See the lovely greenery above? That's the rainbow chard I planted in my kitchen garden and which is positively thriving at the moment. It love the way it looks: the leaves glossy and crinkly and green and the stems jewel-coloured - hot pink, orange, red and yellow.
I wanted a light summer supper recipe to highlight those gorgeous colours and the delicate fresh green taste of the chard. I've make ricotta and spinach ravioli before, so I shook up a basic recipe a little and came up with this treat. When you mince the chard or spinach up and cook it as part of the pasta filling it takes on a very different cooked-tasting character, which is not what I was after. Serving the ravioli on top of a bed of wilted chard really allows the flavour of the chard to shine through. And as a bonus the stems look gorgeous with the white and dark green. I served this with a simple browned butter which I'd infused with lemon and garlic.
1 recipe basic pasta dough ( I use the one from Silver Spoon, but there are some other good ones on Epicurus)
- 3/4 cup fresh ricotta
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 egg
- 2 thin slices of prosciutto, fried and crumbled
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cracked pepper
- 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 largish bunch rainbow chard (5-6 cups packed loosely), chopped roughly
Roll out the pasta dough as thin as possible. I actually use a special contraption for this. It's called "my husband and a rolling pin". It works like a charm and I don't have to take it apart to clean it or find somewhere to store it so that I can use it 7 times a year.
Combine the ricotta, garlic, egg, prosciutto, salt and pepper. Use a ravioli tray to fill and cut the raviolis. If you don't have a ravioli tray: cut the dough into strips about 4 to 4+1/2 inches wide. dollop heaping teaspoons of filling along one long side of the strip leaving about an inch of space between each dollop. Use a damp pastry brush to brush water onto the bare dough around each little dollop. Fold over the other half of the strip and use your fingers to firmly press the dough cover to meet the moist dough surrounding the dollops and seal in the filling. Use a pastry wheel, ravioli cutter or knife to cut the pockets apart.
Set the ravioli aside on a floured tray while you make the sauce.
Cook butter in a deep non-stick skillet over medium heat until the foam disappears. Add garlic to butter and cook, stirring, until shallot is golden and butter is deep golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Add lemon zest and cook about 30 seconds more. Add lemon juice and then remove the pan from the heat. Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper.
Cook the ravioli in lots of boiling salted water for about 10 minutes.
Cook the chard in a pan over medium heat until wilted, but still bright green and colourful.
Arrange a serving of chard in the bottom of a soup plate. Top with a few raviolis and finally drizzle with sauce.
It's really beautiful and so colourful!
I discovered the rainbow chard in New York because we don't have it in France…
Posted by: loukoum°°° | July 29, 2006 at 02:12 PM
I love making ravioli. It's so much fun and the results are worth all the work. I bet it's great with the wilted chard and butter.
Posted by: Natalia | July 30, 2006 at 07:43 PM
That looks marvelous. I've actually never eaten chard, but I cannot wait to try it after seeing so many delicious-looking blog entries about it.
Posted by: Danielle | July 30, 2006 at 08:02 PM
My dad always grew swiss chard in the backyard when I was young. I thought it was uck! Shows you what kids know.
This looks so wonderful!
Posted by: Tanna | July 30, 2006 at 09:48 PM
That rainbow chard is amazing! I never knew it could come in such stunning colours :) The ravioli dish looks positively devastating on top of the wilted chard!
Posted by: Ellie | July 31, 2006 at 07:34 AM
Wow, that chard looks amazing! And your recipe even better! Yummy!
Posted by: Dianka | August 02, 2006 at 12:37 PM
Oh wow I've never seen rainbow chard before. It's gorgeous!
Posted by: Laynie | August 03, 2006 at 11:41 PM
The difference between the two is that margarine is vegetable fat and butter is from animals (usually cows but also goats and sheep). It is not really more than a batter of cream from milk. Therefore, we consider it within the group of dairy products.
Posted by: buy viagra | May 21, 2010 at 11:27 AM