CrockPot Swiss Chard Soup Recipe



Day 202.

Swiss chard! In a soup!

I don't really have anything other than that to say.

This recipe came from my new friend, Astrid, who grows a lot of chard in her garden, and needed a way to use it up. So we crockpotted the chard.



The Ingredients.


--2 big bunches of swiss chard, chopped (I only chopped the green part and gave the stems to the guinea pigs)
--1 cup baby carrots, chopped
--1 onion, chopped
--7 baby red potatoes, or equivalent, chopped
--5 cloves of garlic, chopped
--1/4 cup fresh basil (hey! guess what? chop this, too!)
--5 cups broth (I used chicken, but if you want this to be vegetarian you should use veggie broth)
--1/2 t black pepper
--1 t kosher salt

(you might want to add more salt and pepper after cooking, to taste)

--garnish with Parmesan/Romano cheese, optional


The Directions.

Wash and chop all of your vegetables, and add them to the crockpot. This is a lot of stuff, so I'd stick to a 5qt or larger crockpot.

Add whatever kind of broth you are using.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Soup tastes best the longer you cook it.

Serve with some cheese on top, and some crusty bread.


The Verdict.

This tastes like swiss chard. In soup. If you don't like swiss chard, you won't like this soup.

It reminded me a lot of the cabbage soup from the cabbage soup diet. And that soup kind of gives me nightmares.


We didn't save the leftovers.

But I really, really, really appreciate Astrid for sending me this recipe. I needed something like this in my repertoire, and I bet there are at least a dozen people out there who really like swiss chard.
:-0

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Posted by: Stephanie O'Dea | A Year of Slow Cooking at July 20, 2008

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What they say about this article

  1. I have two ideas for chard people :) First, we use a lot of kale in split pea soups, but you could use chard there. Here is one we really like, that I have crockpotized before: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/10/yellow-split-pea-soup-with-sweet.html

    Second, we steam chard and pour a balsamic reduction over it and it is tangy and yummy. Perhaps you could find a way to crockpotize this.

    Good luck!

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  2. Anonymous7/20/2008

    Is it sad that I have never even heard of swiss chard?

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  3. Anonymous7/20/2008

    Stephanie,

    My 7 year old was VERY excited when I brought a big bunch of beautiful golden swiss chard home yesterday from the farmer's market. She claimed that swiss chard grown by either Farmer Tom or Farmer Kyle is her FAVORITE vegetable! So I am cooking that chard up tonight for her and I to enjoy.....the rest of the family tolerates swiss chard on a very occasional basis for my and r's benefit, but they pretty much don't like it.

    This recipe sounds interesting....I bet you could tweak it to make it into a vegetarian minestrone, or a chinese hot & sour soup, or even an egg drop....ooooooh, have you tried making egg drop in the crockpot? Ok, now you have me intrigued, I'm going to have to play with some soup recipes (what, am I crazy???? It's over 100 degrees outside! who wants soup?.....well, we will have to make the sacrifice so that I can try developing some new recipes.....if they are successful, I will share them with you :)

    Blessings dear one!

    Lori

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  4. You are amazing. I don't know how you keep up with this day after day, but I'm so glad you do!

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  5. oh-- the stems on swiss chard are the best part! Try them with some crumbled bacon, sateed onions and cider vinegar. mmmmm...

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  6. I make a white bean soup with swiss chard all the time. It has Spanish chorizo in it and that helps make it more tasty. Also you add some browned garlic and pepper flakes just before serving (like in aglio olio). The veggies vary but usually are carrots, potatoes, celery and of course chard (added at the last moment). Also black pepper. I used tomato chicken broth,it's like Knorr chicken base but also has tomato. If you saute the veggies before you add them to the soup, that makes them taste better, I think. It seems a waste to use baby carrots if you chop them up.
    regards,
    Theresa

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  7. My mom and grandma take the swiss chard from her garden and sautee it with garlic, and olive oil. It is still bitter but I like it :) Would you be interested in a similar soup recipe that uses escarole (another random leafy veggie) instead? It is not bitter like swiss chard but wilts the same.

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  8. AGH! You are all so wonderful!

    ~M--I love the word "crockpotize"! I really like the idea of balsamic vinegar on chard; so yummy!

    ~tobymine, no. so totally not sad.

