Pickled Rainbow Chard Salad with Tofu Dressing

July 07, 2019

Recipe by Local Roots recipe contributor, Chef Casey Corn @casey_corn

I grew up eating quite a bit of swiss chard, but just the more readily available pink version. The only way we ate it was sauteed with some garlic and olive oil, so I basically thought it was pink spinach for much of my life. Enter rainbow chard, and my obsession with pickling, and this salad just sort of flew out of my brain and onto a plate. You'll notice there's not much acid in the dressing...let your chard pickles fill that role.

Ingredients:

1 bu rainbow chard

1 c rice wine vinegar

⅓ c water

2 Tbs sugar

½ tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp kosher salt

 

4 oz silken tofu

1 Tbs avocado oil

1½ tsp soy sauce

1½ tsp pickling liquid (from above)

1 tsp hot chinese mustard

 

tt black sesame seeds

 

Directions:

1. Strip leafy greens from rainbow stems and set aside. Trim off as much green as possible from the stems, then separate into colors, yellow and pale stalks, and pink and orangey stalks. Slice stalks no more than ¼ inch thick, and place in heat proof containers, keeping the colors separate.

2. In a small pot, combine vinegar, water, sugar, salt and mustard seeds, and bring to a boil. Carefully pour over each container of chard stalks, splitting the pickling liquid equally, and reserving 1½ teaspoons for your dressing. Allow pickles to cool, at least 30 min. This can be done ahead of time as well.

3. In a small food processor, combine tofu, oil, soy, mustard and reserved pickling liquid, and blend until smooth.

4. Chiffonade chard greens and place in a large bowl. Strain cooled pickled stems out of their liquid (which can be saved for another future use) and mix with greens. Either toss the salad with the dressing before plating, or drizzle on after. Finish with a sprinkling of black sesame seeds.

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