Grilled Swiss-Chard Stems With Roasted Garlic Oil

Updated May 10, 2023

Grilled Swiss-Chard Stems With Roasted Garlic Oil
Gentl and Hyers for The New York Times
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
4(110)
Comments
Read comments

Don’t throw all those Swiss-chard stems away. Not everyone is a fan of including them with sautéed greens, but here’s a plan for the rest of us who love their texture and flavor. Prepare to blanch, blister and then dress these stems in an intense garlic oil. With a little lemon and salt to perk the taste buds, you’ve got a new favorite side dish.

Featured in: Feast in New York City

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Ingredients

Yield:Serves 8
Ingredient Substitution Guide
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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

  2. Step 2

    Strip the chard leaves from the stems using a knife, scissors or simply your hands. Reserve the leaves for another use.

  3. Step 3

    Trim the bottom ⅛ inch of the chard stem, to remove the dry, discolored bit. Clean the stems by submerging in cold water and rinsing thoroughly.

  4. Step 4

    Aggressively season your boiling water with kosher salt.

  5. Step 5

    Working in batches, blanch the chard stems until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain well, and let cool on a baker’s rack or in a colander to continue draining.

  6. Step 6

    Grill blanched, dry chard stems evenly on both sides until charred and blistered here and there, like perfect pizza crust looks from a wood oven.

  7. Step 7

    Cut the stems into batons, and thoroughly dress the stems with roasted garlic oil (see recipe), a few drops of lemon juice and a few flakes of Maldon salt.

Ratings

4 out of 5
110 user ratings
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Comments

just excellent, accompanied roast chicken...

We used to bread them in bread crumbs and fry them. Being Italian nothing was wasted. So good. Cannot wait to try this recipe.

How can you go wrong with these flavors, even if you just use plain garlic oil, not roasted? Think the key is the dryness of the stalks. It's no trouble to watch and turn them in a grill pan while you are making the rest of the meal.

Has anyone tried this without blanching first? About to pop stuff in the oven and have unblanched stems ready to go. Might just be answering that question myself!

Swiss chard stems are also delicious fermented with garlic.

Great idea. We usually save the stems for stock but this looks so much better. QUESTION: we don't have a grill and Con-Ed took away our gas range (don't let them in your house!) and had us install an electric one. Has anyone tried broiling in an electric oven? I have zero experience with electric ovens. Thanks, in advance!

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