After foraging in Benedictine University's community garden, I was inspired to create this sauté with za'atar, a spice blend of sumac, thyme, sesame seeds, and sometimes marjoram and oregano. It is often combined with eggs, yogurt, hummus or olive oil and is a great way to enliven raw and cooked vegetables.
Since za'atar is a popular spice and chard a popular vegetable in Middle Eastern cuisine, I figured these two ingredients would work well together. Tomato's acidity balances chard's natural saltiness and scallions add a slight bite and pop of color.
While chard is used more heavily in Iraq, za'atar is popular throughout the Middle East.
An English professor with a passion for sustainability started my campus's community garden.
Current Crops
Bonus feature: giant sunflowers.
rainbow chard
pumpkins
cherry and heirloom tomatoes
baby lettuce
baby beets
sage
Thai basil
regular basil
mint
mint
Bonus feature: giant sunflowers.
One planter box houses a forest of rainbow chard with every color you could imagine: neon pink, lemon yellow, sunset orange, cherry red, and winter white.
Nutrition Highlight: Rainbow Chard
Fun Fact: chard is a member of the goosefoot family, which also includes beets and spinach.
Use Fat
As a leafy green, chard is an excellent source of fat soluble vitamin A and vitamin K. Since chard is not an energy dense vegetable, with 1 cup of greens being about 35 calories, cooking it in a little fat increases nutrient absorption without hurting your caloric budget.
Build Bone
Calcium is advertised as being the nutrient responsible for bone health, but our bones would suffer without the action of vitamin A and K.
Vitamin A is involved with the metabolism of osteoblasts (bone forming cells) and osteoclasts (bone resorption cells). A deficiency in vitamin A leads to impaired bone development because osteoblasts begin depositing too much bone matrix and osteoclasts begin resorbing less bone.
Vitamin K is indirectly important in bone formation because it is a part of the processes that make two important bone-related proteins, osteocalcin and matrix Gla protein (MGP). The protein osteocalcin helps calcium bind to components of bone's lattice structure. MGP is also important in mobilizing bone calcium.
How can you tell if something has vitamin A?
If it's red, orange, yellow or dark green!
Tomatoes have lycopene, an antioxidant form of vitamin A.
Egg yolks have beta-carotene, an antioxidant form of vitamin A.
Chard stems and leaves have beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, all different antioxidant forms of vitamin A
Rainbow Chard with Poached Egg & Za'atar
Makes 2 servings
Toast is the perfect complement to this meal and I highly recommend serving with whole wheat sourdough. Poaching eggs is easy and much less messy than frying. You don't even need an official egg poacher because a mason jar lid does the job just as well!
4 stalks rainbow chard (1.5 oz)
Stack the chard stalks, then chop where the leaf stops and it become just stem. Take stacked leaves and roll like a burrito, then make a chiffonade (cut the "burrito" into very thin slices).
Quantity= 2 handfuls or 2 cups, loosely packed.
Take the stems and cut on the bias (for looks).
Quantity = ~2 oz or 3/4 c.
6 oz cherry tomatoes (1 c, 15 singles)
Cut in half lengthwise.
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T olive oil
Now that chard and tomatoes are prepped, heat oil over medium and sauté garlic in a medium skillet until golden brown. Garlic burns quickly!
Remove garlic to cutting board or small cup and then add the tomatoes. Cook ~5 min on high, reduce to med-low and continue cooking while you bring the water to a boil for the poached egg.
To the poaching pan: add a mason jar ring (or 2) as a corral for you egg (s).
egg (s)
When the water is simmering, crack the egg (or 2), tucking wisps into the ring, reduce heat to low, set timer for 3 min.
za'atar *see recipe below
Then add the chard and 2 tsp of za'atar to the skillet and cover with a lid to promote steaming.
ww sourdough
Put bread down at this point to make toast.
Both egg and chard take about 3 min to cook. When it's time, remove the egg from the pan with the help of a fork. Stir chard mixture to evenly mix chard with tomatoes.
If two people are eating, divide chard between 2 plates and top each mound with an egg. If you're dining solo, save the rest of the chard for later.
za'atar
scallions, snipped with kitchen shears
fresh grated ginger, optional
Sprinkle with za'atar, scallions, and fresh grated ginger. (I personally love ginger and the zest it adds, but this meal is good without as well.)
Za'atar Recipe
There are a variety of za'atar recipes out there, some of which just have sumac, thyme, and sesame seeds. I like the dimension added by marjoram and oregano.
1/4 c sumac
2 T thyme
1 T sesame seeds
2 T marjoram
2 T oregano
1 tsp salt
Combine in an airtight jar and keep readily available for sprinkling on eggs, yogurt, salad, hummus, & veggies.
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