What is harvested in Majorca in February? This month we will introduce you to the Chard, known also in England as the Mangel Wurzel – with a recipe tip for cooking on your holiday finca in Mallorca or at home. Have lots of fun cooking it!
The chard is a front runner in Majorcan cuisine. A welcome guest as an accompaniment, but also as a filling or covering for various island specialties the vegetable is nutritious and very rich in minerals and vitamins (it contains a lot of vitamins A and C, magnesium and potassium, but also copper and calcium). It is related to the beetroot, but is often confused with spinach because of its dark green leaves. It belongs to the family of stem vegetables, and both the leaves and stems are eaten. A healthy and tasty vegetable which was already known as a medicinal plant by the Greeks and Romans during the first centuries AD. Until the eighteenth century chard (mangold) was also eaten a lot in Germany but later was replaced by spinach,
although it carried on playing an important role in Mediterranean countries. There is red stalked chard and stalk chard with white stems, which is frequently used in Majorcan cuisine and is cultivated on the island. The taste is a little spicier than spinach with a slightly nutty note. Chard is boiled, stewed or steamed, but its crunchy leaves and tender stems can also be enjoyed raw in salad. It is important to ensure that the leaves and stems are always washed well, as sand and soil collect between the leaf ribs. If the stalks are very fibrous, cut them slightly at the lower end.
An integral part of Majorcan cuisine
Acelgas – as chard is called in Spanish (in Majorquin ‘bleda’) – is not only a popular covering on the famous coca de verdura (or specifically ‘coca de acelgas’), Mallorca’s vegetable pizza with dough made with brewer’s yeast. Also very common is the cocarrois de acelgas, a dough bag which is filled with chard and fried onions and mostly eaten at Easter. If the typical salty baked and pasta products are not meaty, they are frequently filled or covered with chard and are, therefore, very popular with vegetarians. One of the most typical dishes, the sopa mallorquina, the hearty cabbage soup with breadcrumbs and mushrooms is also prepared with acelgas. Sometimes the leaves are simply served as a vegetable with hearty, spicy chorizo sausage, peppers and onions. One of the most classical fish recipe on the island is a fish fillet, for example grouper, on a bed of chard, tomatoes, spring onions, garlic and – most importantly – pine nuts and raisins, of course with plenty of olive oil. Healthy and delicious!
Pasta with chard
Our customer relationship manager Sascha Mundhenk loves the tasty spinach alternative.
“The first time we cooked with it was really just when we already lived in Mallorca. Since then, however, the chard is often on our table.”
Ingredients
300 g pasta
6 leaves of chard
1 red onion
100 g green peas
100 g sugarpeas
200 ml cream
50 ml white wine
50 g bacon in slices
Coconut oil
Parmesan
pepper
salt
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Cook the pasta according to its package instructions. Wash the chard leaves well and then dry, then chop them. Dice the onion. Remove the stem ends and blossom roots from the sugarpeas and halve them lengthwise. Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the onions, chard, and sugarpeas. Add the wine and let it simmer.
Bake the bacon slices in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until crispy. Add the peas, pasta and cream to the chard and mix everything together. Season with salt and pepper.
Place the pasta and vegetables on the plate and garnish with mint leaves, the fried bacon and some Parmesan.
