What can be prepared from chard leaves. Chard - useful properties, recipe with photo. Salad with green onions and tarragon

I want to introduce you to one vegetable plant with an interesting and unusual name - chard. Planting and care in the open field is so simple that the hassle of growing will be minimal. I had an interesting story with beetroot chard. I sowed some beetroot seeds. I bought two varieties, made two furrows and sowed one variety in one, and the second in another. I threw out the seed bags, not even bothering to remember their names. Both varieties sprouted almost simultaneously.

It's time I thinned out my beets. I watered, loosened the aisles. Everything is as usual. And then I noticed that the tops on one row are more magnificent, the leaves are large with thick red petioles. The leaf grows "foolish", has grown almost above the knee, and the root does not even think of rounding. On the second, the leaves are much smaller, root crops began to tie. Shrugging my shoulders, I decided that the seeds were to blame, I had no luck with them. At first I wanted to pull out an unsuccessful beetroot - my granddaughter interfered, she liked the juicy beautiful leaves. I don't know how she guessed they were edible. But, when she came to the dacha, the first thing she did was run to this garden bed, plucked a whole bunch of leaves and ate them with pleasure.

This is such a fun story...

Chard in the garden with salads

Only the next year, looking through the information on the Internet, I learned that there is a special variety of beets - Swiss chard. Became interesting. I have already bought special chard seeds. And having received an incomparable harvest, I realized that I would never part with this amazing plant - chard. How many delicious dishes you can cook with it! I will also talk about this, but a little later.

What is chard

Chard is a fairly powerful plant that can grow to a height of 60-70 cm. It depends on the variety. Chard is a close relative of the common beet, but it does not form a root crop, but is valued precisely for its ground part - a lush rosette of large blistered leaves rising above the ground on high thick petioles.

Chard has several names - chives chard, leaf chard, petiole chard. Grow it for the sake of obtaining tasty and unusually useful leaves.

Not only leaves are eaten, but also juicy fleshy stems, which, with proper care, reach a diameter of 7-8 mm. Petioles, like leaves, are incredibly rich in vitamins, minerals, trace elements and a variety of valuable compounds. If you introduce regular consumption of this vegetable plant into your diet, you can best improve your immunity and strengthen your health.

Of the varieties that I planted on my site, I especially liked the mid-season chard variety Bride, which allows the first cut of greenery 55-65 days after germination, to be of high yield. The plant reaches a height of 50-60 cm, has large wavy dark green leaves and very thick white petioles, which are particularly juicy and spicy.

Variety Bride

No less tasty is the Beauty variety, which ripens in the same time frame. This variety of chard also allows for several cuts per season and has a high yield. In addition, it is also unusually decorative: a lush rosette of green leaves with red veins reaches a height of 60-70 cm and looks very elegant in the garden, thanks to bright raspberry thick petioles. And he can decorate any flower garden!

Chard - care and cultivation

Chard is unpretentious in care, and even a novice gardener can grow this culture. Its seeds begin to germinate already at a temperature of + 6-7 ° C, so I sow them on a bed filled with organic matter and mineral fertilizers in the spring at the earliest possible time.

Young shoots of chard are cold-resistant and endure spring frosts down to minus 2°C without loss. To obtain an earlier harvest, this plant can be sown before winter, and to obtain delicate autumn greenery, it can be sown in August (in the Kuban). Only in hot summer conditions is it better to sow it to get a second crop in partial shade and not let the soil dry out.

Chard is grown mainly as an annual plant, but it can be left before winter - in the second year of life, it forms a tall peduncle with inflorescences, from which, after flowering, it will be possible to collect seeds and use them for future plantings.

How to plant chard

I sow the seeds in grooves spilled with water and sprinkle with a layer of earth 3-4 cm. When sown with dry seeds, seedlings appear in the garden in 10-12 days. When 2-3 true leaves appear on the seedlings, I thin out, leaving 35-40 cm between the shoots. Soon the plants become stronger and actively begin to grow.

The main condition for obtaining a good harvest of tender juicy petioles and leaves is timely watering of the chard.

