the ribs!

so, the peahean is braising w/ bacon, so i have to return that favor w/ a vegan "solution" to a popular conundrum about swiss chard. we love the chard. especially fresh out of the ground like it came yesterday at the market (thanks, adam!). when fresh, it has such a different flavor than the grocery store variety (less bitter, more complex in flavor). so, i usually eat it raw or "braise tha roof" with it. but i never know what to do with the stems (or "ribs"). i'm flirting with the idea of eating the entire vegetable, so i came across this idea somewhere (can't remember where) about turning swiss chard stems into a "cream" sauce for pasta and have modified it here to fit a vegan palate.

i stemmed the chard (and sauteed the chard in good ole garlic and olive oil w/ lemon juice and red pepper flakes for a side dish).

then, i took the stems and chopped them up. about a tbl. of margarine in the bottom of a saucepan with garlic and chopped basil to saute for about 1 minute. then, i added a little bit of tapioca flour and nutritional yeast to make a "paste" and then made the "cream" sauce by whisking in a little rice milk slowly until i got the consistency i wanted. s/p to taste, and voila! the sauteed chard actually tasted good on TOP of the pasta, so it wasn't a side dish after all. (top dish?) some toasted pine nuts make it extra sexy, but that kind of sexiness can get expensive.

of course the "cream" sauce can be done with butter, heavy cream and cheese, in the way that we make moo-cream sauces (reduce, reduce, reduce).