Silverbeet with Cannellini Beans, Honey and Almonds

Quick, easy and delicious! This super side pairs slightly bitter chard with sweet honey, cannellini beans and toasted almonds and comes together in easily in under 15 minutes. 

Ok, so this may not be the prettiest looking dish, but looks are deceiving because underneath its slightly unattractive exterior is one delicious dish. So delicious in fact I often wind up eating it for lunch when I have any leftover silverbeet in the fridge.

Honey and silverbeet, or swiss chard, as it is known to my Northen Hemisphere readers, might seem like an odd combination, however, the honey counteracts the bitterness in the chard, and makes this dish very addictive. The cannellini beans also add a lovely creaminess, and add protein, and a little bulk, that makes this a satisfying meal in itself.

The finishing touch is a sprinkling of toasted flaked almonds. The almonds add a lovely, and much-needed crunch to an otherwise soft dish, so please don’t skip them.

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Silverbeet with Cannellini Beans, Honey and Almonds

Adapted from Swiss Chard Agrodolce at Food52

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 4 as a side or 2 for lunch

Author Jennifer Schmidt

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup flaked almonds
• 1 leaves bunch of silverbeet about 10 large swiss chard
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/3 cup water or vegetable stock
• 400 g tin of cannellini beans drained, 14oz
• 2 tbs champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
• 2 tbs honey
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Start by toasting the almonds. Place a large frying pan over a low heat and add the almonds to the pan and spread over the pan so that they aren't overlapping. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes before tossing. Cook until golden and place in a small bowl to cool.
2. While the almonds are toasting clean the silverbeet (chard) and remove the stalks. To do this just run a sharp knife along the edge of the stalk and pull away the leaves. Place the leaves in a bowl for later.
3. Chop the stalks. If the stalks are particularly thick you might like to cut them in half first before chopping them.
4. Crank the frying pan up to medium heat and add the olive oil and stalks and season with salt. Cook for 5 minutes or until the stalks start to soften. Add the water or vegetable stock, if using, and the drained cannellini beans along with another pinch of salt. Once the liquid starts to <g class="gr_ gr_62 gr-alert gr_gramm Grammar multiReplace gr-progress" id="62" data-gr-id="62">bubble reduce</g> the heat to low.
5. Shred the leaves (how thick you leave the leaves is up to you, I don't like them too big as it makes it a little difficult to eat) and once the liquid has reduced a by half add the leaves.Cook until the leaves have wilted before adding the honey and vinegar. Stir well and let the mixture cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper.
6. To serve scatter the flaked almonds over the top

Recipe Notes

To make it vegan use maple syrup in place of the honey.