Swiss Chard Purses With Sausage Stuffing Recipes

Steps:

• Cook pasta according to package directions for al dente. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook sausage and red onion until no longer pink, 3-4 minutes, breaking into crumbles. Add fennel, mushrooms and garlic; cook until tender, 6-8 minutes. Add Swiss chard; cook and stir until wilted, 4-5 minutes longer., Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup pasta water. In a large bowl, combine pasta, sausage mixture, salt, pepper and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, adding enough reserved pasta water to coat pasta and create a creamy texture. Serve with remaining cheese and pine nuts.

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook as the label directs. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking water, then drain the pasta.
• Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or wide skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate using a slotted spoon; set aside.
• Wipe the Dutch oven clean; add the butter and melt over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until slightly softened, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the chard and cook, stirring occasionally, until wilted, 3 to 4 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring, until combined, 1 to 2 minutes.
• Add the milk to the chard mixture and bring to a boil; cook 1 minute. Stir in the sausage, parmesan, lemon zest and a few grinds of pepper. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 6 minutes. Add the pasta to the pot and toss, adding enough of the reserved pasta water to loosen.

Steps:

• Set the currants in a little warm water for 10 minutes, then drain. Parboil the rice in salted water for 12 minutes, then drain it in a strainer and cool under cold running water.
• Peel the onion and chop it fine; saute it for a minute in a skillet in one tablespoon of the olive oil.
• Wash and dry the chard, making sure not to damage the green leaves. Run a knife along the stalks, separating the green from the white. Cut the stalks into two-inch lengths.
• Put the flour and the tablespoon of coarse salt in three quarts of water. Bring to a boil and add the chard stalks. Cook them 10 to 15 minutes or until just tender, then drain well and chop coarsely with a knife.
• Heat four tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the boiled chard stalks and saute them, stirring often, for five minute. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.
• Put the sauteed stalks into a bowl and add the currants, pine nuts, parboiled rice, chopped onion and salt and pepper to taste. Form the stuffing into little balls, about a tablespoon of stuffing each, and rap each ball neatly in a Swiss chard leaf.
• Arrange the balls tightly in a baking dish, smooth side up. Sprinkle with the remaining three tablespoons of oil, add about one-fourth-inch water and bake about 35 minutes. Serve hot in the baking dish.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Choose 12 large chard leaves (each should be about 10 inches long and 5 inches wide) or 24 smaller leaves; set aside. Coarsely chop enough of the remaining leaves to make 4 1/2 cups; reserve remaining leaves for another use. Bring a large pot of water to a boil; add a pinch of salt. Blanch whole leaves, 1 at a time, until tender and bright green, about 5 seconds. Lay flat on a baking sheet lined with paper towels to drain.
• Melt butter with oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add leeks, scallions, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add chopped chard, and cook, stirring occasionally, until chard has wilted, about 3 minutes more. Transfer to a medium bowl, and add pine nuts; let stand until cool. Stir in rice, cheeses, and breadcrumbs. Season with salt and pepper.
• Place a blanched leaf facedown on a work surface. Cut out thickest part of stalk, about one-third of the way up leaf; slightly overlap the cut ends. If using smaller leaves, overlap 2 leaves so they are about 10 by 5 inches. Spoon 1/3 cup filling about one-third of the way up leaf. Fold bottom of leaf over mixture. Fold in sides. Roll to enclose filling completely, creating a 3-by-2-inch bundle. Repeat with remaining leaves and filling.
• Transfer to a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Tent with foil. Bake until heated through, about 15 minutes. Spoon warm sauce onto plates; serve 2 or 3 bundles per plate.

Steps:

• Make stuffing: Soak bread cubes in milk in a large bowl until softened, 20 to 30 minutes. Squeeze out milk, discarding it, then crumble bread into bowl.
• Wash chopped leeks well in a bowl of cold water, agitating them to loosen any grit, then lift out and transfer to a sieve to drain.
• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking.
• Crumble sausage into skillet and brown, breaking up lumps with a fork, about 3 minutes. Transfer sausage with a slotted spoon to bowl with bread.
• Add 2 tablespoons oil to skillet, then sauté chopped leek, chard stems, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, stirring frequently, until vegetables are tender and just beginning to brown, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Stir vegetables into bread mixture, then cool until warm, about 15 minutes.
• Stir remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper into eggs, then stir eggs into bread mixture.
• Prepare leek ribbons and chard leaves: Wash leek strips, then blanch in a large pot of boiling salted water, uncovered, 2 minutes and transfer with tongs to a bowl of ice and cold water (reserve water in pot).
• Transfer to a colander and drain well, then transfer to paper towels and pat dry.
• Blanch chard leaves in water just until wilted, about 30 seconds, and ransfer with a slotted spoon to ice water to cool.
• Drain chard leaves in colander.
• Make purses: Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F Spread 1 chard leaf on a work surface, using smaller leaves to patch any if necessary.
• Chard-leaf wrapper should be about 8 by 5 inches (if it's smaller, overlap several small leaves to form a larger wrapper; don't worry if wrapper is larger than 8 by 5). Mound 1/4 cup stuffing in center, then gather chard up over filling to form a purse and tie closed with a leek strip. (You have extra strips in case some break.)
• Make 19 more purses in same manner.
• Oil a 3-quart gratin or other shallow baking dish. Stand purses upright in dish and drizzle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons oil.
• Add broth to dish and cover purses with a sheet of wax paper or parchment, then loosely cover with foil.
• Bake purses until stuffing is warmed through and egg is set (cut one open on bottom to check), 35 to 40 minutes.