Sicilian-Style Sauteed Greens

Ingredients

• For greens:
• 1 pound Swiss chard
• For nut mixture:
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Pinch of red pepper flakes, optional
• 1/3 cup whole almonds or pine nuts, coarsely chopped
• 1/3 cup raisins, coarsely chopped, or other chopped dried fruit
• For sauteing greens:
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. Pull the stems away from the chard leaves. Fill a large bowl with cold water, add the leaves, and leave them there for 1 minute, swishing them now and then so any grit can drop away. Lift the greens out, empty the bowl, and rinse away the sediment. Do the same rinsing process until the bottom of the bowl is clean after the greens come out, up to 4 more times. Wash the stems the same way.
2. Cut the leaves crosswise into strips about 1-inch wide. Chop the stems into 1/2-inch pieces, stopping once you have 1 cup and discarding the rest.
3. Warm 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots, garlic, and red pepper flakes, if you’re using them, and cook, stirring often, until they smell wonderful but have not browned, about 2 minutes.
4. Stir in the nuts and raisins, and continue cooking until the raisins soften and the mixture is aromatic, about 2 minutes more. Transfer the mixture out of the skillet and set it aside.
5. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the same skillet and heat it. Stir in the chard stems and cook for 1 minute. Add the greens by the handful, stirring each addition until it wilts a bit before adding the next, then cook until everything is tender and wilted, 3 to 5 minutes.
6. Add the butter and stir until it melts into the greens. Squeeze the lemon juice over the skillet, then season with salt and pepper.
7. Add the nut mixture back to the pan and fold it through the greens. Finish with a small drizzle of olive oil, if desired, and serve right away.