It is late spring and the garden is starting to take off. The Swiss Chard is growing like a weed and it’s a perfect time to try lots of new ways to use those big leaves in creative ways. These roll ups are just the thing for a tasty plate of hors d’oeuvres that have good flavor and are good for you.
Makes 20
Ingredients
- 5 large leaves of Swiss Chard (you can substitute kale or spinach)
- 3/4 C Onion, chopped
- 4 Cloves Garlic, chopped
- 2 Tbl Olive Oil
- 2 1/2 tsp Thyme, fresh or 1 tsp dried
- 1 tsp Lavender, dried, ground
- 1/4 C Almonds, chopped
- 3/4 C Asagio Cheese, hard, grated
- 1 Egg
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- Toothpicks for roasting
Mix the filling
Chop onion, garlic, thyme, and lavender.
In a fry pan with the 2 tablespoons of olive oil sauté the onions and garlic. When barely starting to brown, add Thyme and Lavender, Salt and Pepper. Stir frequently so the vegetables just get a little bit more brown.
Then remove from heat and put into another bowl to cool.
Add egg and stir until blended. Then add the Asagio cheese and the chopped almonds and stir until they are all mixed in.
Prepare the leaves
Wash and de-stem the leaves and break into pieces that are about 4” square. They will vary in size and shape, that’s ok. Save the stems of the Swiss Chard for soups, or just sautéing with other veggies in another meal.
Form the roll ups
Put them vein side up and spoon in about a teaspoon of filling per leave piece.
Almost as if you are wrapping a little package, fold over sides first
then the ends.
Put a toothpick through to hold it from falling open
and place onto a cookie sheet that has been greased with butter or oil (I started using coconut oil for this and it’s releases well).
After you have filled your pan, roast them for about 12 minutes in the 350º oven.
Take them out and cool them on the pan. They will be slightly crispy when you take them out, but they will soften a bit as they cool.
Plate them up and add a garnish of sprigs of lavender and thyme if you want.
This is a Plan Friendly recipe.
PS. Use the stems from the swiss chard for soups or stir fry. In this recipe we used Rainbow Chard, and those stems are so pretty!