Ah, Swiss chard, one of my favorite vegetables.  Unfotunately, our chard was lost in December due to several days of very low temperatures, but I am able to buy very nice chard at my nearby market.  I love greens and I really love the bright color of the stems.  A nice combination all in one plant.

A few days ago my next door neighbor was kind enough to share a couple of nice sized pieces of Halibut that her brother had caught in Alaska.  I decided to broil the halibut and serve it with some oven roasted  root vegetables, along with chard and a green salad. The meal was quick and easy to prepare, colorful and, delicious.

Menu:  Oven broiled Halibut seasoned with a chili spice rub

            Roasted root vegetables with cumin seeds

            Brasied Swiss Chard

            Salad Greens with Cameo Apples, walnuts and bleu cheese

For the Halibut I seasoned it with a spice rub containing chili powder, cumin, turmeric, garlic and paprika, then set it aside.

For the RootVegetables I peeled 3 sweet potatoes, 2 parsnips and several carrots, then cut them into pieces that where close to the same size.  I put them into a bowl, drizzled them with a little olive oil, then tossed them with the oil, 2 cloves of minced garlic and, 2 tsp. of cumin seeds.   I then put a little grapeseed oil in a large baking pan and put it in a 500 degree oven to heat.  When the pan was hot I tossed in the vegetables and roasted them for about 30 minutes, turning them a couple of times.

For the Swiss Chard I cut the stems from the leaves, and chopped the stems into uniform pieces.Which I then sauteed  briefly in a little olive oil. I like to leave them crisp and bright red.  I removed the stems from the pan and set them aside.  The leaves I sliced into strips approxomately 1" wide.  Just before the fish and root vegetables were done I quickly sauteed the leaves in the same pan I had cooked the stems adding only a drop of oil.  I also added about 1 TBS of water then cooked until the leaves wilted and became tender.   For seasoning I added salt and pepper and 2 tsp of balsamic vinegar.  To serve, I like to put the cooked leaves on the plate and top with the reserved stem pieces.

 The Halibut cooked  in the oven for approximately 7 minutes using a convection/broil setting.  The parsnips and sweet potatoes were caramelized on the outside and accented with the flavor of toasted cumin seeds and garlic. A nice compliment for the lightly spiced halibut - served with a wedge of lime.  Oh, so good.