Piccata Swiss Chard

Piccata is a method of cooking. It is traditionally prepared with veal but a common variant is chicken piccata. The meat is sliced, coated with flour, sauteed and served in sauce (wiki). To be honest, I did not know what piccata is and wondered what it is. When I first say the picture and read the name, I thought piccata is an ingredient. I liked the recipe and made it. When drafting the post last night, I did a google search on Piccata and learnt it is a method of cooking.

Today’s recipe is a vegetarian version of piccata and like the meat version, capers and lemon juice are used to prepare the sauce. I was out of lemons/limes and skipped it in my preparation. When I prepared it, I left the recipe called for too much oil but after learning more about piccata, I realized this is how it is supposed to be. I served it as a side dish with some ribs and rice. It was a gloomy overcast day on Thursday and pardon the low lighting in the image above. If you are still looking for Thanksgiving dinner ideas, do consider this piccata. One suggestion though, coarsely chop the chards and keep the leaves big. I chopped the leaves roughly but I guess not rough enough. This is how the final dish is suppose to look like. Below is the picture of the dish from the magazine.

Source: Food & Wine November 2015 edition
Total Time: 15 – 20 minutes
Preparation: 5 – 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 1 – 2 tbsp. Olive Oil (check note)
• ⅙ cup or 2 tbsp. Capers, drained
• 1 – 2 tsp. Garlic, minced (I used 2 tsp. as I like garlic)
• ½ lb Rainbow or Swiss Chard stemmed and roughly chopped (check note)
• ¼ tsp. Black Pepper Powder
• ⅙ – ¼ tsp. Salt (adjust to taste)
• 2 tbsp. Lemon Juice (I did not have any on hand and skipped it)
• Parsley or Cilantro for garnish

Preparation:

• Wash, stem the chards and roughly chop the leaves.
• Heat oil in a pan, saute garlic and capers until golden brown on medium heat, about 3 minutes.
• In batches, add handful of chard leaves until slightly wilted. When all the chard is added, continuing sauteing on medium high flame until chard is completely wilted, tender and liquid evaporates.
• Add salt, pepper and lemon juice (if using). Give a good stir.
• Transfer to serving bowl.

Note:

• I felt the oil was a bit too much. But considering piccata is suppose to be saucy, it is probably required to add 2 tbsp. If serving this as a side dish with rice, then I would use less oil.
• I used rainbow chards which is mixture of different chards; red & green chards. My bunch was about 13 ½ oz. After plucking off the leaves from the stem and stalks, it weighed about ½ lb (8 oz). I roughly chopped the chard leaves, yet it turned out be small after cooking. Tearing the leaves might be a better option. Nonetheless, I liked the piccata though I chopped the leaves smaller than I should have.