I also spend 2-3 top dressings per season: the first one 7-10 days after germination, using nitrogen fertilizers, for the second and third top dressing, which I spend at intervals of 17-20 days, I use complex fertilizers. But I advise you to halve the dose of fertilizers for each top dressing than indicated in the instructions in order to avoid the accumulation of nitrates in the "tops" of leaf beets.

I also regularly loosen the aisles of the chard and pull out the weeds. During the cultivation of this culture, I have not yet found signs of disease on it. But of the pests, the most important enemies for my chard are snails. Saved only by the Storm. Blue granules Thunderstorms (remedy for slugs and snails) periodically rash around the perimeter of the beds. The granules retain their properties even after 3-4 rains. Then, of course, it is necessary to update, sprinkle the bed again, protecting it from snails, but nothing can be done about it ...

Features of harvesting chard

I begin to harvest the crop as it ripens, cutting off the petioles with leaves located along the edges of the outlet and not affecting its middle. For one cut, I remove no more than a quarter of the entire green mass, so as not to greatly harm the plant. With this approach, the chard recovers very quickly and grows new greens in a short time.

chard harvest

Chard, cooking recipes

Chefs in many countries of the world use chard to prepare main hot dishes and salads. Both leaves and young stems are used. The taste of fresh herbs with a slight sourness, and sometimes with bitterness, gives the dishes a special piquant and unique taste.

salad preparation

Leaf beet chard contains in its composition a large amount of vitamins and various minerals, nutrients and acids. And you can eat the leaves, both fresh in salads, and as a filling for all kinds of pies. With them, you can cook soups, cook borscht or make cabbage rolls from the leaves. Well, you can freeze them, of course. But I would not advise preserving the leaves - some kind of slur is obtained. Here petioles are a completely different matter.

Chard stalks

What is the taste of chard associated with? Fresh leaves - with a slight, almost imperceptible sourness, and in the soup it looks more like spinach, but tastier than spinach. The taste is somewhat similar to spinach and beets at the same time - tender and sour-sweet. And how does it differ from beet tops? If the tops are young, then practically nothing. But you can’t pluck all of the beets, the root crop will have nothing to eat. And at the chard, you can endlessly cut off the leaves, leaving the middle. They will grow and grow.

Cabbage rolls with chard leaves

Stuffed cabbage from chard leaves

By the way, stuffed cabbage from chard leaves is something extraordinary. I tried it once - now I only make these: delicate, wavy, silky leaves, juicy petioles. I will not write a detailed recipe, since the filling is no different from the usual one. If you want, make a meat filling, if you want a vegetable filling - whoever likes it. If culinary specialists advise to boil cabbage leaves for stuffed cabbage a little in salted water, cut off or beat off hard veins so that they become softer and do not break when minced meat is wrapped in them, then everything is very simple with leaf beets. The leaves, like silk, roll inward on their own! Cabbage rolls with chard leaves, believe me, it is very, very tasty!

Braised chard cabbage rolls

Pies with beetroot chard

Open chard leaf pie

Cut the leaves into wide strips, and the petioles into medium-sized cubes. Lightly fry onion until transparent, add chopped chard, simmer a little, salt. You can add your favorite spices. Cool, add a few chopped boiled eggs, mix. This is our stuffing.

I usually make my pie with store bought puff pastry.

Spread minced meat on one sheet of puff pastry, cover with another sheet of dough on top. I pinch the edges, slightly wrapping them up, pierce the top sheet with a fork in several places and place in a preheated oven. After 20-25 minutes I take out the browned pie.

Closed chard pie

With the filling for the chard pie, you can safely fantasize. It won't taste good! In the photo below, the puff pastry pie was grabbed inside with any hard cheese (you can use Dutch, you can use Parmesan), the filling does not crumble at all, you can safely serve it on a silver platter. The chard is tender, tender, and in combination with cheese and an egg, this is something unimaginable!

Pie with cheese, egg and chard

Potato with chard

Boiled potatoes with chard

I read this recipe on one of their forums on the Internet. I tried it, I liked it - I share with you. You can eat it as an independent dish, or you can serve it as a side dish for fried or salted fish.

