Mushroom Tofu Chard Rolls

I had four large chard leaves saved for something special. My husband brought home a package of organic white mushrooms on sale because they were truly past their prime. That quick run to the co-op hadn't happened so the dinner project began with what I had on hand. This time I really made it up as I stood there, contemplating the colors, textures and possibilities. Black olives and white apple flesh, black mushrooms with white tofu crumbles, red sun dried tomatoes with the creamy garlic and farro and the vivid green of the chard... well it was just beautiful. A substantial dish, full of nutrition - fiber, protein, lots of trace elements and B vitamins - it offers a beautiful plate!

Mushroom Tofu Chard Rolls (Makes 4 full-sized)

4 large chard leaves
1/2 cup farro
4 ounces white mushrooms
8 dried shiitake mushrooms
7 ounces soft tofu
1/2 apple
6 sun dried tomatoes
5 large black Cerignola (or other) olives
2 large garlic cloves
3 scallions
1 cup boiling water to soak mushrooms
1.5 cups water to cook farro

for the sauce:
1/2 cup dry roasted no salt cashews
1/2 tsp agave syrup (or not)
1 Tblsp (or less) Tamari
1/2 cup mushroom soaking water

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Soak dried mushrooms in 1 cup boiling water - this takes about half an hour, so about as long as the rest of construction time. Start farro in about 1.5 cups water. - this also takes about half an hour. Quick steam/water saute large leaves of chard and set aside -- do not overcook!


2. Prepare filling:  chop fresh mushrooms in small bits, mash together with tofu. Chop garlic fine, Chop sun dried tomatoes in strips and chop again in bits (not too small). Chop up apple in small 1/4" pieces. Cut up Cerignola black olives (I cut mine off the pit) into same size bits as apple bits. Chop scallions. When farro is nearly done, take soaked mushrooms out, SAVING liquid and putting 1/2 cup of this aside for the sauce. Cut the stems off, slice the mushrooms and chop across into medium small bits (these will be the chewy counterparts to the farro). Mix all this together with farro (which will still have a chew factor to it when it is "done").


3. Make sauce: chop cashews and put in a bowl, pour the 1/2 cup mushroom soaking water in, add the 1/2 tsp agave syrup and 1 tablespoon Tamari. Puree this but don't worry if there are still bits of cashew remaining in it.

4. Construct your rolls. I did this in the pan, placing the first chard leaf rib down near the edge of a 9X13 pan. plopping 1/4 of the filling along the rib, fold the inner edge up, and put the next leaf down, rib close to the 1st leaf. Fill that leaf and then fold in the top of the 1st leaf, fold in the sides, and roll it onto the folded side, so that the rib is on top. This way you can space the leaves -- and figure out how much filling to put in the remaining leaves. Put the third leaf in, plop in the filling, and then roll up the 2nd leaf, doing the same with the last leaf.  Don't worry if there's a little filling left -- taking a spoon, you can gently lift the end of the stem on each roll and squish in that last bit of filling!  Pour the sauce over the whole thing.

5. Bake at 350F covered for 20 minutes, uncovered for 10 minutes. Serve & Eat!

Nutrition Facts: Mushroom Tofu Chard Rolls  Serving Size: 1 chard roll (375g)

Amount Per Serving		% Daily Value*
Calories	285	14%
Total Fat	10g	16%
Saturated Fat	2g	10%
Trans Fat
Cholesterol		0%
Sodium	468mg	19%
Total Carbohydrate	39g	13%
Dietary Fiber	5g	21%
Sugars	7g	0%
Protein	12g	25%

Vitamin A	10%	•	Vitamin C	33%
Calcium	10%	•	Iron	21%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Curried Potato Leek Chard Bundles

My husband is the researcher, the person who will shop for exactly the right container, or google until he finds out all about a new ingredient.  He likes to be informed about things. Luckily he shares what he learns with me. He was looking at  information on the web about the two doctors who figure the most prominently in the movie, "Forks Over Knives" and ran across a series of YouTube videos of former President Clinton speaking about working with one of them. He said the diet  "saved his life."  There was an article about a celebrity chef who took on the challenge of cooking vegan for the President, a celebrity chef who was not an expert in vegetarian cooking.  So, creatively the way chefs do, he said he just decided he would figure out how to make interesting foods within the parameters, and mentioned that he made curried potato leek chard bundles. 

That's what he said, "curried potato leek chard bundles."  When I heard that, I started imagining how delicious that would be.  I can imagine all manner of variations. My husband's comment after eating them leftover for lunch was that they bore a similarity to knishes, in all the right ways.  We had this for dinner with tarragon garlicked Le Puy lentils and a salad. Two bundles were plenty for each of us, so we had great leftovers.

Here's what happened:

Curried Chard Bundles
3 long whites of leeks
6 small Yukon gold potatoes (you could use sweet potato!)
8 white mushrooms 
2 parsnips

8 beautiful chard leaves 
about 4 tsp homemade curry spices 
(cumin, coriander, ginger, turmeric, cardamom, oregano, salt)
1/3 c almond milk. 

1.  Chop the leeks & mushrooms and "sauté" in 1/2 c water with 1/2 the spices. Save out 1/2 cup (for the topping), put the rest in a large bowl. 
2. Boil the rough chopped potatoes & parsnips. When soft, mash these with nearly all the rest of the spices, saving 1/2 tsp of spices out. 
3. Gently steam (covered) the pile of washed leaves in a broad pan with a little water, stems cut off at the base of the leaf.  You will want to lift and shuffle these leaves so that they cook evenly, the bottom ones don't get mushy, and the top ones get cooked. But most importantly, do not overlook chard! It needs to have some spunk left so you can wrap with it. 
4. Mix potato & leek mixtures. Add some almond milk (or any other milk you like) if its too thick. 
5. Put the rest of the almond milk (may add more) with remaining curry spices into the leeks you set aside, then purée this for sauce on top. 

6. ASSEMBLY: Take each leaf, rib side down, plop 4" of potato mixture along the spine. Fold top of leaf in, one side, bottom stem, last side. Roll it & serve rib side up with a blob of "sauce." 
7. Can be made ahead & reheated. 

curried potato leek chard bundles Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (460g) (2 chard bundles) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 253 13% Total Fat 2g 2% Saturated Fat 0g 1% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 236mg 10% Total Carbohydrate 57g 19% Dietary Fiber 9g 34% Sugars 7g 0% Protein 8g 16% Vitamin A 22% • Vitamin C 102% Calcium 16% • Iron 25% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com based on my input