Swiss Chard with Pine Nuts, Golden Raisins and Italian Cheese
I made this for dinner last night with that fancy parmigiano butter. Damn, that butter was good! It gave it this velvety, rich taste almost along the lines of bacon fat. But different. I posted the recipe to vegrecipes but I thought I'd post it here too, although I'm increasingly suspecting that I need a dedicated food blog so writing and food aren't all muddled together...



Toast about 3 T. pine nuts. You can do this in the toaster oven in a pan or in a heavy dry skillet. Just keep an eye; they go from toasty to burned in seconds flat. And shake the pan once in the middle to get 'em even.
Meanwhile, soak about 3 T. golden raisins (I prefer hunza) in some water.
Trim and cut the chard leaves into strips and cut the stems into chunks. Keep them separate.

Melt in a pan:
--1 T. butter

When the butter is melted, add the chard stems. Salt to taste. Saute until they begin to soften. Add leaves. Stir, pushing uncooked leaves under the cooked leaves, until just wilted.
Drain raisins. Serve chard mixed with raisins and pine nuts. Shave some hard Italian cheese like parmigiano or asiago with a vegetable peeler.

With the fats and protein from butter, cheese and pine nuts, this 15-minute dish is basically a meal in itself. To do a vegan version, just leave off the cheese and use olive oil...I'd probably cook the chard in a little olive and drizzle some high-quality olive oil on at the end.