I boil the potatoes almost until cooked, wash a large bunch of chard leaves (they boil down a lot during cooking), cut them with scissors into a pot with potatoes and cook until the potatoes are ready.

While everything is cooking, I quickly prepare the sauce: pour equal parts of odorless olive and sunflower oil into one bowl, add 2-3 large cloves of garlic finely chopped or passed through a garlic press, mix everything.

There are people who don't like the taste and smell of olive oil. It can be replaced with melted butter.

Drain the water from the potatoes and, while it is hot, pour the oil with garlic. Fragrant, tasty, healthy!

Chard side dish for meat and fish dishes

Wonderful, wonderful side dish of chard! Light, delicious and incredibly healthy.

Cut the chard into 1.5 cm strips, blanch in salted water for 2 minutes. Squeeze.

In a frying pan, heat any vegetable oil you like, throw in 5 chopped garlic cloves, fry until golden brown. Put blanched and squeezed chard, salt, add a generous pinch of fragrant bazaar suneli hops. Simmer covered for 10 minutes. Ready!

Side dish for stewed chard meat

Salad of chard leaves, green onion with sour cream

The composition of the salad is indicated in the title.

Fresh herb salad with sour cream

Who knows, he understands!

Fried eggs with chard

Fried eggs with beetroot

Favorite food for breakfast. It takes 5 minutes longer to prepare (leaves must be cut) than usual, but tastier and healthier.

I add chard to borscht.

You can add to okroshka (just cut it smaller).

And in salads, it will never be superfluous! Anyone who loves greens, I advise you to try.

In general, chard is a great thing. It is unpretentious, grows quite quickly, and useful, of course. Beautiful. It happens differently - with white stems, with yellow, with red.

Looks great on the garden! You can plant in flower beds!

I advise you to plant this amazing culture on your site in the new season. Chard will not only help diversify the usual diet and improve health, but will also become the main decoration, both in the garden and in the flower garden.

Chard is a leaf beet, which began to be cultivated in ancient Egypt and Greece, however, in those days this plant was considered a sea rutabaga. It is interesting that beet roots began to be eaten much later, and in the 21st century in Russia they began to grow separately leaf and tuber varieties of beets. Chard, which is called Roman cabbage or beetroot, is divided into two types - stem chard (similar to beet leaves with veins and stems of red, yellow or green) and chives-chard, reminiscent of spinach.

Chard: beneficial properties of the plant

This unpretentious garden crop is becoming increasingly popular not only because it is easy to grow, but also because of its medicinal properties.

Green leaves are extremely saturated with vitamins (especially carotene), sugars, proteins and mineral salts. An increased concentration of vitamin K helps cleanse the blood and ensures its normal clotting. The high content of calcium in green leaves helps to strengthen teeth and bones, and the presence of iron is the prevention of anemia. The chard plant contains fiber and syringic acid, which normalize blood sugar levels, so the chard is indicated for diabetics, and the unique anti-cancer properties are a consequence of the increased level of antioxidants. In addition, chard leaves enhance brain activity, are effective for normalizing vision, and are good for the heart and blood vessels.

How to cook chard?

In recipes, it is most often used as a healthy ingredient in fresh salads and vegetable stews. A popular recipe for chard salad includes finely chopped leaves, tomatoes, bell peppers, feta cheese or mozzarella, onions and greens seasoned with vegetable oil. When cooked, chard, unlike spinach, does not lose volume, and it tastes much sweeter and more pleasant.

Young petioles of the plant are cooked like asparagus - they are first boiled, and then fried in eggs and breadcrumbs, baked in bechamel or cream sauce, added to soups and broths. Leaf chard is used in the preparation of cabbage rolls, dolma and beetroot, it is cooked like cauliflower, used in pies, omelettes and desserts.

Chard soup is easy to prepare - you need to separate the petioles from the leaves, finely chop the petioles, cook them in the broth until tender, and only after that you can add potatoes and other vegetables to the soup. Green leaves cut into long strips are usually placed 10 minutes before the end of cooking, after which the dish should be allowed to brew for half an hour.

