Salad Parador

I confess that I’m not sure about the concept of a warm salad. Why not just call it a vegetable side dish? Be that as it may, this was absolutely delicious. Part of that no doubt due to the fresh chard from my garden. I adapted this recipe from All Around the World Cookbook, by Sheila Lukins.

My changes: I used frozen haricots verts, a vine-ripened tomato (since I didn’t have any cherry tomatoes), and oil-marinated olives instead of brine-marinated.

Technically, the salad is supposed to be assembled on each individual plate, with greens first, then chard stems and beans, then tomatoes and shrimp and topped off by the olives. But since I live in a household of two and a half, I quartered the recipe and just ended up tossing everything together at the end and – yes – serving it as a side dish.

½ pound Swiss chard
extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic (about 1 clove)
2 oz. haricots verts (frozen)
kosher salt and course ground black pepper to taste
1 ripe tomato, seeds removed and roughly chopped
¼ pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
½ tsp dried thyme
2 ½ tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp black olives (oil marinated, pitted and sliced into slivers)

Cut the stems from the leaves of Swiss chard. Slice the stems on the diagonal ½ inch thick. Cut the leaves into ¼-inch-thick slivers.

Heat a small amount of olive oil (1 tsp or so) in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook about 1 minute. Add the Swiss chard stems and sauté to soften slightly, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Heat some more olive oil in the skillet and add the haricots verts. Cook over medium heat until crisp-tender, shaking the pan occasionally for even cooking, about 4 minutes. Add the beans to the Swiss chard stems and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Heat some more olive oil in the skillet and add the tomatoes, shrimp, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook over medium heat, shaking the skilled and turning the shrimp once or twice, until the shrimp are cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer to bowl and set aside.

Heat a little more oil in the skilled and add the Swiss chard leaves. Sauté, stirring constantly, until nicely wilted but still slightly crunchy, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Toss the leaves with the balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper.

Combine chard leaves with stems, beans, tomatoes, shrimp and olives.