To be honest, Swiss chard isn’t something I find very often around these parts of the world. But aside from its taste and nutritional properties, I also love these leaves for their aesthetics—they’re so beautiful that it’s simply a pleasure to work with them. There’s a stall at Obor Market run by people who grow all kinds of greens themselves, including Swiss chard—any regular market-goer probably knows it well. So whenever I visit and see some on their stand, I grab a bunch. Sometimes, like in the recipe below, it ends up in a savory tart. Here, I used goat cheese, but it works just as well with other types of cheese like Emmental, Gruyère, or Comté.
For the crust, I used the classic recipe, but decided to prepare it in a food processor: just a few seconds of mixing, and the dough is ready, as long as you have your ingredients prepped beforehand.
225 g flour
100 g butter (cold and cubed)
A pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
Approximately 50 ml cold water
Mix the first four ingredients in the food processor, and then gradually add just enough water for the dough to come together. Once it forms, transfer the dough to plastic wrap and chill it in the fridge for at least half an hour. After chilling, roll out the dough and transfer it to the baking dish. Poke it in several places with a fork, cover with baking paper and weights (I usually use dried beans), and bake for 10 minutes covered, followed by another 5 minutes uncovered. Let it cool while you prepare the filling.
For the filling, I melted a small cube of butter in a pan along with a drizzle of olive oil, then added one chopped onion and the leaves from a bunch of Swiss chard, along with a handful of pine nuts. After the chard leaves softened, I removed them from the pan and spread them over the partially baked crust. In a separate bowl, I whisked together 8 eggs and mixed them with 150 ml of heavy cream (32% fat) and 50 g of grated cheese. I seasoned the mixture with salt and pepper, then poured it over the Swiss chard in the crust. I placed slices of goat cheese evenly across the top. The quiche went into a preheated oven at 180°C (350°F), and baking took about 30 minutes. The quiche is done when a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, and the cheese on top is golden and enticingly browned.
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