Chard: harvesting useful vitamins for the winter

You can salt with cabbage or prepare for the winter as an independent dish. Usually, pickling and canning are used for these purposes, and the difference between these two processes lies in the composition of the brine and marinade, which results in completely different dishes. Pickled chard is a snack on its own, and canned leaves are used to prepare various dishes.

For pickling, you can take vinegar, sugar, salt, dill, garlic, blackcurrant leaves, raspberries and cherries, mustard powder and black peppercorns. Whole chard is suitable for canning, from which you can cook spicy cabbage rolls in winter. Some housewives freeze and dry leaves and petioles, prepare salads and soup dressings, preserve juices, add chard to caviar and lecho.

Beetroot chard recipes can be very exotic - for example, you probably haven't tried cottage cheese casserole or chard pastries. However, ordinary recipes will delight you with their taste, bright appearance and ease of preparation, since chard is spicy, healthy and unusual!

From mid-April until the first frost, lush chard bushes provide me with vitamin greens. Beet tops are just a storehouse of vitamins and minerals (carotene, phosphorus, iron and many others). So with regular use of juicy leaves and petioles, you will forget what high blood pressure and diabetes are.

Multi-colored leaves of this culture can be used in fresh salads, botvinia, borscht, and petioles make just a chic side dish for fish and meat dishes. To do this, it is enough to cut them into small pieces and boil them for a couple or in boiling water for 3-5 minutes. Before serving, do not forget to season the chard with butter.

Salad with chard

Products for 2 servings: 2 large carrots, green onions, a bunch of parsley and dill and 2-3 large young leaves of chard, 2-3 tablespoons of sour cream, salt to taste.

Cooking method: Cut all the ingredients into small pieces, mix well and season with low-fat sour cream (if on a diet) or mayonnaise.

Soup with chard

Products for 2 servings: 2-3 medium potatoes, 1 carrot, ½ onion, 2-3 large leaves of chard, some young sorrel leaves, parsley or dill, 1 boiled egg, sour cream, melted or vegetable oil, meat or vegetable broth, salt to taste

Cooking method: Fry grated carrot and chopped onion together for 5-8 minutes. In the meantime, cut the potatoes into cubes and boil one chicken egg. Add the potatoes to the simmering broth and simmer for 15 minutes over low heat. Then add the frying, chopped sorrel and chard leaves, salt and cook for another 5 minutes. Before serving, decorate the soup with herbs, put half an egg in each plate and a little sour cream.

Cabbage rolls with chard

Ingredients for 2 servings: 8-12 large chard leaves, minced meat, boiled rice, onions, sour cream, tomato paste, pepper and salt to taste

Method of preparation: The amount of minced meat and rice I take by eye, as it depends on the size of the chard leaves. They should be thoroughly washed, tough petioles removed, and blanched in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Next, the leaves are thrown into a colander and allowed to cool completely. During this time, you need to fry the minced meat with chopped onions until half cooked and add boiled rice to it at the end. Once the minced meat has cooled slightly, form it into 4 lumps and wrap each of them in 2-3 sheets of chard. Place the resulting cabbage rolls close to each other in a deep frying pan, add finely chopped petioles (this will be a side dish) and pour it all over with a sauce of sour cream, tomato paste, salt and pepper. Simmer covered until done.

Braised chard with leek and stalked celery

Ingredients for 2 servings: 3-4 chard leaves, 2-3 celery stalks, 1-2 white parts of a leek stalk, salt to taste

Method of preparation: Grind all products into medium-sized pieces. Heat a frying pan with ghee and sauté the celery and leek for 5-8 minutes over low heat. Then add the chard leaves to the contents of the pan and keep everything under the lid with constant stirring until soft (another 5-10 minutes). Salt to taste at the end.

The last recipe is my favorite - this vegetable dish not only has an exquisite spicy taste, but also perfectly kindles the fire of digestion. I often use it as a side dish for heavy meat dishes.

You can learn everything about growing chard in the garden and on the home windowsill from.

