Food Idea: Swiss Chard Curtido

Almost a year ago, I fell in love with curtido. It's sort of a pickled cabbage/cole slaw/salad dish, originally from El Salvador, used to top things like pupusas (a corn dough stuffed with cheese, meat, or other things and then fried kind of like a pancake). This seems to be El Salvador's answer to kimchi, sauerkraut, cole slaw, etc.

This summer, after receiving cabbage in my CSA share from Faith Farm in Detroit, I decided to try my own hand at it. I found this recipe for pupusas and curtido and pulled out my food processor. I followed it pretty carefully the first time, with great results. I took it to a picnic/potluck with a sign that said something like: Curtido (gluten free, vegan). People teased me for having labeled it, but it went over well.

I've toyed with it a little. Instead of the sugar, I run an apple through the food processor and toss it with everything else. If I don't have apple cider vinegar, I've used white balsamic with delicious results. It's pretty flexible as long as you keep the sweet/salty/sour/spicy balance going.

This week, our plan was to make fish tacos. I often make some kind of slaw for this using whatever I can find. This week, we already had Swiss chard (which, along with kale, is high in nutrients and affordable/available this time of year) in the fridge from a lentil soup last week, so I decided to see if I could lightly pickle it. Normally, I think of chard as for cooking, because it can be tough and a little bitter, so I got this going maybe an hour before I had to serve it so that the acid could break it down a little.

I grabbed a couple handfuls of chard (this turned out not to be nearly enough, since we ran out at dinner and I would have eaten this with a spoon for lunch tomorrow) and chopped them up pretty finely, then threw them in a bowl. In a separate bowl, I mixed one part oil to two parts pickled jalape~o juice (but you can use regular pickle juice, olive juice, white balsalmic, or lime juice) and two parts apple cider vinegar. I threw in a pinch of oregano and a fair amount of freshly ground black pepper. At this point, taste it and see what you think. You can adjust it if you need. When you like it, toss it with the chard. I also microplane grated two cloves of garlic and an apple (great this time of year because they're still a good price and available) and finely chopped two green onion stems. Toss everything and let it sit. I served it tonight over grilled salmon, and the brightness of the dressing and earthiness of the chard balanced the fattiness of the fish (and the smokiness from grilling) perfectly.

I think this basic strategy would also work with kale, although I'd probably let that sit a little longer first.

Enjoy!