[Piccolo]

Ok....time for what may seem a basic question...... ......my OH bought me some young rainbow chard plants last year.  They have survived the winter and all of a sudden have decided to put on a growth spurt, I've cut off the flower spikes they were trying to make but my question is..how do you cook rainbow chard?  They are making nice sized leaves and I think its time we tried some   I've mainly the green leaved type but have a couple of the dark red leaved ones too.

[Ice]

Cook them the same.  Remove the stalks and cook them for a little bit before adding the leaves.

[Janeymiddlewife]

Anything you'd do with spinach you can do with chard pretty much. As Ice says, you can treat the stalks like a separate vegetable and boil them for a bit like celery, shred the leaves and add to a pan with some chopped bacon & pinenuts, serve as they are, or you can layer them in a gratin dish with greek yogurt or bechamal sauce, cheese & breadcrumbs and finish in a hot oven, or you can make a soup with rocket, chard or spinach, courgette and/or leek.
Also nice lightly cooked, then layered with feta cheese and beaten egg or a poached egg on top, use them to pad out samosas, or a variation on bombay potatoes.....etc etc 

[mumofstig]

You lot are inventive, I just tend to wilt them in a teeny drop of olive oil with chopped garlic s & p, I soften the stalks first if I am using the older leaves and stems.
Served with a squeeze of lemon over 

[Spana]

Once you have it cooked  - never add any water other than whats on the leaves from washing  - which is quite quick, give it a bit of a chop whilst still in the pan, add a bit of salt and black pepper and if you are allowed, a blob of butter
Once its at this stage you can freeze it for the winter and it freezes really well

[Aidy]

I have yet to find a recipe that makes the stalks edible, the leaves however are scrummy, my fave way is to finely chop some shallot and garlic, gently fry in butter and add some chopped fresh toms until they dissolve, squirt of lemon juice and add the  roughly sliced chard to wilt, toss and serve, salt and black pepper to taste.

[Piccolo]

Hi, thanks for all your replies, they all sound gorgeous   I'm going to have to try some and hope my plants get bigger   (like the idea of trying to freeze some too)

[Trillium]

I prefer chard in certain soups that I freeze. It holds up much nicer than spinach which tends to go slimey after freezing and reheating.