Irina Kamshilina

Cooking for someone is much more pleasant than for yourself))

Content

When planning to plant vegetable crops in your backyard in the spring, it is important to take care of growing useful plants. One of these is beetroot chard, which is rarely grown in Russia. Nevertheless, the vegetable is very useful and is not inferior in its useful qualities to spinach, Beijing, white cabbage. Many do not know, but many delicious dishes can be prepared from leaf beets - from soup, borscht, cabbage rolls to pastries. In addition, its beneficial properties are widely used in cosmetology and traditional medicine.

What is chard and how is it eaten

So, chard is a biennial herbaceous plant, which is the closest relative of ordinary, sugar or fodder beets. Outwardly, the plant is similar to spinach, has long (up to 30 cm) leaves, stems, and tastes like asparagus. There are two types of vegetables:

Schnitt chard (leafy). Frost-resistant, after cutting, it pushes out new leaves that are immediately usable. Spring shoots appear from the old root. Leaves should be eaten raw as they are rich in vitamins. The color of chives chard varies from light green to dark green with burgundy veins.
Stem (veiny). It is distinguished by prominent veins on the stem, along with which it is eaten. It has petioles up to 5 cm in diameter, differing in color. The stems are pre-heated (boiled) before cooking.

Swiss chard is native to the Mediterranean, has been known for over 3,000 years, and in ancient Rome was one of the main ingredients used in cooking. Thanks to this fact, the chard began to be called "Roman cabbage". In addition to useful nutritional qualities, the vegetable also performs a decorative function, so the following types of beets were bred by specialists:

silver petiolate;
green petiolate;
yellow-leaved;
red-leafed.

Calorie content and nutritional value

Roman cabbage does not form a root crop, only the upper part of the chard is eaten. The leaves of the vegetable are low-calorie, juicy, healthy, having an energy value of only 19 kcal per 100 g. The ratio of valuable substances of leaf beets:

proteins - 1.8 g;
fats - 0.2 g;
carbohydrates - 3.74 g;
dietary fiber - 1.6 g;
water - 92.66 g.

Useful properties of leaf beet

Chard has a large amount of vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and also includes 13 antioxidants. The vegetable contains a whole range of components important for human health:

Syringic acid. Helps control blood sugar levels.
Phytonutrients, betalains, responsible for the removal of toxins.
Vitamin C. Strengthens the immune system, cleanses the blood, improves the condition of the hair and skin.
Vitamin K. Stimulates metabolic processes in bone, connective tissues, supports kidney function.
Vitamin A. It has a general strengthening effect on the entire body as a whole.
Carotene. Stabilizes blood pressure, improves the functioning of the digestive system.
B vitamins, choline, niacin, riboflavin, folic acid, thiamine.
Selenium, zinc, manganese, magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron, calcium, phosphorus, copper.
Pantothenic acid involved in metabolic processes.

Based on the presence of the above components, the following useful qualities of beets are distinguished:

normalization of the functions of the cardiovascular system;
strengthening the protective functions of the body;
removal of toxins, toxins that provoke overeating;
promoting the regeneration of pancreatic cells;
ensuring the daily requirement for magnesium;
positive effect on beriberi, anemia, diabetes;
improvement of vision;
prevention of atherosclerosis;
treatment of disorders of the nervous system, depression;
cleanses of toxins, helping to reduce excess body weight.

Harm and contraindications

A huge number of useful qualities does not make beet chard absolutely useful for all people. There are such harmful properties of the plant and the resulting contraindications:

It contains a large amount of vitamin K, the excess of which causes a decrease in pressure, dizziness, vomiting, nausea, thickens the blood, provoking the formation of blood clots. Thanks to all of the above, it is not recommended to use chard for people with such ailments: varicose veins, high cholesterol, migraine, thrombophlebitis.
Includes essential compounds, salts of oxalic acid (oxalates), provoking the appearance of stones in the gallbladder, kidneys. Roman cabbage cannot be eaten by those who already have such formations.

Where and how is it applied

Not many people know this fact, but Swiss chard has found wide application in several areas of human life at once. The first and foremost is cooking. Salads, cold appetizers, soups are prepared from bright, juicy, fresh leaves of a vegetable; for main courses, greens are pre-stewed, boiled, fried in breadcrumbs. In addition, the petioles of the plant are perfect for preservation, pickling, preparing a side dish, and greens for pickling.

