Swiss Chard Medley and Italian Sausage

When was the last time you got your leafy greens on? If it’s been more than a couple days, go grab some mustard greens, kale, collard – or a combination of all of then and toss ’em up with some garlic and olive oil. Your body will be happy. And when your body is happy, your heart will be happy. When your heart is happy, your soul is happy. When your body, heart and soul are happy, you are happy. When you are happy, your loved ones will be happy. Wow. I’m going out to get more greens!

Swiss Chard Medley and Italian Sausage

Ingredients

2-3 bunches of swiss chard
about 6 Italian sausage (the good stuff, like from a specialty shop or Whole Foods)
a few tablespoons of olive oil
about 1/2 c of Pecorino Parmesan cheese (or any parmesan cheese)
1-2 lemons
*optional – a couple tbls crushed fresh garlic

Chop the greens, rinse thorougly and set aside.

Brown Italian Sausage in a large fry pan on medium high. Keep turning the sausage so that they have a nice, brownish color. Don’t worry that they are not cooking all the way through because they will cook some more in the next few steps.

With the pan still hot and the sausage browned, just dump the greens on top of the sausage. They will probably fill up the pan, but just start pushing them down and around. They will start to reduce immediately. If you want to add garlic (for me, there’s never a question) do it after the sausage is browned and before you add the greens. Just toss the garlic in for about 30 seconds before the greens are added.

Now pour about a cup (start with a 1/2 cup) of water into the pan (it should sizzle as it starts to pick up all the flavors at the bottom of the pan).

Cover the pan and reduce the heat. Cook for about 20 minutes until the sausages are cooked thorougly and the greens have softened and picked up the flavors and juices in the pan. If you want to make sure the greens are cooked only slightly, just cook the sausage longer before you add the greens.

While everything’s still steeping hot, sprinkle lemon and the parmesan cheese over the top.

Serving suggestion:
I like to serve this in a very shallow soup/pasta dish. I cut the sausage in big chunks so that they are just scattered through the greens. It’s just so rich and delicious that the dish doesn’t really need anything but a nice, fresh baguette. Oh, and a glass of wine…

Enjoy!