STUFFED SWISS CHARD WITH SWEET PEPPER SALSA
For once I am able to remember something from a not too remote past, one week ago when we had guests we had to make an extra fire in the tile stove because it was raining and chilly, today I have been cooking with the kitchen door wide open, and best of all, barefoot! I really like when I can start living without socks and shoes, I realize that in some strange subconscious way it makes me feel more in control, try to explain that if you can, I am too dazed after a lot of cooking and a long lunch with an old friend.
Swiss chard is a very common green here and it is ideal to stuff so when I saw bunches of tender chard leaves I just had to get a couple of bunches and then I had all the green parts from all the fresh onions I have been cooking with lately plus the stems from the chard so I knew what I was going to stuff them with and then I just have this irresistible urge for sweet red peppers that clearly are out of season but right now I couldn’t care less, I just have to eat them so I made a simple sweet pepper salsa with fresh onion to go with them.
STUFFED SWISS CHARD WITH SWEET PEPPER SALSA
10 ‘parcels’
10 big Swiss Chard leaves
100 ml/0,42 cup rice
50 g/1,75 os smoked pancetta/bacon, diced
the green parts from about 5 fresh onions cut into pieces
1 pinch of ground chili pepper
1 small red bell pepper, really finely chopped
1 fresh onion, really finely chopped
1 tsp parsley, finely chopped
1-2 tblsp tomato sauce
salt
extra-virgin olive oil
- Cut off the stems from the leaves before steaming the latter for no more than 2 minutes. Leave them to cool down on a kitchen towel.
- Cut the stems in pieces.
- Cook the rice and while it is cooking, fry pancetta, onion and and stems slowly with chili pepper until the pancetta is crispy.
- Mix the cooked rice with the pancetta & co.
- Cut out the part of the stem that is hard on each chard leaf and put a spoonful of rice in the middle of every leaf. Fold and roll them into small parcels.
- Mix the chopped pepper, onion and parsley with salt, tomato sauce and olive oil and mix well.
- Put the stuffed chard on a plate and spoon the salsa over before serving. Serve the remaining salsa separately.
