Lemony Cashew Alfredo Vermicelles with Shrimp and Swiss Chard

Ingredients:

1 cup Cashew

1/2 Lemon of Juice

1/ 4 cup Parmesan Cheese

2 cups Water

2 cups Shrimp, shelled

1 bundle Swiss Chard, cut into bite size

2 bundles of Rice Vermicelles or pasta

4 Garlic Cloves, minced

Vegetable Oil

Direction:

1. To make the Alfredo sauce, soak the cashews with 2 cups of water until soften; about 6 hours. In a processor, combine cashews, soaked liquid, lemon juice and Parmesan cheese; blend until it is smooth.

2. In a pot, heat up 2 tablespoons vegetable oil over high heat. Add garlic and fry until fragrant. Add shrimp; stir fry until it changes colour. Add Swiss chard and fry until it is wilted. Transfer the mixture into a bowl.

3. Fill the water in the same pot. Add salt. Bring it to a boil over high heat. Add vermicelles and cook until soften according to the package. Drain well.

4. Add the shrimp and Swiss chard mixture back to the pot and mix with the vermicelles.

5. Pour in the Alfredo sauce. Stir until it’s heated through. Serve the vermicelles with more Parmesan if prefer.

How to Wilt Swiss Chard | 快炒瑞士甜菜

Stir frying is the easiest and quickest way to prepare Swiss chard and the taste is never disappointing.

There are a few things to note to give the dish a freshly green look:

1. Add sufficient oil

2. Add Swiss chard in batches and don't over crowd it during cooking

3. Cook over high heat and remove it when it just starts to wilt

The nutmeg I added in the recipe is to subtly enhance the flavour and it should not be tasted in the dish.

In the demonstration, I didn't use the stems (I saved them for another dish).  If you are going to cook the whole Swiss chard, you may want to cook the stems for 1-2 minutes before adding the leaves since the stems take longer to cook through.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you enjoy this recipe.

How to Wilt Swiss Chard | 快炒瑞士甜菜

Ingredients:

1 bundle Swiss Chard

3-4 Garlic Cloves

1.5 tablespoons Olive Oil

A small pinch Freshly Ground Nutmeg

Black Pepper to taste

Salt to taste

材料：

1 束   瑞士甜菜

3-4 粒   蒜頭

1.5 湯匙   橄欖油

少許   荳蔻粉

少許   黑胡椒碎

少許   鹽

DIRECTION:

Roasted Yam and Swiss Chard Salad with Pomegranate and Feta Cheese

Yam is one of the common ingredients we use in our salad starting in late fall.  They are sweet, comforting, abundant and inexpensive.  To add a more complex note, you can always add pomegranate, cheese, or even dried fruits in it.

Roasted Yam Ingredients:

2 Sweet Yam, peeled and cut into chunks

4 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

1/2 teaspoon Curry Powder

1/2 teaspoon Cumin Powder

1 teaspoon Onion Powder

1/3 teaspoon Salt

Salad Ingredients:

1 Pomegranate, shelled

2 cup Rainbow Chard, torn into bite size

1/4 cup Feta Cheese

Dressing Ingredients:

4 tablespoons Olive Oil

1 tablespoon Agave Syrup

Direction:

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.  In a small bowl, toss together the yam ingredients until the yams are well coated.  Place them in the oven to bake until golden and slightly crispy outside; about 25 minutes.

2. Arrange the salad ingredients on a serving plate; set aside.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil and agave syrup; set aside.

4. Once the yams are roasted, remove them from the oven to cool.  Top them on the bed of salad green and drizzle the dressing over; serve immediately.

Lemony Barley with Sautéed Swiss Chard and Roasted Golden Beet ｜ 檸檬大麥配瑞士甜菜和金菜頭

This time of the year is the best time to hang around farmer's markets because there are always so many colourful root vegetables sitting on the shelves accompanying the seasonal greens.

At St. Lawrence farmer's market

Today I went to look for golden beets.  Golden beets taste much less earthy than the common red beets, but they have the similar sweetness and jewelry looking beauty.  I just love them.  At the market, I also found some prime seasonal Swiss chard.  A whole bundle of Swiss chard sold only $1.99 and it looked amazingly fresh.  So it was how I pulled my healthy vegan dinner together tonight.

Lemony Barley with Sautéed Swiss Chard and Roasted Golden Beet

檸檬大麥配瑞士甜菜和金菜頭

(Ingredients for roasted beet):

3 Golden Beets (red beets are fine too)

Olive Oil

Sea Salt

(Ingredients for sautéed Swiss Chard):

1 bundle Swiss Chard

5-7 Garlic Cloves

5 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

2 tablespoons Chinese Rice Wine (optional)

1/2 teaspoon Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Salt

Ingredients for barley:

2 cups Barley

1.5 teaspoons Salt (for boiling barley)

1/3 cup Pine Nut

1/3 cup pumpkin Seeds

1/3 cup Cranberry, dried

4 tablespoons Olive Oil

1/3 Lemon of juice

 How to make it:

Roasting beets takes the longest time, so we can prepare them first.

I enjoy eating the beet greens so I bought the ones with a top.  I would sauté it with the Swiss chard later.  If you just want to use the beet roots, it is totally fine.

1. Remove the green tops from the beets and rinse off the dirt.

2. Place a beet on a piece of foil, and drizzle olive oil and sprinkle salt on it.  Repeat the process until you finish the beets.

3. Wrap the beets individually with the foil, and place them on a roasting pan.

4. Roast the beets in the oven at 400F for about 30 minutes.  (Cooking time may vary according to the size of the beets).

5. Remove the beets from the foil and allow to cool slightly.  Remove the skins and cut the beets until chunk size.  Set the beets aside for later use.

6. Rinse the beet greens thoroughly.  Tear the leaves into bite sizes.  Snap the stems into about 3 cm sticks and also peel off the hard fibre along the stems.  

7. Separate the stems and leaves for even cooking later.

8. If you use Swiss chard, repeat the process as you would do for the beet greens.

9. Heat up about 5 tablespoons of vegetable oil over high heat.  Add garlic; fry until it is fragrant and slightly brown.

10. Add the beet greens and Swiss chard stems.  Sauté until the stems slightly give in; about 2 minutes.

11. Add the leaves, and sauté for another 2 minutes.

12. Add rice wine and sugar.

(Wine is optional and you can skip it if you don't have it on hand.  The sugar is to mellow the bitterness of the dark greens; the amount of the sugar should not be tasted in the dish.)

13. Continuously sauté for another 30 seconds.  Remove it from the heat and set it aside until later use.

14. To cook barley, first rinse it in a few changes of water until the water is slightly clean; drain it.

15. Bring a pot of water to a boil.  Add salt and barley.

16. Cook the barley over medium-high heat until it is softened; drain it well.

17. Squeeze lemon juice and add olive oil.  Season it with salt if needed.

18. Add pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, and cranberries; mix well.

19. Place the food on a serving plate.  Then, the dinner is ready.

I hope you will like this recipe.  See you next time.