Swiss Chard with Bacon and Roasted Potatoes

Fill your plate with vegetables--this dish consists of a heaping helping of sautéed Swiss chard and a side of roasted potatoes. A bit of bacon for flavor and you're ready to eat.

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I did not choose the name Farm Fresh Feasts for this blog because I create fancy feasts out of the farm share box each week. Instead, I felt that even a simple meal, prepared with fresh goodies from local farms, can be a feast.

I've long viewed Swiss chard as a comfort food simply because I grew up eating the chard grown in our suburban backyard garden. [This makes me curious what my kids will grow up to view as a comfort food, actually. Not any beet preparations, except maybe Chocolate Cherry Beet Brownies. Perhaps turnips in Pasties. Possibly kohlrabi in Chirashi Sushi. Certainly Yakisoba and homemade farm share Spaghetti sauce.]

This meal could be seen as comfort food by my family--they sure devoured it and I was glad to have snapped some photos before we ate. Something as simple as chard and potatoes can't be seen as high falutin' food but it sure does hit the spot.

This is not a sheet pan supper or even a one pan meal, but I do want you to reuse the rimmed baking sheet if you (like me) bake your bacon. Any lingering bacon grease will add extra flavor to the potatoes.

For more recipes using Potatoes, please see my Potato Recipes Collection. For more recipes using Swiss chard, please see my Swiss Chard Recipes Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me looking to eat seasonally, and locally, and to make the most of the farm share box. I share more recipes via Pinterest, follow me there. As I find interesting articles and recipes I'm sharing them on my Facebook page, follow me there. And if you like to peek at other people's lives like I do, I'm carefully curating a mix of kitchen, dog, and local nature views for you on my Instagram feed, follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Swiss Chard with Bacon and Roasted Potatoes (serves 4 to 6)

Ingredients

• 1 pound bacon (you're only using 3 strips, but may as well bake the whole package)
• 1 large bunch Swiss chard
• 1 pound potatoes (about 4 medium), cubed
• 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
• ½ cup chopped onion (from about ½ onion)
• several generous pinches of salt and grinds of pepper for each component
• a splash of balsamic vinegar to finish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. On a rimmed baking sheet, lay bacon strips in a single layer, trying not to overlap. 
2. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, turning the bacon over around the 15 minute mark, until it's as crisp as you like. Save that grease--easy to pour out of the rimmed pan and into an empty jam jar.
3. While the bacon is baking, prep the potatoes by cutting them into bite-sized cubes.
4. When the bacon is cooked, crumble and set aside 3 slices for today's recipe and store the rest however you like. I prefer a bag in the freezer so we don't just pick up a slice and eat it every time we walk past the plate, but you do you.
5. Increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, toss the potatoes with a teaspoon of olive oil and season with a generous pinch of salt and a couple of grinds of pepper. Spread the potatoes in an even layer in the rimmed baking sheet. 
6. Bake the potatoes for 20 minutes, then stir, and return to the oven to bake for about 10  to 15 minutes more, until the potatoes are browned. 
7. While the potatoes are baking, prep the Swiss chard by separating the stems and the leaves as shown above. Chop the stems into small pieces (I do mine a bit bigger than the chopped onion) and set aside. Slice the leaves into ribbons.
8. Preheat a large skillet (I use a 12 inch cast iron) over medium heat. Add another teaspoon of olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the chard stems and chopped onion and stir to coat with fat.
9. Sauté the vegetables about 5 to 8 minutes until they begin to soften. Stir in the chard leaves and crumbled bacon, sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt and a couple of grinds of pepper,  and cook another 3 to 5 minutes until chard is wilted and everything is combined.
10. If you like (adults do, the kids don't) add a splash of balsamic vinegar to the greens at the end.
11. Serve alongside the roasted potatoes, and have salt and pepper and ketchup at the table for folks to season their own plates.
12. Yes, this would be awesome with a fried egg on top. We were out of eggs. Try my Swiss Chard Hash if you've got cooked potatoes and want to go that direction.