19 October 2015

SWISS CHARD CAKE - AUTUMN ON A PLATE

SWISS CHARD CAKE

Since a couple of weeks I have an irresistible urge to wrap things in green leaves. It all started with a bunch of Swiss chard. Admiring the beautiful colourful pink, yellow and orange stalks, veins and contrasting dark leaves, I thought, that there had to be a better way to do them justice, than to just wilt them down in the pan.

SWISS CHARD CAKE

Then I remembered the Chou Farçi photo I had seen on Mimi Thorisson's blog Manger, and there was my answer (and the beginning of my leaf-wrapping addiction): Cake! Everyone loves cake! Turns out, even a green one. I wasn't quite sure if this would work with chard, so googled it and found an interesting Lebanese Chard cake, stuffed with rice and spices. In the end, my recipe is a combination of my mum's 'Kohlrouladen' (cabbage rolls), one of my child-hood favourites, stuffed with rice and meat, Mimi's Chou Farçi, and the Lebanese Swiss chard cake, and we just love it! Swiss chard has a rather strong perfume and flavour and, due to it's oxalic acid content, is a little sharp-tasting, and so maybe not everyone's favourite. But in combination with the spicy meat and rice filling a dream.