July 27, 2006

Swiss chard dolmadas with rice and mushrooms

Swiss chard (mangold) is a rather new veg to me, partly because you seldom see it in "ordinary" supermarkets where we get most of our food. But as a foodie I have started to visit other places and there you always can find this magnificent vegetable - I think it is so beautiful with its large leaves and stems in white, red or yellow.
Last week I visited Rosendals trädgårdar at Djurgården in Stockholm and found a big bunch of Swiss chard for only 15 SEK, so I bought it without even thinking what to make of it. I put it in a vase on our kitchen table and turned to my trusted cooking guru Anna Bergenström for advice. I have written about her before and cannot praise this woman enough. She is simply the best! I use her cookbooks all the time and have yet to try a recipe of hers I don´t like. These Swiss chard dolmadas was another success! She gave the recipe in the book more like a description than a recipe with exact measures and I describe it in the same way.


Swiss chard dolmadas
Take large Swiss hard leaves , trim off the stalks and maybe a bit of the central "nerve" and put it in boiling salted water for 2 minutes, to soften them. Drain and put aside. I used eight leaves.
Boil 3-4 servings of rice in some good vegetable stock and some dried herbs like thyme or oregano, I used brown rice which I use more and more. Put aside.
In a frying pan sautée one chopped small onion and a bag of yellow chanterelles from your freezer (or other good mushrooms) until a little soft. Mix it with the rice and spice to taste with salt and pepper.
Put a good spoonful of the rice/mushroom mix on each leaf and roll together. Put the dolmadas in a greased ovenproof dish, pour over just a little of milk or cream and grate over some good cheese. I always use Västerbottenost which is an almost parmesan-like Swedish cheese, delicious.
Bake in the oven, 200-225 degrees, for about 25 minutes and enjoy!

7 comments:

Alanna Kellogg said...

Very nice!!

Anonymous said...

I'm really impressed. Those look super good!

Pene said...

Looks really good!

Pille said...

I had never thought of using mangold as wrapping for rolls - such a great idea! Nice alternative to my more usual cabbage rolls for sure. The purple stems look really pretty, too.

Clivia said...

Thank you all! I will absolutely make these more times, not least because it is a really good way to use mushrooms. It has started to rain again so they will soon pop up in the forests I guess.
And Louise, I am happy to guide you a little to the Swedish foodie world!

Steve said...

Looks good. I can occasionally find Swiss Chard, although I've rarely used it.

Anonymous said...

Hi there, I've just come to your site via Global Voices online and I love this recipe. In Australia we call chard silverbeet and it's a really common vegetable. It's one of my favourites, especially when you can get the fresh and young-ish leaves which are more plump and juicy, plus it's really good for you. I'm always looking for new ways to cook silverbeet - so thanks for this recipe Olivia, I'll be trying it out soon.