I got this recipe from my friend, Deb, who immediately listed its shortcomings, which immediately caught my attention. I love tweaking recipes. The other part of the recipe that caught my attention was the fact that it uses 4 cups of Swiss chard or kale. Right now my garden is overflowing with Swiss chard.
The original recipe calls for crushed pineapple that's mixed into the peanut sauce. Deb commented on the aesthetics of the dish, saying that this mixture wasn't visually appealing. The original also calls for crushed peanuts on the top, which I felt was overkill. There's already a half-cup of peanut butter in the sauce. The original also calls for chopped scallions as a garnish. Not going to happen in my version. I've recently started a love affair with vidalia onions and found that a smattering of these lovelies is a perfect topper. Finally, the original is supposed to be served over couscous. That might have happened but I had some left over pasta in the fridge. I mixed the pasta right into the sauce and it turned out pretty darn delicious.
Ingredients:
1 c chopped onions
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 T vegetable oil
4 c Swiss chard, chopped
20 oz can pineapple tidbits, drained, reserve liquid
1/2 c peanut butter
1 T Tabasco sauce
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
salt to taste
1/4 cup finely, or finally diced vidalia onion
Left over pasta or rice or couscous
Parsley for garnish (optional, but a nice touch)
Distructions:
Saute onion in oil for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic for the last minute. Add the pineapple juice and bring to a simmer. Stir in the Swiss chard, cover, and simmer for about 7 minutes.
Mix in the peanut butter, Tabasco, and cilantro. Cover once again and simmer for another five minutes. At the end of this five minutes stir in a cup or so of any leftover pasta you might have on hand. If you've no leftover pasta you could simply cook up some rice or couscous. Salt to taste.
Place in a serving bowl or on individual plates and top with a generous smattering of pineapple tidbits and diced vidalia onions. Garnish with a few sprigs of parsley.
The original recipe states that it serves 4. I ate half of it along with a substantial serving of my favorite sweet and sour red cabbage. Because the cabbage is also simmered in pineapple juice the dishes went together beautifully. I'll be posting the red cabbage recipe forthwith so you can also enjoy this tasty duet.
Loveya
The Mom
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