Rainbow Chard with Extra Corn-elicious Polenta

We've been getting two huge, beautiful bunches of rainbow chard each week from our CSA.  These greens are gorgeous!!  I ooh and aah at them every time I go pick them up.  I don't think I'll ever get tired of chard...it's so versatile.  When I was a chard newbie, oh so many years ago, I would always sautee it with garlic and onion and eat it over pasta with parmesan cheese.  Simple and delicious every time.  However, I've since been branching out with my chard cuisine.  As you know, I avoid making the same thing twice (because why make the same thing twice when there are so many wonderful recipes to discover!?).  Therefore, each week, I try to find two new recipes for my two bunches of chard.  These include frittatas, quinoa salads, vegetarian shepherds pie (to come...), and this recipe: chard with polenta.  I took advantage of our CSA corn to add fresh corn kernels to the polenta for an extra flavor and crunch kick.  I love the tang the chard gets from the balsamic vinegar in this recipe.  Since making this, I've tried finishing my chard off with different vinegars.  Brown rice vinegar works very nicely, too, from my experience.

Rainbow Chard with Extra Corn-elicious Polenta
Adapted from Moosewood's Recipes for Health

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• one bunch rainbow chard, stems and leaves chopped in 1 inch (or 1 square inch) pieces
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8-1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp coarse ground cornmeal (polenta)
• 2 ears corn, kernels cut off the cob (compost the cob)
• 1 tbsp mascarpone
• 1/4 cup grated manchego (or parmesan would work nicely)
• freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions:

For the chard:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan or pot on medium heat.  Add the garlic and saute for a minute or two, stirring often, until the garlic starts to get a little color.   Don't let it burn!  Just cook it enough so it's not raw.
2. Add in the chopped chard, salt, and red pepper flakes.  Cook until the chard is wilted to your liking and until the stems are tender.
3. Once the chard is cooked, lower the heat to low.  Stir in the balsamic vinegar and allow the chard to cook just a minute more.  Remove from the heat.  Check the seasonings.

For the polenta:

1. In a medium saucepan or pot, bring the water to a boil over high heat.  Once boiling, add in the salt.
2. Gradually whisk in the cornmeal.  Once completely incorporated, reduce the heat to low, and continue to whisk for a minute to avoid lumps in your polenta.  
3. Cover the pot and cook on low, stirring every few minutes, until thick and creamy.  This will take 8-10 minutes.
4. Once the polenta is cooked, add in corn kernels, mascarpone, and manchego.  Stir until it is all melted and blended nicely together.  Add pepper (and maybe salt), to taste.

Assemble:

1. Spoon the polenta onto a plate/bowl/plate-bowl.  This recipe will feed 2 people well.  
2. Top the polenta with a big spoonful of rainbow chard.  You may have some chard leftover, depending on how big your bunch was - refrigerate the leftovers and eat them with a sunny-side-down egg in the morning!

There's a reason why chard is my all time favorite green...

This is a great summer-time meal.  Filling without being too heavy and with tons of fresh farm flavors!

The original recipe in the Moosewood cookbook calls for a sunny-side-up egg on top of the polenta and chard.  Without the egg, this meal was plenty filling for me, but if you're hungry hungry and want some extra protein, I imagine an egg would be lovely on this dish!