    ~lori, golden kale! I don't know golden kale, and I think I need to hang out with your 7-year-old and meet Farmer Tom or Kyle. I think she would be a good influence on me.
    I have never played around with egg drop soup; great idea.
    AND! I think eating soup on a hot day is supposed to actually cool you off some way, right? I feel like someone who knows a lot about things told me that once.

    kcaimee, wow. thanks! amazing, totally bonkers... whatever. ;-)

    john and kate, WHY did I not know that the stems were the best part? ick! I totally fed them to the guinea pigs. they were happy.

    theresa, mmm. that sounds so very yummy. I'm getting inspired to buy some more kale!

    nicole, that sounds heavenly. I think you could probably sautee tires in olive oil and garlic and I'd eat it. :-)

    xoxoo
    steph

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  9. Hi! I am at least aware swiss chard exists, but I don't know anything about it. Is it kind of like collard greens? Yeah...I'm from the South. Do I most definitely eat it cooked?

    Thanks!
    Sara
    www.dixiegypsy.com

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  10. Ha ha ha! I was wondering how well it would go over. :)

    Swiss chard is so pretty to look at. It DOES need to be cooked (it will also reduce in volume once cooked unlike collards).

    My favorite way thus far is cooking the chard with balsamic vinegar and eating it with toasted and a fried egg.

    I have to keep finding new ways to cook it though as I'm over-run with Swiss chard (and collards and beets and bok choi and ...).

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  11. Anonymous7/20/2008

    Hi Stephanie,
    I can't say I'll try this recipe, but I did make green beans and red potatoes in the crockpot yesterday, and I did the tapioca today, yay!! It came out great, used the big pearl and it made a ton of it. Husband is very happy tonight......
    Lynn

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  12. Anonymous7/20/2008

    Om, how fun are we? In the words of the DV, "If you have to ask..."

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  13. Anonymous7/20/2008

    hello steph, i tried making the indonesian chicken and sad to say i burned it, its the first time i cooked in my whole life but i was able to salvage some parts and taste, mine was kind of dry maybe next time i put a cup of water, after this email ill be trying your tapioca recipe hopefully i get this right....im loosing hope in my crock pot venture!!!will let you know if i was able to cook it right

    renette47@yahoo.com

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  14. Hi Renette!

    I'm so sorry that you had a burnt offering for dinner tonight! That totally stinks.

    What size crockpot are you using? CrockPots work the best when they are at least 2/3 of the way full. If you don't have enough ingredients to fill a larger crock, you can insert an oven-safe dish into it to create a smaller section (ie, a pyrex or corningware dish). I'm terribly sorry that you haven't been having good luck so far.
    When I first started crockpotting, I had the best luck with the stew(ish) dinners and the Taco Soup----it's only recently that I have branched out to more of the "drier" ways of slowcooking. Feel free to email me at ANY time for other tips and tricks, and check out the FAQs that Crock-Pot put out in the left sidebar of my site.

    hang in there!
    xox
    steph

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  15. Anonymous7/20/2008

    *JAW DROPS*

    How... how COULD you give the stems to the guina pigs!? That is the most delicious part!

    That is such a ruination of swiss chard. There is only one way to cook chard:

    Pot. Water. Chard. Boil BRIEFLY. Top with butter, salt and pepper. Eat. Wish there was more chard in the pot.

    BTW I have tried some of your other recipes and they are NUMMY! But this? ICK!!!!

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  16. I just discovered this blog and am in AWE! I cannot wait to try these recipes. Is it too late to join the raffle for that sleek & beautiful crockpot? Mine is quite 80's-ish. My email is: amberleigh[dot]hansen[at]gmail[dot]com.

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  17. Oh my gosh did you call it...I was totally thinking that it sounded like cabbage soup that I will NEVER EVER do again. LOL. Thanks for the shout out, hee hee.

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  18. I'm growing chard in my garden mainly for bunny food (we have three pet rabbits), but this could work, too.

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  19. I am going to attempt a beef stew with Swiss chard today but with a tomato base...should be interesting, and if I'm lucky, delicious! :)

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  20. We belong to a CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) and some weeks it feels like there is an endless supply of swiss chard before you. So one week with my chard, bok choy and kale, I made a chicken 'green' pie, as I had a pie crust in the freezer and a random can of cream of mushroom soup. I was so worried what it would be like but it turned out to be delicious. I am sure somewhere on this site (as I am a newer reader) there is a pot pie in a crock pot, but feel free to make a more 'green leaf' one and crock pot that for me, I have so been enjoying these posts on these very hot summer days that are too hot for an oven!

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  21. We put a little chard in all of our soups....as if it were spinach. It is always on sale in the winter around here, so I like to use it in a lot of things. My boys don't notice it in a big pot of chicken noodles or potato leek soup or veggie soup with meatballs. My husband and I like it made the way his Pakistani family makes leafy greens....chopped (stems too) and sautéed with mushrooms, salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic and a good bit of cumin. it is REALLY yummy that way. I could eat it as a main course. I have, actually.

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