Baked Swiss Chard Stems with Olive Oil and Parmesan

By nancytripp

Baked Swiss Chard Stems with Olive Oil and Parmesan
(Makes 2 side dish servings, can be doubled. Recipe slightly adapted from Vegetables Every Day by Jack Bishop.)

Ingredients

• 1 bunch chard stems
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• olive oil for spraying pan and chard
• 1/4 cup coarsely grated parmesan cheese (I used Grana Padano from Costco, but any type of hard aged cheese would be good here.)
• coarse ground black pepper to taste

Preparation

Step 1

Trim any discolored ends from chard stems, then cut stems on an angle into pieces about 3 inches long. If some stems are very thick, you may wish to cut them lengthwise so all pieces are approximately the same thickness.

Preheat oven to 400 F (or 375 F with convection.) Bring a pot of water to a boil, add salt and chard stems and boil about 6 minutes. Let chard drain well.

Spray a non-stick baking dish with olive oil. Place chard in the pan and mist lightly with olive oil, then sprinkle with cheese. (If doubling the recipe, make two layers, misting each layer with oil and sprinkling with cheese.) Bake about 20 minutes, or until chard is softened and cheese is slightly browned on the edges. Season with fresh ground black pepper if desired and serve hot.