Stuffed Chard

This recipe happened by a happy accident. I wanted to try this recipe I had seen in an article about this french vegetarian restaurant. It had been about a week since I read it, and I thought it had said Swiss Chard stuffed with Ricotta and Mozzarella, but it actually said Risotto and Mozzarella. Not wanting to go back to the store for risotto rice, or go through the effort to make risotto, I searched for a different recipe I could try or alter to use the ricotta. I found one that called for goat cheese and rice, which was similar enough to the ingredients I had on hand to give me some guidelines for preparing the dish. What I came up with was a very altered, and more yummy in my opinion, form of this recipe. The measurements, like with all my recipes, are a bit vague. This is the sort of dish where you can add a little more or a little less of something and still come alright. Anyway, here it is, enjoy:

Stuffed Chard with Ricotta, Rice and Almonds:

5-7 leaves of chard
1 15oz container of ricotta cheese
1 cup of brown rice
1 big handful of fresh herbs (I used mint, thyme, cinnamon basil and a little cilantro, because
that is what I had in my garden that seemed to fit together with the
dish.)
2 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup or so of chopped onion (more or less if you like)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (more or less if you like)
1 2oz package of blanched almonds (You could toast them if you like. I added them as an after
thought, so I didn't bother. Also, you could use pine nuts
instead, if you like pine nuts. I can't stand them.)
1 teaspoon Lemon Zest (Not sure, just add enough until you can taste it, but not more.)
fresh ground pepper to taste
a dash or 2 of cinnamon (You don't want to really taste it, but I promise it will be better if it's
there.)
lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter
olive oil

1. Cook the rice according to the package.

2. (While rice is cooking) Cut the chard leaves off the stems in two pieces. I used scissors and just cut along the stem on each side. Blanch the leaf pieces one at a time in a large pot of boiling, lightly salted water, about 30-60 seconds per leaf. Stack them with a sheet of paper towel between each to let them dry a bit after blanching. Set them aside until you are ready to stuff them.

3. Once the rice is cooked and cooled a bit, mix in the ricotta, lemon zest, parmesan, chopped herbs, onion, chopped or pressed garlic cloves, almonds, pepper and cinnamon. I mixed in on the same pot the rice was cooked in so I didn't have another dish to wash. Preheat the oven now, to 400 degrees so that it is hot when you are done filling the chard.

4. Spoon a bit of the rice filling onto each chard leaf piece and roll up. Each leaf may take more or less filling depending on the size. I cut most of the larger leaf pieces in half before stuffing. Place each rolled leaf onto a buttered baking pan large enough to fit all the stuffed leaves. It's alright to pack them in a bit. Dot filled pan with pieces of butter and drizzle with a little olive oil. (You can just do one or the other instead of both if you like. If you want to leave out the butter, god forbid, grease the bottom of the pan with oil instead.)

5. Cover with foil and bake for about 15 minutes, to heat through and melt the yummy butter. Remove from oven, squirt down stuffed chards with some lemon juice, to taste, and serve warm.