The second branch of application is cosmetology. The leaves are able to perfectly moisturize, nourish, cleanse the skin, have a rejuvenating effect. Moisturizing, vitamin face and hair masks are prepared on their basis, since the plant strengthens the hair follicles well, stimulates their growth, eliminates dandruff, gives shine, heals the scalp.

Another area of chard use is traditional medicine, a decoction is prepared from the plant, which has a wound healing, diuretic, anti-inflammatory effect, helps to cure sore throats, respiratory diseases. Beet leaf juice is able to stop bleeding, cure a runny nose, relieve headaches, toothache, inflammation from the eyes, and stop baldness.

What can be cooked from chard

There are different chard dishes that any housewife can cook. Cold soups, appetizers, scrambled eggs, hot treats with Roman cabbage - everything is prepared simply, quickly, but it turns out tasty and healthy. Most treats will be dietary, since the main ingredient is low in calories. Carefully study the contraindications of the product before you start cooking with chard.

Stuffed cabbage recipe in beet leaves

Time: 1 hour 20 minutes.
Number of servings: 6 persons.
Purpose: for lunch, dinner.
Cuisine: Russian.
Difficulty: easy.

To cook delicious juicy cabbage rolls, you need to select large overgrown beetroot leaves, so it will be more convenient to wrap the filling. Their bright saturated green color will make the dish appetizing, beautiful in appearance. You can stuff chives chard with anything you like, but even in the classic version, cabbage rolls turn out to be very fragrant and satisfying.

Ingredients:

minced chicken - 400 g;
Roman cabbage leaves - 12 pcs.;
rice - 100 g;
onions - 3 pcs.;
garlic - 2 teeth;
dill greens - 1 bunch;
spices - to taste.

Cooking method:

Cook rice until half cooked, mix with minced meat, chopped onions, garlic, herbs, spices.
Spread the leaves on the work surface, put the filling, wrap it with an “envelope”.
Transfer raw cabbage rolls to a deep saucepan, fill half with water.
Put a flat plate on top, put a jar filled with water.
Simmer for half an hour over low heat. Serve topped with sour cream or natural yoghurt.

Time: 1 hour.
Servings: 2-3 persons.
Calorie content of the dish: 84 kcal / 100 g.
Purpose: snack.
Cuisine: international.
Difficulty: easy.

On the basis of chard, you can cook many different salads, and each will be delicious in its own way. The beneficial properties of snacks are enhanced by a large amount of greens, garlic. Walnuts and dressing add a special piquancy. The amount of spices varies to your taste, for a slight sharpness, flavor, you can add a little black pepper. Remember not to eat too much Roman cabbage as it can be harmful to your health.

Ingredients:

chard - 1 bunch;
walnuts - 5 pcs.;
olive oil - 50 ml;
garlic - 2 teeth;
lemon juice - 2 tbsp. l.;
salt, sugar - to taste;
dill, parsley, cilantro - 20 g each.

Cooking method:

Wash beet leaves well, blanched, leave to glass water.
Peel the nuts, chop, finely chop the greens.
Tear the chard with your hands, if it is tough, crush it a little. Combine with herbs, nuts and dressing from oil, spices, squeezed garlic.
Mix well, pour over lemon juice, let stand for about 30 minutes.

Pickled chard for the winter

Time: 1 hour.
Number of servings: 4-5 persons.
Calorie content of the dish: 16 kcal / 100 g.
Purpose: conservation, snack.
Cuisine: Russian.
Difficulty: easy.

One of the ways to prepare a vegetable is pickling petioles, followed by conservation. As a result, in winter you can open and enjoy the wonderful taste of a healthy workpiece at any time. Vinegar essence can be replaced with ordinary 9% vinegar by correctly calculating the proportions. Dill umbrellas are best added along with the seeds for a special flavor.

Ingredients:

stalks of chard - 500 g;
sugar - 1-1.5 tbsp. l.;
salt - 2-3 tbsp. l. (without slide);
water - 1 l;
vinegar essence - 1 tbsp. l.;
garlic;
dill umbrellas;
leaves of currant, cherry, horseradish;
sesame seeds, allspice (peas), mustard powder.

