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    Home » Recipes » Greek Side Dishes

    Rainbow Chard with Olive Oil and Lemon Juice

    Published: Sep 22, 2014 · Updated: Jun 12, 2020 by Peter G · This post may contain affiliate links · 1 Comment

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    Eat your greens! Enjoy the simplicity of blanched rainbow chard with olive oil and lemon juice...the Greek way!

    Look at those colours!  The colours of the Swiss Chard rainbow.  It’s enough to put a smile on your face, no?

    With so many greens available these days and with kale being the “number one” choice for many a hipster, rainbow chard often gets overlooked.  When I saw this on display at the markets (before I ventured off on my trip to Italy…still editing pics btw!) I couldn’t resist it.

    But let’s take a step back for a moment here…

    blanched rainbow chard with olive oil and lemon juice recipe

    I’m not one to brag and talk things up here on the blog, but “kale and co” have always been part of my diet.  I just didn’t know it!  You see, when I was growing up in inner city suburban Melbourne, my mother and her friends would organise trips to the country to pick wild greens.

    They would often come back with humungous plastic bags filled with amaranth, wild spinach and a variety of other unknown green “good for you” foods.  

    Related: see my spanakorizo - Greek spinach rice for more delicious spinach inspiration.

    Admittedly, I wasn’t a fan. It took a lot of convincing to get me to try these greens which we referred to as “horta” (literally meaning grass!). Oh! and you can imagine the jokes my friends and I used to make about eating “grass”!

    These greens were prepared simply. Blanched to death and dressed in copious amounts of olive oil and lemon juice.  When the light bulb went off and my taste buds got their act in order, I used to go crazy for “horta”.

    And that’s what I’ve “sort of” done with my rainbow chard today. Blanched it boiling water, drained it well and dressed it with olive oil and lemon juice.  Of course you can play around with other varieties such as beet greens, turnip greens, dandelions and even everyday spinach).  I just think these look a lot prettier.

    I served it alongside my carrot mash, roasted asparagus with feta and some lamb and my dinner was spectacular.

    So here’s my take on “horta”.

    Hope you enjoy my rainbow chard with olive oil and lemon juice recipe.

    blanched rainbow chard with olive oil and lemon juice recipe
    blanched greens served on a plate

    Rainbow Chard with Olive Oil and Lemon Juice

    Author: Peter G
    Eat your greens! Enjoy the simplicity of blanched rainbow chard with olive oil and lemon juice…the Greek way!
    5 from 4 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 15 mins
    Cook Time 5 mins
    Total Time 20 mins
    Cuisine Greek
    Servings 4 serves

    Ingredients
      

    • 500 g Swiss Chard, or Rainbow Chard
    • ¼ cup olive oil
    • ½ lemon , juiced
    • 2 pinch salt , to season
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    Instructions
     

    • Prepare the chard by removing the thick stem. I chose to leep the inner rib because they were quite tender.
    • Clean the leaves in a sink of cold water until all traces of dirt and debris have been removed. You may need to do this a few times. Lay the leaves on a clean kitchen towel to drain.
    • Bring a large pot of water to the boil and place all your leaves in the water. Allow the mixture to come to a boil and cook until the “rib” is tender approx. 3-5 mins.
    • Remove and drain using a colander. Squeeze any excess water by pressing the leaves with a fork or a large spatula.
    • Place the lanched rainbow chard on a plate and dress with olive oil, the juice of half a lemon and season with salt.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1 serve | Calories: 147 kcal | Carbohydrates: 6 g | Protein: 2 g | Fat: 14 g | Saturated Fat: 2 g

    This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.

    © Souvlaki For the Soul

    Made this recipe?Let me know how you went and tag @souvlakiman on Instagram!

    More Easy Greek Side Dish Recipes

    • Greek Lemon Rice Recipe
    • Ladolemono (Greek Olive Oil and Lemon Sauce)
    • Arakas Latheros (Greek Peas With Potatoes)
    • Greek Lettuce Salad - Maroulosalata

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    1. Randy Granger

      April 10, 2022 at 2:39 am

      5 stars
      Thank you. This is exactly what I was searcing for.

      Reply

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    Peter Georgakopoulos owner of Souvlaki For The Soul

    Yeia sou! I'm Peter! I consider Greek food to be the best food in the world. Let me show you how easy it is to prepare traditional and modern Greek recipes in your kitchen. And bonus points if you like baking too!

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