I have two questions. One, does anyone know a good way to cook Swiss Chard? And, second, how do you rid broccoli of worms before cooking it? I have wonderful broccoli in my garden this year, but I found a worm in mine last time I cooked it. Does soaking it in salt water before cooking work?

-- Patti (trigger@mcn.net), July 30, 2000

Answers

Patti, I cook chard like Spinach with a touch of apple cider vinegar. Yes, soaking broccoli in salt water will kill the worms, but you will probably have to hand pick some of them off before and/or after boiling. It's worth the trouble if you broccoli is as good as ours was this year. Two years ago it wasn't worth planting. Enjoy!

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), July 30, 2000.

Even my kids love this way of cooking chard. Wash and chop chard. Melt some butter in skillet and add some freshly minced garlic. Drop in chard (5 times as much as you think you'll need!), squeeze on a little lemon juice and cover with lid. Stir once or twice and in about 8 minutes it will be done. Sprinkle with a little Parmesan cheese if you want a gourmet touch. Delicious!

-- glynnis in KY (gabbycab@msn.com), July 30, 2000.

Yum!!!!Thanks!

-- Patti (trigger@mcn.net), July 30, 2000.

I've always had pretty good luck using (rather heavily) salted water for the worms. Cooking? I much prefer steaming to boiling. GL!

-- Brad (Homefixer@SacoRiver.net), August 02, 2000.

Patti---The broccoli--I soak mine in vinegar water--makes all the crud come up to the top--to be washed off! It will also help clean chemicals off veggies that you have not raised & don't know what is on them! Also that natural veggie wash I use/ that we talked about on another post a while back will work also. I steam my swiss Chard like my spinach--Sonda in Ks.

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), August 03, 2000.

Glynnis, I tried your recipe, it was delicious. I also tried a variation of that with zucchine and butterstick squash slices. I melted a little butter, added garlic and lemon pepper and sauted until done and added parmesan cheese. That was very good too. Thanks for all the advice and suggestions.

-- Patti (trigger@mcn.net), August 03, 2000.

For Swiss Chard, I seperate stem and leaf. Chop the stem, combine with an equal amount of chopped onion, and saute in butter or olive oil until tender. Throw the chopped greens in on top, slap a lid on to steam cook the greens, stir, and dig in. Great with a little fresh ground pepper.

-- Connie (Connie@lunehaven.com), August 04, 2000.