sausage, garbanzo & swiss chard saute

This dish covers a lot of good ground: it’s fast, it’s cheap, it’s healthy (I consider sausages one of the vital nutrients in life), it smells really good while it’s cooking, and you can vary it in so many ways. If you like a little heat on your plate (or in this case, in your bowl, because that’s the best way to serve this), use spicy sausages, such as hot Italian or chorizo. You can also use chicken or turkey sausage or linguiça. You can substitute broccoli rabe for the chard; chop it into 2-inch lengths and add to the pan in batches. You can spoon this over cooked rice, farro, or penne or other tube pasta, then grate cheese on top, or serve it with toasted slabs of crusty bread for a more “peasanty” approach. You can even make it a vegetarian with this recipe.

ingredients

1 bunch Swiss chard
4 Italian sausages (about 12 ounces)
Olive oil
2 green onions, sliced
Leaves from one small branch fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt
1 small can garbanzo beans, drained
1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes

directions

Slice the Swiss chard stems until you reach the leaves. Cut leaves in half lengthwise, then thinly slice crosswise. Rinse leaves and stems together, shake dry in a colander, and set aside. Slice the sausages into 1-inch thick rounds.

Coat bottom of a wide saute pan or flat-bottomed wok with a film of olive oil and place pan over medium-high heat. Add sausages and saute until meat is no longer pink, about 3 minutes; drain off all but about 2 tablespoons fat. Add green onions and rosemary and stir until you can smell them, about 30 seconds. Stir in the garlic and cook 30 seconds more. Add chopped chard, a good pinch of salt, and 1/2 cup water. Cook, stirring, until the greens wilt, then stir in garbanzo beans and tomatoes.

Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Remove lid and, if desired, raise heat and cook until pan juices thicken slightly. Let sit off the heat for a few minutes before serving.