the great chard massacre

someone brought home an extra large bundle of chard the other day. so seductively appealing: so dark, so leafy, so green, and rainbow (RAINBOW!) stems. but my goodness. once you get going. separating the giant (GIANT!) leaves from the stems. slitting (SLITTING!) down each side of the core with a large kitchen knife. then slicing them into reasonably sized strips. it starts to seem quite brutal (BRUTAL!). it also takes ages (AGES!) to get through such a large stack. even working as quickly as you can. i like to blanch it first, then saute. and of course the little chopped up stems are the most delicious of all, cut into 1-2 inch lengths and boiled until tender. saute with some chopped, cooked, russet potatoes perhaps. a few smashed cloves of garlic, plenty (PLENTY!) of olive oil. so healthy. so troublesome (TROUBLESOME!). but really quite good with some roasted or grilled meat. like a boneless pork chop or a roast chicken, or a white sausage, or any excuse at all really.