We harvested a big, beautiful bouquet of chard leaves from the garden last weekend, along with a handful of tomatoes from my Early Girl plant.  I turned this early spring harvest into a delightful lunch, with felt light and healthy while also warm and satisfying.  Serve with yogurt, cheese, and/or some toast.  Recipe and pictures down below!

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Ingredients:

• 1 bunch (8-10 large leaves) of chard
• 6 fresh tomatoes (Plum or Early Girl will work great)
• 2-3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• ½ lemon, juiced
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. Remove peel and roughly chop garlic.  Set aside.
2. Wash and chop tomatoes into large dice. 
3. Wash chard thoroughly and spin through a salad spinner to remove excess water.  Remove the stems by folding the leaves in half and cutting lengthwise along the stem using a knife.  Chop stems into bite size pieces, set aside.  Chop leaves into 1-inch strips, set aside.
4. Add olive oil to a large sauté pan and set over medium high heat. 
5. Add garlic to olive oil and cook until fragrant, about 30-60 seconds.
6. Add cumin to the pan and toast until fragrant, about 30-60 seconds.
7. Add tomatoes and chard stems, stir to combine.  Cook until chard stems start to become tender and the tomatoes begin to form a sauce, about 5 minutes.
8. Add the chopped chard leaves to the pan, stir to combine.  Cook until chard greens have wilted into the sauce but are still green in color, about 5-7 minutes.
   1. Chard leaves can be added in batches if the pan is not big enough to hold all of it at once.  Allow previous batches to wilt into the tomato sauce before adding the next batch. 
9. Remove from heat and add juice of half a lemon and salt.  Stir to combine and taste for seasoning.
10. Enjoy!

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