by Martina Bin
11 Apr 2016

Rainbow Swiss Chard Pesto

Did you know that swiss chard contain an incredible amount of antioxidant, starting from vitamin K, A (in form of beta-carotene) and C, follow by magnesium, copper, manganese, potassium, vitamin E.. and the list goes on!
Swiss chard does not fear comparison with our loved curly kale, collards and broccoli and other cruciferous for the health benefits that provides.

Thanks to the huge amount of antioxidants:

it helps fighting inflammation, cause of all diseases, including cancer;
it helps maintaining the blood sugar level stable, and therefore good in diabetes and sugar cravings;
it promotes bone health thanks to calcium, magnesium and vitamin k , eye health with beta-carotene

Rainbow Swiss Chard Pesto Recipe

Appetizer, Sauce

To be honest, I wasn’t so sure Rainbow Swiss Chard Pesto would have worked… to my surprise, not only it worked perfectly, it also turned out delicious!

It is a great option for green pesto, packed with nutrients, easy and really affordable!

One recommendation, make sure you add some good high quality fat in here, either nuts or seeds or cheese (if you like) along with olive oil.

It will be slightly bitter than a basil pesto of course, and I have added some of hight quality grass fed butter to balance the taste; you can also add once you are ready to use it in your recipes or before serving.

Ingredients:

A full bunch of rainbow swiss chard leaves from your Eat FRESH bag (no stalks that you can easily use in other recipes, just cut in small pieces and saute' in garlic and olive oil, my favourite!), chopped and lightly packed, it makes 3-4 cups

1/2 cup of Organic extra virgin olive oil*, try this!
2 cloves or more of organic garlic, chopped
2 handful of pine nuts, walnuts or pistachios, or sunflower seeds (my options this time!)
1/4 tsp pink Himalayan salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

* if you prefer to reduce calories, substitute some of the olive oil with vegetable stock

Method:

Add oil, garlic and swiss chard to the jar, push the swiss chard into the oil/vegetable stock. Use the pulse function of your high speed blender 6-8 times until the greens are roughly chopped.

Add the remaining ingredients and press pulse 4-6 times until the desired texture is reached.

I use my Blendtec food processor to make pesto, great results in seconds! You can use of course other blenders or an immersion blender with a tall, thin container.. and a bit more hard work! :)

NB. adjust oil, vegetable stock or a little bit of water if you want it more or less liquid!

If you store in fridge, make sure the pesto is always covered by a layer of oil, it will keep it safe and edible much longer.... well if you don't eat it all right away!

Freeze it in cubes, ready to use when needed

This entry was posted in on April 11, 2016 by Eat FRESH.