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Garlicky Chard with Five-Spice Tomatoes | Yotam Ottolenghi

Rainbow chard never fails to catch my attention at the farmers market. It’s colorful, vibrant and always showy, next to mounds of dark-green bundles of kale. Knowing that these leafy greens are superfood, I’m always buying loads of them. Meanwhile, I’m on the lookout for good recipes to cook them. Garlicky chard with five-spice tomatoes is just the right recipe.

Consistent with the farm-to-table theme, summer tomato is another star ingredient with great appeal. Picking and choosing a varieties of tomato on display in the farmers market can be so much fun on a lazy summer day. Prepping chard and tomato goes quite quickly.

However, there are more than the usual aromatics (garlic, green onion, pepper and cilantro) to chop and dice. This recipe calls for six garlic cloves. Importantly, these are the necessary steps to build the flavor base for the vegetables. Be patient! Nothing a good chef knife can’t handle. By the way, it’s time to work on your knife skill.

What also works brilliantly is the dressing. It’s a mixture of soy sauce, sherry vinegar, vegetable oil, sesame oil, crushed garlic and chopped cilantro. A small amount of five-spice and sugar also go into the dressing. In retrospect, I can hardly taste the five-spice. You might want to add more, if you like.

The dressing serves as a marinade to the cherry tomatoes. Wait, there is an extra step! That involves charring the cherry potatoes in a hot pan with a heavy pan on top. Perhaps, I shouldn’t call it extra, just because it’s outside the realm of my everyday cooking. A little more work — but with huge impact. Meanwhile it makes so much sense; I’m sure it’s the usual operating procedure in a chef kitchen.

After all I like the flavor of the five-spice dressing and the texture of charred tomatoes in this dish. They pop. Adding that to my repertoire of cooking techniques will undoubtedly make me a better cook. I’m all for that!

Print Recipe

Garlicky Chard with Five-Spice Tomatoes

Serves: 4

These addictive greens make a very quick and versatile side dish, and the five-spice tomatoes, which are delicious on their own, make them extra-special. The tomatoes also work well with grilled vegetables, on top of labneh for a delicious dip or simply on a thick slice of toast.

Ingredients

2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sherry or red-wine vinegar
¼ tsp sesame oil
3 tbsp vegetable oil
½ tsp light brown sugar, or similar
⅛ tsp Chinese five-spice
6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2⅔ tbsp (10g) finely chopped fresh coriander
180g datterini or cherry tomatoes
400g swiss chard, trimmed, leaves stripped off stalks and roughly torn, stalks cut into 6cm lengths (cut thicker stems in half lengthways first)
5 spring onions, trimmed and cut into 4cm pieces
Fine sea salt and black pepper
1 green chilli, stem removed, the rest finely chopped

Instructions

MAKE THE DRESSING: In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, a tablespoon of vegetable oil, the sugar, five-spice, a clove of crushed garlic and the coriander, then set aside.

CHAR THE TOMATOES: Put a large frying pan on a high heat and, once hot, add the tomatoes and place a heavy saucepan on top of them. Leave to cook for two minutes, until charred underneath, then flip over, top with the heavy pan again and char the other side.

Tip the tomatoes into the dressing bowl, along with any juices they’ve released during the cooking, stir gently and set aside.

COOK THE CHARD STALKS: Wipe the pan clean, return it to a medium-high heat and add the remaining two tablespoons of oil. Once hot, add the chard stalks, spring onions and a quarter-teaspoon of salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, for five minutes, until the veg start to soften and colour lightly.

COOK THE CHILI-GARLIC MIX AND ADD THE CHARD LEAVES: Add the chilli and all the remaining crushed garlic, cook for 30 seconds, then stir in the chard leaves a third at a time, along with a quarter-teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper. Cook for another four or five minutes, until the leaves have wilted and most of the liquid in the pan has evaporated.

SERVE: Transfer the chard mix to a high-sided platter and serve with the tomatoes and their marinade spooned over the top.