Baked Shrimp and Grits with Swiss Chard

When picking recipes, I usually don’t give much thought to the type of cuisine.  I focus more on the ingredient(s) I want to use and search around until something catches my eye.  Then I look closer to make sure it’s at least somewhat healthy, not too time consuming to make (for weeknights at least) and won’t require a bunch of ingredients that I don’t have already.  Overall though, the majority of my cooking falls into the Italian/French/American category with only occasional deviations to Latin America or Asia.  Within the American realm of food, southern style cooking is a favorite of mine and the urge for shrimp and grits bubbled to the surface when I came across this recipe from the Food Network while looking for a use for the Swiss chard in last week's share.  

First thing you've probably noticed after clicking on that link is that this is a polenta recipe, not grits.  “What’s the difference?” you ask?  Well, to that I do not have an answer that would prevent me from receiving irate emails from Italians and Southerners alike.  So instead I suggest you take a look at this very informative article on NPR.com in which the author explains the differences much better than I ever could.

The recipe below is basically the same with less garlic, replacing the polenta with grits and the addition of the shrimp. The end result was very good, and felt much more like a Southern style dish than Italian, which was my goal.  I suppose that if you wanted to be even more Southern in the ingredients, you could replace the mozzarella with white cheddar and use collard greens instead of the chard.

Share contents used:
Swiss Chard

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
8 to 10 cups chopped Swiss chard, stems and leaves kept separate
Butter for greasing dish plus 1 tablespoon butter for the grits

2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups water
Salt and pepper
1 cup white corn grits
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup sour cream
1 pound shrimp, peeled and cleaned, tails removed

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds, then stir in the Swiss chard stems. Pour in a few tablespoons of water and cover the pan. Cook the stems 2 minutes. Remove the cover, the mix in the Swiss chard leaves. Cover the pan again and cook until the leaves wilt, about 3 minutes. Toss occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool, uncovered.

To make the grits, combine the milk, water, and salt in a medium size saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and slowly drizzle in the dry grits, whisking all the while with a wire whisk. Continue to cook and whisk the grits until it is the consistency of mashed potatoes and tears away from the sides of the pan, about 5 minutes. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan cheese, the 1 tablespoon of butter, and the mozzarella cheese.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Butter a 2 1/2 quart shallow baking dish, spread half the grits in the baking dish. Spoon on the Swiss chard and distribute it evenly. Drop on small spoonfuls of the sour cream and spread it with the back of a spoon. Spoon on the remaining grits and spread it out. Place the shrimp in a single layer on top of the grits.  Season shrimp with salt and pepper and sprinkle on the remaining tablespoon of Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the shrimp are cooked through and the grits are starting to brown.

Pan Seared Salmon with Swiss Chard

The prepared food section of our local Whole Foods can be a great place for inspiration. Recipes for much of what you see behind the glass can be found on their website, and are often relatively simple to follow.  To find a use for the remaining Swiss chard, I searched their recipes until the dish shown here caught my eye.  Simple, healthy and only took about 30 minutes (most of that from washing and chopping all the greens) from start to finish.  I ended up adding the kohlrabi leaves because there was not quite enough chard left.  The kohlrabi had a slightly tougher texture, but otherwise we could not tell the two apart when mixed together.

The recipe below is from the Whole Foods website with just a couple small tweaks.

Share contents used:
All the remaining Swiss chard
Kohlrabi leaves

Ingredients
1 bunch Swiss chard (plus the kohlrabi leaves)
4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
4 (4- to 6-ounce) salmon fillets
Salt and pepper, to taste
Juice of half a lemon
1 teaspoon tamari (dark soy sauce)
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Wash and dry the chard. Cut the leaves from the stems. Roughly chop leaves and set aside.

Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until the onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in chard leaves, cover and cook 3 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add 1 tablespoon water, if necessary, to create enough steam to cook greens quickly. When ready, greens should be wilted but still bright green.  Season with salt and pepper to taste before serving.

Meanwhile, season the salmon with salt and pepper. Squeeze lemon juice over the top, then drizzle on the tamari and sesame oil. Turn pieces to coat all surfaces.

Heat the remaining 2 teaspoons oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add salmon and cook 2 minutes on each side, or just cooked through.

I served the salmon and chard along with rice and the kohlrabi fries shown in this post.

Swiss Chard, Ham and Cheddar Quiche

My wife was in charge of dinner tonight and with meals like this, I may have to let her cook more often!  She used around half of the Swiss chard along with onion and ham in a fantastic quiche recipe she found on a website called Real Simple.  The ham was an addition, but otherwise she followed the recipe as written.

Share contents used:
Half of the Swiss chard
All the remaining romaine (in a side salad)

Ingredients
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 bunch Swiss chard, stems removed, chopped
1 onion, chopped

1/2 cup diced cooked ham
3 large eggs
3/4 cup half-and-half
kosher salt and black pepper
2 ounces cheddar, grated (1⁄2 cup)
1 prebaked 9-inch piecrust

Preparation
Heat oven to 350° F. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chard and onion and cook until tender, 3 to 4 minutes. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with the half-and-half; season with 1 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Add the cheddar and chard mixture and mix to combine. Pour into the prebaked 9-inch piecrust and bake until set, 40 to 45 minutes.