BLACK RICE AND FETA-STUFFED CHARD WITH SPICED YOGHURT

Serves 3-4 as a main or 8 as a sideor

Small Plate

Rainbow chard is right up there among the most aesthetically pleasing vegetables at the Market. It’s almost two vegetables in one, really, as its leaves and stems should be respected for how they cook at different paces. Here they’re cooked separately, then reunited in bundles filled with spices, feta and black rice. You’ll find black rice at specialist stockists like Spice Mountain, and it’s well worth seeking out for its exceptional flavour and colour, which isn’t so much black as a divine deep purple. Kath Dawson at Ted’s Veg is absolutely right that choosing vegetables shouldn’t be about perfection, but for this you do need leaves that are as perfect as possible. The filling would otherwise fall through any holes.

Ingredients

250g black rice

12 rainbow chard stems with large undamaged leaves (or Swiss chard, or a mixture)

1 leek

4 tbsp olive oil

5 cloves of garlic

1½ tsp fennel seeds

1½ tsp ground cumin

250ml white wine or vegetable stock

200g feta (drained weight)

A handful of mint and dill

For the spiced yoghurt

200g natural yoghurt

2 tsp dukkah

Method

Rinse and drain the rice. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil, add the rice and simmer for about 30 mins until tender (check the packet instructions first, as varieties can vary in cooking time). Drain and set aside.

While the rice is cooking, prepare the chard leaves and stuffing. Trim off and discard the very woody ends of the chard stalks. Separate off the leaves and at their very base cut out a ‘V’ pointing up the leaf (this makes them easier to roll).

Bring another large pan of salted water to the boil and wilt the chard leaves in it for just 2 mins, then drain, rinse in cold water and drain again. Set the leaves aside.

Dice the chard stalks along with the leek. Heat 3 tbsp of the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Saute the diced chard stems and leek until softening but not colouring. Peel and crush the garlic cloves with the back of a knife, then chop and add along with the fennel seeds and ground cumin.

Cook for another 10 mins, then pour over 150ml of the wine (or stock) and let that bubble for a minute or so to reduce. Take off the heat and, when the rice is tender and drained, stir the vegetable mixture through. Crumble in the feta, chop the herbs and add those too. Taste for seasoning.

Preheat the oven to 200C. Unfurl the chard leaves and lay them out flat, with their ribs uppermost. Spoon the feta and rice stuffing into the middle of each leaf. Roll the point of the leaf over the filling, tucking the sides in and working tightly down to where you cut away the stem. Sit each roll in a baking dish, seam-side down. Pour the remaining 100ml of white wine (or stock) into the baking dish and brush the tops of the chard rolls with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil.

Bake for 20 mins. Use that time to make the spiced yoghurt by simply mixing the yoghurt with the dukkah. Season well and serve alongside the baked, stuffed chard.

Recipe from Borough Market: The Knowledge by Angela Clutton (Hodder & Stoughton)

Rainbow chard

Ted’s Veg

Black rice

Spice Mountain Feta

Borough Cheese Company