Cooking method:

Wash the petioles thoroughly, let the water drain, cut into pieces, 1.5 cm long below the neck of the jar.
Prepare the brine: boil water, pour in the essence, stir, add spices, bring to a boil again.
Pasteurize the jars, put dill on the bottom, 2 cloves of garlic, 3 peppercorns, 1/3 tsp. mustard powder, horseradish leaves, currants, cherries.
Lay the petioles vertically, like cucumbers, pressing tightly against each other.
Pour hot marinade, sterilize for 15 minutes (if the jar is 0.5 l), roll up. Refrigerate with the lid upside down.

Chard Soup

Time: 1.5 hours.
Servings: 5-6 persons.
Calorie content of the dish: 22 kcal / 100 g.
Destination: for lunch.
Cuisine: Russian.
Complexity:

You can also make a delicious vegetable soup from chives chard, which is boiled in water or broth. The culinary process is facilitated by the fact that not a pan and a gas stove are used, but a slow cooker. An excellent addition to such a first course will be a sauce of sour cream, adjika and garlic. The amount of fresh herbs, spices and seasonings vary based on personal preference.

Ingredients:

chicken meat - 0.5 kg;
chard (with petioles) - 1 bunch;
potatoes, tomatoes - 2 pcs.;
onions, carrots, zucchini - 1 pc.;
vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. l.;
water - 5-6 l;
salt.

Cooking method:

Peel vegetables, grate carrots, potatoes, zucchini, tomatoes - cut into medium-sized cubes.
Wash the beets, dry them, separate the leaves from the petioles. Chop the upper part like cabbage, cut the lower part lengthwise into 2-4 parts, and then divide into small sticks.
Set the multicooker to the Baking mode, fry the onion in oil until golden brown.
Add carrots, fry until softened.
Add the washed chicken, fry until the meat turns white.
Add potatoes, zucchini, tomato, beets, spices. Pour hot water up to the maximum mark.
Set the mode to "Soup", close the lid, cook until the signal.

Ossetian pie with chard and cheese

Time: 2 hours.
Number of servings: 6 persons.
Calorie content of the dish: 172 kcal / 100 g.
Purpose: baking.
Cuisine: Caucasian.
Difficulty: easy.

Another well-known dish prepared with the use of Roman cabbage is the Ossetian pie (tsakharajyn). Such treats are often baked by women of this Caucasian people, especially on major holidays. Such cakes are very appetizing, fragrant, with an amazing golden brown crust. The pie is served hot, smeared with melted butter.

Ingredients:

For test:

milk - 100 ml;
yeast - 1 tbsp. l.;
sugar - 1 tsp;
kefir - 200 ml;
sour cream - 2 tbsp. l.;
egg - 1 pc.;
salt - 1 tsp;
flour - 500 g.

For filling:

chard - 800 g;
onion - 1 pc.;
suluguni - 500 g;
salt, pepper - to taste;
vegetable oil - for frying.

Cooking method:

Dissolve the yeast in warm milk, leave to proof in a warm place for 20 minutes.
Mix the egg with milk, kefir, salt, sour cream, mix thoroughly.
Add flour, start kneading the dough. When the mass is homogeneous, put it in heat.
Wash the beets, chop them into strips, finely chop the onion.
Fry the onion in oil until golden brown, add the beets, fry until tender.
Cool, add grated cheese.
Divide the risen dough into 3 parts, put in each filling.
Gather the edges with a “bag”, roll out with a cake, leaving a hole in the center.
Bake for 30 minutes at 1800.

Cultivation and care

Leaf beets are sown from the beginning of spring to June, after soaking the seeds in water. The soil for planting should be well-dug, warm, not acidic, so you need to apply organic fertilizers, such as charcoal. Seeds are buried in the ground 2-3 cm, at a distance of 5 cm from each other. With an increase in seedling growth, they need to be thinned out, leaving a space of 10-12 cm between adult plants. There are no special requirements for care, the chard needs timely watering (as needed), loosening the soil, removing weeds and a sufficient amount of light.

