​What a colorful, flavorful dinner! Just bursting with a yummy citrus blend. It’s a great way to introduce chard if you or a dining companion have never tried it. You won’t even know it’s healthy, it’s that good! (Another good chard intro is Blueberry-Balsamic Green Beans & Chard, but most people have easier access to fruit than to blueberry-balsamic vinegar, so this might be an easier place to start.) No need to worry if you’re not a fan of spicy food, either. While there is a jalapeño in here, this isn’t a spicy dish – it has just a little zip. If you’re concerned, I’d encourage you to try it first with half of the jalapeño rather than omitting it altogether.

I always seem to plant too much Swiss Chard. Even this year, when I only planted one plant! The thing is, I plant it early in the season when I’m all excited to get the garden going again. Then, other things begin to produce, & I’m so occupied with green beans, tomatoes, cukes, etc., that I kinda forget there’s that lonely chard plant in the back. So it just keeps growing, and growing…until the season is winding down, and everything else is done. There in the back is this massive, colorful chard plant, ready to be fed to a whole army. It survived a couple of frosts, & I was able to continue harvesting well into Fall. Fortunately, grocery store chard is usually of pretty dece t quality, so you can make this dish any time of year! You’ll find a printer-friendly version of the recipe at the bottom of this page.

Ingredients:

1 orange

1 lime

1 lemon (Mine is a Meyer lemon, which is why its color is such a deep gold.That, and the fact that the lighting in my kitchen is pretty awful.)

3 – 4 cloves garlic

1 fresh Jalapeño pepper (Mine is red, but green will also do nicely.)

¼ tsp salt

⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 small green bell pepper, coarsely chopped

4 stalks Swiss Chard

1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves

Preparation:

1.) Grate 1 tsp zest from the orange, and ½ tsp zest each from the lime & lemon. Place in a small bowl. Juice the orange and lime, and add all their juice to the bowl. Juice half the lemon, and add that to the bowl, reserving the other half of the lemon for another use.

2.) Remove the seeds & membranes from the jalapeño, mince it, & add to the bowl. Peel & mince the garlic, then add it to the bowl. (I think a Mini-Mate is ideal for mincing these.) Add the salt & pepper, and whisk the mixture until well-blended.

3.) Pour half the mixture into a large zip-top plastic bag or a shallow baking dish. Set the rest aside. Add the chicken, turning to coat. Let stand at least 10 minutes, or refrigerate for a couple of hours.

4.) Chop the bell pepper, discarding seeds and membranes.

5.) Cut the stalks from the chard. Chop the stalks into ½” – ¾” pieces, and the leaves into 1″ – 2″ pieces, keeping them separate.

trim chard stalk

chopped chard

6.) Heat the oil in a large skillet on medium-high. Add the chicken, discarding the marinade. Brown both sides of the chicken, about 4 minutes per side.

7.) Add the chopped pepper and the chard stalks, then pour in the reserved juice mix. Add a little water if needed, to scrape up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until vegetables just start to soften.

8.) Add the chopped chard leaves, and the thyme. Cover, and cook until chicken is cooked through and chard leaves are wilted.

9.) Transfer to a serving platter, and top with the pan juices to serve.