Learning To Eat My Greens

My mom and grandma used to always grow chard in the garden when I was a kid.  That stuff grows like a weed, so they were always feeding it to us.  My mom's favorite way to prepare it is to steam it in a skillet and add a little butter and salt and pepper.  That is probably my least favorite way to eat it.  So as an adult, I never bought chard because it was "slimy and gross."

Then my friend told me about this wonderful method of frying up a couple strips of bacon, then braising your chard (or other greens) in the bacon grease and topping it with the cooked bacon.

We all know that bacon makes everything better, so I knew I had to try it.

You know what else goes good with bacon?  Mushrooms!

I absolutely love eating chard this way, and actually look forward to getting it at the market!

Bacon and Mushroom Chard

4-6 slices of uncured bacon, diced
1 large bunch of chard, washed and chopped into bite size pieces
1lb mushrooms, washed and sliced


Cook bacon in a large deep skillet over medium heat.  You want to slowly cook the bacon to render out as much of the fast as possible.  Cook the bacon until it is crispy, but not burned.  Remove the bacon from the skillet and set aside (keep warm in the oven if possible).

Add the mushrooms to pan and cook them for about 5  minutes without stirring, so they get browned.  Stir the mushrooms and add the chard to the pan.  Let the chard sit on top of the mushrooms undisturbed for another 5 minutes.  Stir the chard and continue cooking until all the water has cooked out of the mushrooms and they are beginning to brown.  Remove from heat.  Add bacon and season to taste.  Serve hot.

***I think this would be really good served with a fried egg on top and a little bit of hot sauce***