Grandmas, they're the best! My paternal grandmother taught me many things over the course of her long life. She was known for her exceptional cooking and I feel over the top fortunate for the education she bestowed upon me while we worked together in the kitchen during my childhood. As an adult, I would call her weekly and the conversation always turned to what she was making and what I was making. During our talks, I often asked her about a recipe or skill/technique.
Not only did Grams cook like a champ, she and grandpa had the most successful vegetable garden in all of Brooklyn! One of their most prolific annual harvests included piles of chard.
Here's Grams' simple chard soup. Now that I have my own garden, I make this from my harvest several times a year.
This recipe is
Made with only a few ingredients
A perfect simple, healthy meal
Easily made ahead
Ready in 30 minutes
Ingredients
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 large white or yellow onion
6 cups of broth (my all time favorite for this soup and for most dishes is Better than Bullion, not Chicken stock - it's vegan and the best on the market, in my opinion)
2 bunches of Swiss chard (about 8 cups)
Pepper
Bay leaf
Small tubular pasta noodles, like elbows or ditalini (optional)
Instructions
Dice onion.
De-stem Swiss chard and dice the stems, set the green tops aside.
In a large pot, sauté onions in olive oil for 5 minutes or so, then add the chard stems and bay leaf. Cook for 8-10 minutes until stems are soft.
4. Add greens and cook over low heat until greens are tender.
5. Serve as is or over small pasta noodles. Season with pepper (I prefer white pepper for this soup, but Grams always used black so the choice is yours!).
Optional: top with parmesan cheese.
Mangia!