The leaves of the vegetable should be cut regularly; young shoots are most suitable for eating. It is better not to touch the petioles until a large rosette forms. The plant is a biennial, so you don’t need to dig it out for the winter, but you can leave it to winter in the garden, having previously spudded it and covered it with compost. Under normal winter conditions, you will enjoy vitamin chard as early as the beginning of spring.

How to store

For short-term storage, vegetable leaves should be placed in a plastic bag, releasing all the air and wrapping it tightly so that there is no oxygen access. You can wash the greens only immediately before use, it is not recommended to soak at all, since all useful properties will disappear. If long-term storage is expected, the chard is washed, cut and frozen in the same way as spinach.

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Beets are known and loved in Russia - this vegetable is an ingredient in many simple and delicious dishes. In our country, only the root crop is traditionally eaten, and the leaves are simply thrown away or fed to livestock. Meanwhile, beet leaves are a tasty and healthy product, known as sea rutabaga to the ancient Egyptians. On the European continent, this vegetable crop appeared much later under the names of beetroot, Roman cabbage or chard (from the German Mangold).

Leaf varieties of beets became widespread in our country about 20 years ago. Today, two types of plants are cultivated in Russia - stem chard and chives chard. The first in appearance is very similar to the "tops" of ordinary beets and is a burgundy stems and leaves with pronounced veins. The second is reminiscent of spinach. Our compatriots appreciated chard - new recipes for salads, soups, side dishes, stews are adopted not only by housewives, but also by professional restaurateurs.

Useful properties of chard

Leafy beetroot quickly found its niche in our diet due to its taste and medicinal effect. The plant is saturated with sugars, proteins, minerals and vitamins (especially carotene). Chard also has a high concentration of vitamin K - this element effectively cleanses the blood, prevents bleeding and hemorrhage (strokes). Due to the presence of iron, the plant can be used to prevent anemia. Syringic acid is useful for diabetics, antioxidants prevent the development of tumors and slow down the aging process.

Ways to cook chard

The plant can be consumed both fresh and after heat treatment. Healthy chard salads are a great option for breakfast or a light snack throughout the day. Petioles of the plant can be cooked like asparagus - boiled and fried in eggs and breadcrumbs. Especially delicious chard is a vegetable casserole with the addition of bechamel sauce. You can also replace cabbage in cabbage rolls or grape leaves in dolma with beetroot. Fans of homemade pickles with the help of beetroot get a vitamin supply for the whole winter.

Chard - new salad recipes

Leaf beets are used in cold appetizers as a main or auxiliary ingredient, as well as decoration. Chard is a great substitute for traditional lettuce or spinach. By the way, about spinach - in comparison with it, beetroot has a sweeter and more pleasant taste, and during heat treatment it retains its volume and shape.

New recipes for salads with chard will be useful to any housewife. Bright and juicy dishes will decorate the festive table. Simple recipes for salads are suitable for every day - the preparation of such snacks takes no more than 15 minutes.

Salad with chard, chicken and pine nuts

Chopped onions marinated in table vinegar are mixed with cubes of boiled chicken fillet, chopped leaves and stalks of chard. After adding pine nuts, this simple dish takes on a sophisticated taste. Mayonnaise is used as a dressing. You need to add the sauce in portions before serving - otherwise, the ingredients will be heavily soaked and acquire a “blurred” taste. Salt and pepper are added to taste. Before serving, the dish must be well cooled.

Warm salad with chard, olives and caramelized onions

A large onion cut into rings is fried in olive oil until golden brown. To caramelize the onion in a roast, add a tablespoon of brown sugar and simmer for a few minutes. Then coarsely chopped chard, olives and capers (two spoons each) are laid out in a frying pan. All ingredients are stewed until the beet leaves “wither” (about 3 minutes). Salt/pepper the prepared mixture to taste, put on plates and drizzle with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Salad should be served warm.

Thanks to its delicate taste, chard organically fits into almost any dish. Fresh crunchy leaves are a great ingredient for vitamin salads. If the plant is slightly wilted, it can be used for boiling, frying and stewing. In general, show your imagination and delight your loved ones with delicious and healthy dishes.