Chickpea, chard and tomato stew

Lovely in its simplicity. Healthy and easy. A spicy, creamy, substantial meal. That's what this stew is. We set about making it, thinking it'd be an easy, nutritious dinner for a week night. We didn't expect much more. But to our surprise, we wound up loving it. We wound up craving it a few days after the last drops were scraped from the last bowls. 

We're pining for it even now, planning when we'll next get our hands on two bunches of chard so we can lovingly stir these deceptively humble vegetables (and legumes) together and feast.

You have to make this. Soon. You won't regret it. We adapted it (barely) from The Kitchen Sink Recipes, who adapted it from Food & Wine.
 

Rating: Truly 1/2 assed

Here's what you need and how you do it

Olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped into large chunks

3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced (or 1 Tablespoon if using jarred garlic)

Pinch crushed red pepper flakes

2 bunches swiss, rainbow or red chard leaves, chopped

Pinch salt (to taste)

Juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon, depending on taste

1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes

1 15-ounce can tomato sauce

1 14-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and red pepper flakes. Sauté until onion is tender. Add the chard, salt and lemon juice. Stir until chard has wilted. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce and chickpeas. Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until chard and chickpeas have softened some.

Serve hot. Would go well with Focaccia.

For a printable version of this recipe, click here.

Comments

[Chris]

This looks delicious and SO simple. Can't wait to try it. Thank you!

[Megan]

Mmm, yum! Your blog name and description made me laugh, what a great site!

[Diane Miller]

Excellent. The lemon is important. Leftovers were fine as well. I've done this with diced sweet potato instead of diced tomato --your version is easier. Also, if you rinse canned garbanzo beans and then bring them to a boil covered in a little water for a minute, they lose the canned taste.

[papergirl]

we served ours over rice and opened up a couple of IPA's with it.

[Chris]

Wanted to let you know, I made this and it was AWESOME. It's a keeper. Thank you!

[magpie]

That sounds delicious - and soon enough we'll be swimming in swiss chard from the CSA.

Also, I like how you did the printable recipes using google docs. Clever.

[Elise]

This was absolutely lovely, thank you. We made it on Monday for dinner and served with a loaf of multi-grain bread. A perfect cure for the crappy weather we've been having around here - and healthy to boot.

[Joyce B.]

I am eating this as we speak! An awesome recipe, so healthy too. Question: did you remove the large "vein" in the center of each chard leaf? From the photo it looks as if you did. I did as well, but was just wondering. Thanks for the great recipes!

[Half Assed Kitchen]

Yes, we did remove the stem and just used the leaves.

[Christa Herzog]

I have looked through all of your blog. I like everything. Delicious recipes. And so beautiful photos. You also have good lightning with most of them.