showed up at DU Cooking and Baking forum, telling us that she'd just undergone several months of cancer treatment - chemotherapy and radiation - and now, having been told that a vegetarian diet was the most appropriate for cancer patients, she was wondering is people at C&B had an suggestions or recommendations.

The bitch pengillian landed on her first, claiming that she didn't want to see any "anti-meat-eating" arguments get started so why didn't that woman just take her question somewhere else.

Then Kestrel joined in with the same sort of crap.

Hippywife chimed in with the idea that she, the cancer patient, had to eat organic - everything organic.  I chimed in with the observation that not everyone had physical proximity to stores or coops or farms that sold organic goods; nor could everyone afford it, that some people lived on food stamps, and that wasn't any kind of money that could allow people to live on organic food.

Hippywife went ****ing nuts.  Out of her mind.  Because I had used the phrase - trite as it is - "not everyone has the luxury of being able to afford organic foods," the woman posted about half a dozen photographs of her home to show me that "I don't live in the lap of luxury," which wasn't at all what I had written.  She also wrote long descriptions of each photograph, each more uninteresting than the other.

That was when I started getting PMs that Hippywife (who misspelled "hippie" and just labeled herself as a woman with a large pelvis and, perhaps, trouble getting through doorways) was a woman who had previously written about her bi-polar problems, her unfortunate family history, and how badly she behaved when she ran out of money to buy her medication.

But she pointed out to me that there were organic meat places that took food stamps - yeah, with beef at $14/lb.  I pointed out to her that that wasn't realistic thinking, and she went insane on me.

Disappeared for a while.   Had the mods take down the whole photo and commentary extravaganza.  It was nice without her.  We had fun.  Then she returned, and my pal, Shakepeare, a very nice broad, said "**** this," and quit DU.  I missed her.  She was very smart.

[The Village Idiot]

I have no idea what Chard is.

[franksolich]

I have no idea what Chard is.

Some sort of lettuce-looking thing.

It grows wild in my front yard.

[DefiantSix]

I have no idea what Chard is.

You find it next to the Arugula in the Øbama family refrigerator.

[The Village Idiot]

Some sort of lettuce-looking thing.

It grows wild in my front yard.

Do you pick and eat it?

[franksolich]

Do you pick and eat it?

No.  I just leave it alone to do its own thing, while it leaves me alone to do my own thing.

We're tolerant of each other.

[The Village Idiot]

No.  I just leave it alone to do its own thing, while it leaves me alone to do my own thing.

We're tolerant of each other.

"Hello Mr Chard"
"Hello Mr Solich"

[Chris]

I bet the deer love it.

[BlueStateSaint]

No.  I just leave it alone to do its own thing, while it leaves me alone to do my own thing.

We're tolerant of each other.

Do you at least exchange Christmas cards?

[franksolich]

Do you at least exchange Christmas cards?

Actually, as I've mentioned before, one can have too much nature, especially out here in the Sandhills of Nebraska.

One gets tired of it, but one can't do a damned thing about it.

And so one just usually leaves the flora and fauna alone to do their own thing while one does his own thing.

[miskie]

Do you at least exchange Christmas cards Chards?

Fixed.

[The Village Idiot]

Fixed.

 

[whiffleball]

I eat most of the stems.  Cut them up fine and toss them into the pan with the leaves.  Why waste it.  Chard tastes great!