Name This Dish (really…I need you to name it!)

Then, of course, you should make it. Cuz it’s yummy!

So…I should say there are only a scant few situations in life where your girl Nik feels totally zen. During a REALLY intense workout (those who are exercise buffs know that when you are in the zone that is as close to the divine as you can get) and when I am experimenting in the kitchen.

And it’s not even about eating per se. I love every element of food. I love the colors. I love how it smells. The feel of it in my hands. Watching how things react to heat, cold, mixing. I. Just. Love. food.

This is probably a good thing since I keep trying to throw recipes at you all, right?

Anyway, you may remember a week ago I posted my beautiful farmer’s market haul for the week. If you don’t, here it is again:

Well I got some Swiss chard, which I’d never eaten before so I asked for suggestions and got a lot of them. But see the thing with me is that I like to…how shall you say…play with my food. And the result was beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. One of these days I’m gonna get a better camera to convey JUST how wonderful some of this food is…but I digress. I have a problem.

I dunno what to call this dish. So let me just tell you what’s in it and how to make it.

Nik’s As Yet Unnamed But Totally Yummy Stuff


Ingredients

1 large onion, halved and sliced into strips
1 pkg smoked sausage or andouille, sliced into half circles
1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1 large bunch Swiss chard, large stems removed and torn into pieces
2 whole tomatoes, diced large (not canned, use fresh!)
1 tsp Herbs de Provence (I’ve been on a kick lately)
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (omit if you don’t like a kick)
2 tsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
10 oz. cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp tomato paste

Directions:

In a pan sprayed with non-stick, begin to sweat your onions (cook until soft) over medium heat. After about 3 minutes, add your sausage and stir.

Once the sausage begins to brown and onions are soft, add olive oil, garlic and Swiss chard, stirring as you go along. let that all cook until the chard softens.

Add in the tomatoes, lemon juice and spices and let that all go about 5 minutes or so, until chard has turned a deeper shade of green (at this point it has greatly reduced and resembles cooked spinach).

Add the cannelini beans and stir. Reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes.

Finally, stir the tomato paste into the mixture and stir until fully incorporated. What you should end up with is a yummy pan of love that looks something like this:

My goodness this was GOOD! You ever cook something and you have a hunch it’ll be good but you don’t know for sure? This. Was. GOOD!

Help me name it! Leave suggestions in the comments please!