25 Jan, 2021
Pasta with Swiss Chard and Lemon
A friend of mine runs an organic farm in East London, when she comes to mine she will always come with bags full of her vibrant produce and her swiss chard is the best around. Luckily her husband is also a dab hand in the kitchen and this summer he made us chard tossed in a chilli and garlic oil served on a slice of fresh bread, it was simple and spectacular, a highlight of the summer. Luckily Swiss chard is available most of the year in the UK. Here I have sautéd the chard in garlic, lemon, capers and olive oil, and mixed it through a gf pasta with a generous grating of parmesan.
RecipesServes 2.
Ingredients:
- 100g rainbow chard
- 180g pasta, gf
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 4 fat garlic cloves, sliced
- 2 tbsp capers
- Zest 2 lemons
- 100g parmesan, vegan or dairy
- Maldon salt
- Cracked black pepper
Method:
- To prepare the chard, remove the ends of the stalks if they are a little fibrous and then chop the stalks off up to about 1cm from the leaf. Chop the stalks on the bias creating 2cm pieces. And cut the leaves lengthways in half.
- Place the pasta in a large saucepan filled with salted boiling water and cook according to the packet instructions. I tend to use Rummo GF pasta, it’s great quality and the texture is very similar to a wheat pasta.
- While the pasta is cooking, In a large frying pan heat a tablespoon of olive oil. Turn the heat to medium and add the garlic and the capers, sauté for a few minutes until the garlic is golden. Then add in the lemon zest and half of the parmesan, I have used a vegan parmesan but use dairy if you wish.
- Once the pasta is cooked, add a few tablespoons of the cooking water into the garlic and caper sauce and simmer for a few minutes to reduce. Drain the rest of the pasta and add it to the pan with the sauce. Season with salt and cracked black pepper to taste.
- To serve, place the pasta into bowls and finish with a generous grating of parmesan and extra grating of lemon zest.
