Swiss chard à la cream

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 2 small chard
• 200 g bacon cubes
• 3 onions
• 3 garlic cloves
• 200 ml sweet cream
• ½ tsp pepper, freshly ground
• 2 tsp broth, instant, best homemade
• ½ tsp nutmeg, freshly grated, just measured
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tbsp oil or butter, good
• 2 tbsp flour

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 25 minutes; Total time approx. 55 minutes

very easy, either in the Thermomix or in a pot and with a hand blender

Peel and dice the onion, dice the bacon, and simply press and peel the garlic. Fry the bacon in a pan with the oil or butter over low heat. When it starts to brown, add the onion. This takes time; meanwhile, prepare the chard: where the green parts meet the white parts, cut the white parts into fine strips or grate them. Cut out the thick leaf veins from the green parts and finely chop them. Finely chop the green parts as well, but set them aside separately from the white parts. Now prepare all the spices so that you only have to add them. For the Thermomix version, puree the white parts of the chard on level 5 twice for 10 seconds, scraping them down with a spatula. Steam the puree for 10 minutes at 100°C. Then add the garlic and everything else to the mixing bowl—except for the cream—and puree on level 5 twice for 10 seconds. Continue cooking at 100°C for about 15 minutes. Towards the end, add the cream and season the chard cream again to taste. Transfer the cream to a bowl and top with the fried bacon and onions. For the saucepan version, sweat the white part of the chard in a saucepan and then purée. Simmer for about 10 minutes over low heat, then add the rest except for the cream and purée thoroughly. Gently simmer the mixture for 15 minutes. Towards the end, add the cream and mix thoroughly again. Season the chard cream, transfer to a bowl, and top with the browned bacon and onions.