Moroccan chard with lamb

Fresh lamb is readily available in the shops during this spring season. Many prefer lamb to ham for Easter meals. 

If you liked the Moroccan chard recipe, you'll love this dish. It comes to you courtesy of a Moroccan colleague who liked my Moroccan chard recipe. He strongly recommended using vegetable oil because of the high temperature required for searing the lamb. I, however, do not use vegetable oil. I noted his instructions but adapted the ingredients to my own taste. I used coconut oil in this, my own version of the dish he described.

Moroccan chard with lamb, steaming hot and fresh from the pan

                                                                              Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

4 lamb chops

2 large red-stalked chard leaves, washed

2 large white-stalked chard leaves, washed

1½ cups red onion, diced small

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon ground cumin

¼ teaspoon ground paprika

¼ teaspoon ground red (cayenne) pepper

1 tablespoon coconut oil

fresh ground sea salt

4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preparation:

1. Slice the stalks away from the washed chard leaves. Slice the stalks, crosswise, into 5 mm. (¼ in.) slices. Set aside.

Chopped chard

2. Slice the chard leaves crosswise, to produce strips about 1 cm. (less than ½ in.) wide. Then roughly chop these strips crosswise. Set aside.

3. Slice away and discard the fat from four lamb shops. Pare the meat from the bones. Slice the meat into bite-sized pieces. 

4. In a saute pan, heat the olive oil and add the diced red onion. Saute over low heat for about 3 minutes until the onion becomes translucent. Add the sliced chard stalks, cayenne, black pepper, cumin and paprika.  Cook over medium heat for 3 - 4 minutes. 

Sauteed red onion and chard stalks

5. Remove contents of the saute pan to a heat-proof holding dish.

6. Return the saute pan to the heat. Add the coconut oil and raise the heat to high. Add the chopped lamb and the bones to the sizzling hot coconut oil. Sear the chunks of lamb on all sides to seal in the juices, then reduce the heat to medium and fry for up to 5 minutes, until the inside is still slightly pink. 

Seared lamb

7. Add the contents of the heat-proof dish to the saute pan and heat through.

8. Add the sliced chard leaves and cook without stirring until leaves are wilted. Add sea salt to taste.

Chard slices wilting over seared lamb, chard stalks
and red onion

9. Remove from the heat and turn out into a serving bowl. Sprinkle with lemon juice.

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Swiss chard omelette

The whole Swiss chard leaf is used in this omelette. Because fibre is essential for a healthy dietary, reserved stems from other chard leaves are added to bulk up the fibre content.

Swiss chard omelette

Fibre is a complex carbohydrate composed of a sugar molecule attached to other non-sugar molecules. Most dietary fibre is indigestible. Of that portion which is soluble, the carbohydrate released is not the type that provides energy. Rather, it is pectin, which is good for your heart.

            Yield: 1 omelette

Clockwise: Swiss chard leaf and
 sliced stalks, eggs, garlic,
and celeriac stalks

Ingredients:

1 Swiss chard stalk 

2 celeriac stalks, leaves intact

1 garlic clove, peeled, minced

small handful chopped Swiss chard stalks

2 eggs, whipped

2 tablespoons tomato salsa

2 tablespoons tomato paste

        ¼ teaspoon ghee

¼ teaspoon coconut oil

1 tablespoon Balkan yoghurt

Preparation:

1. Wash and spin dry vegetables. 

2. Remove central stalk from Swiss chard leaf. Clean 3 or 4 other Swiss chard stalks. Thinly slice Swiss chard stalks to produce a quantity of about 1 cup. Reserve.

3. Slice celeriac stalks and leaves in the same manner. Reserve.

4. In a non-stick saute pan over low heat, cook minced garlic in melted ghee and coconut oil until it releases fragrance ( about 1 minute). Add sliced Swiss chard stalks and celeriac stalk slices. Saute for about 5 minutes.

Swiss chard stalks, celeriac stalks, and garlic in saute pan

5.Raise heat to medium. Pour in whipped eggs. 

6. Slice Swiss chard leaves crosswise into 1 cm. (½-in.) strips. In a separate pot with steaming basket, lightly steam slice chard for about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Place steamed Swiss chard slices in a separate covered bowl.

Sliced Swiss chard leaf

7. Cook omelette until egg is almost set. Slide a spatula around the rim of the omelette to prevent adherence. Shake the pan to ensure that omelette is loose. Flip omelette over to cook the top side for a few minutes. 

Flip omelette over again. Spread steamed Swiss chard over half of the omelette. Fold the uncovered omelette half over the steamed Swiss chard. Lift onto a serving plate.

8. Add salsa to tomato paste. Stir. Add tomato paste and yoghurt to serving plate.

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Beet, parsnip and sweet pepper soup

Perk up a cold mid-winter evening with the enervating colours and comforting aromas of this pureed soup.

Beet, parsnip and sweet pepper soup

Cooked beet, purple potato and
carrot

Ingredients (red soup):

½ teaspoon coconut oil

½ cup chopped red onion

½ clove garlic, crushed

1 small beet, steamed, peeled, chopped

½  carrot, steamed, peeled, chopped

2 purple potatoes, steamed, peeled, chopped

1 cup beet stock or chicken stock

                                      

Cooked and diced ingredients
for the yellow soup

Ingredients (yellow soup):            

½ teaspoon coconut oil

½ cup chopped white onion

½ clove garlic, crushed

1 parsnip, steamed, peeled, chopped

1 white potato, steamed, peeled, chopped

½ yellow sweet bell pepper, diced

¼ orange sweet bell pepper, diced

1 cup chicken stock

Garnish: 

1 sprig cilantro

Preparation :

1. Use two saucepans. You will cook in both pots at once, treating each mixture separately. Melt ½ teaspoon coconut oil in each pot. Place red onion and garlic in one (the red pot), and white onion and garlic in the second (the yellow pot).

2. To the red pot, add all items listed under Ingredients (red soup).   

Beet soup (red pot)

3. To the yellow pot, add all items listed under Ingredients (yellow soup).

Parsnip and sweet pepper soup (yellow pot)

4.  Simmer both mixtures for 10 minutes.

5. Decant the contents of the red pot into a blender. Pulse at high speed until the mixture is thoroughly pureed. Pour the red puree back into the red pot and reheat over low heat.

Beet puree

6. Thoroughly wash the blender, then decant the contents of the yellow pot into it. Pulse at high speed, as you did with the red mixture. Pour the yellow puree into the yellow pot and reheat. At this point, you may wish to add salt, pepper or other preferred seasonings to each puree.

Parsnip and sweet pepper puree

8. Ladle ¾ cup red puree into one measuring cup and ¾ cup yellow puree into another measuring cup.

9. Simultaneously, pour into a soup bowl from both measuring cups to create the effect shown in the illustration above. Garnish with a sprig of cilantro.

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