How can you not pick up a bunch of chard, its stems the colour of children’s sweeties, the leaves glossy and deeply veined with carmine, saffron and apricot? Dazzled by vegetables as beautiful as a bunch of flowers, you briefly forget the stems taste of soil and grit. Yet, cut into tiny cubes and sautéed in olive oil with a clove of garlic and perhaps a little butter, the mineral notes will mellow and sweeten, giving you a sound base for a winter bean soup.
The leaves are a wonder, with their road-map of rainbow jewel-coloured veins. I treat them as spinach leaves, plunging them for seconds into boiling water, then tossing them in butter, lemon juice and salt. They love garlic too, perhaps mashed to a paste and cooked in butter till honey-coloured, before being tossed with the heat-wilted leaves. Sometimes I shred them and dip the ribbons into a bean soup as it approaches dinner time –a last-minute flash of deepest green for my winter soup.
Bean soups, stews, whatever you call them, are treated as a principal dish in this house. Served with a large ladle, they are as substantial as they are value for money. I use tinned beans, as the bottled variety are sometimes a little soft for soup. Those with more time on their hands might like to soak dried beans and cook them from scratch. The result will be much the same, a dinner to keep out the cold and damp, with the delight of silky greens stirred in at the end. A puddle of olive oil poured over at the table is in my book essential.
The golden biscuit tin, once the home of lebkuchen, a souvenir from a German Christkindlesmarkt, is where I squirrel away a stash of soft cookies or crisp biscuits or, if I have failed to bake, a packet of dark chocolate digestives. Lift the lid this week and you will find homemade fingers of sesame, date and pistachio, dipped in bitter chocolate. Soft and crunchy energy bars with the luxury of thick chocolate.
Bean and chard soup
Sitting somewhere between soup and stew, this is one of those recipes to use as a base, adding different beans and greens. Swap the borlotti for haricot or cannellini, chickpeas or pinto beans depending on what is in the cupboard. Stir in spinach or cavolo nero leaves at the end if you prefer or if your chard leaves aren’t as perky as their stems. If you are making the soup for the following day, introduce the leaves when you reheat it, just before you eat. Serves 6
onion 1, medium sized
celery 2 stalks
olive oil 2 tbsp, plus little extra, to finish
chard stems 150g
garlic 3 cloves
thyme 6 bushy stems
tomatoes 2x 400g cans (whole or chopped)
borlotti beans 1 x 400g tin
black eyed beans 1 x 400g tin
chard leaves 200g
Peel and roughly chop the onion. Finely dice the celery. Warm the olive oil in a deep, heavy-based pan and add the onion and celery, letting them cook over a moderate heat. Cut the chard stems into small dice and stir into the onions.
Peel and very finely slice the garlic. It should be almost thin enough to see through. Strip the leaves from the thyme then stir into the onion mixture with the garlic.
When the onions are translucent and the aromatics are fragrant and softening, add the tomatoes and their juice together with 2 cans’ worth of water. Bring to the boil, then stir in the beans, rinsed of their canning liquid. (If you are using bottled beans however, I suggest you stir their liquid in as it adds a silky texture to the soup.) Season with black pepper and salt and continue cooking at low simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring from time to time.
Wash the chard leaves and cut them into wide strips, then add to the hot soup. Leave for a couple of minutes to soften then ladle the soup into bowls. Trickle over a little olive oil as you serve.
Sesame, date and pistachio bars
A good one for the biscuit tin, staying in good condition for several days. I treat these as tiny energy bars, perfect for a mid-morning pick me up. You can veganise the recipe by using date syrup in place of the honey and a suitable substitute for the chocolate. And don’t feel you have to include pistachios; you can use hazelnut or almonds instead.
Makes 18 small bars
pistachios 125g
salted, roasted peanuts 100g
soft dried dates 275g
rolled oats 125g
vanilla extract 1 tsp
thick honey 3 tbsp
roasted sesame paste 2 tbsp
sesame seeds 2 tbsp
dark chocolate 200g
Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Line a 20cm square cake tin with kitchen parchment. Put the pistachios, peanuts and dates in a food processor and process to a thick paste, taking care not to over-process to a purée. Stir in the oats.
Warm the vanilla extract, honey and sesame paste in a small pan over a medium heat. As soon as bubbling lightly stir into the date and nut mixture. Spoon into the lined cake tin, smooth the surface, pushing down firmly, but not so hard you compact the mixture. Sprinkle the surface with the sesame seeds. Bake for 20 minutes then remove from the oven and set aside to cool in its tin.
Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt in a heatproof mixing bowl balanced over a pan of simmering water. Don’t be tempted to stir the chocolate until it is almost entirely melted, and then only gently.
Lift the block of sesame biscuits out of the tin and cut into 18 short rectangles. Dip each sesame slice into the melted chocolate, covering half the biscuit. Lay each on a piece of baking paper and scatter crushed pistachios over the top if you wish, then let the chocolate set. If the room is warm, then you might want to chill them briefly in the fridge.
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