Seeing Red

My approach to buying produce is to look around and pick up the first color or shape that appeals to me. It sometimes leads me to buy things I've never tried before, or things I know how to prepare in only one or two ways. These limitations aren't a deterrent -- they incite me to play with my food.

Red chard is one of those foods that I like looking at, but have limited experience with. I've boiled and stir-fried chard, and that's about it.

On a lark, I put it on a pizza. I used ready-made puff pastry as the crust, sprinkled grated cheddar and Romano cheese as a base, seeded and chopped some Roma tomatoes, then buried it all under a mound of freshly chopped red chard. I drizzled some lemon-infused olive oil, ground some salt and pepper, then baked it in the oven at 425°F for about 20 min.

Baking dried up the chard, shriveling them into dark green and red curls. The bitter taste of fresh chard was turned soft by the heat. The purple-red stems that drew me in the first place looked great with the roasted tomatoes and the golden, cheesy crust. Red chard is definitely something I'd like to experiment with some more.