Swiss Chard Strudel

Ingredients
1 bunch Swiss chard
4 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
¹⁄₂ cup Jarlsberg cheese, shredded
2 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons dried bread crumbs
2 tablespoon Parmesan cheese, grated
3 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
6 sheets phyllo dough, thawed

Instructions
1. THAW PHYLLO DOUGH.  This is very important and a good thing to remember the day before you’re making the recipe.  Don’t be like me and forget until the night you’re planning to prepare this only to have to shift all of your meals around to compensate for a day of thawing.  

2. Preheat oven to 375*F.  

3. Rinse and drain the chard. Remove the stems, trim and discard the woody bottoms, chop the rest, and set aside. Coarsely chop the leaves.

4. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a skillet over low heat. Add the onion and sauté until wilted, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chard stems, and cook 3 minutes.

5. Stir in the chard leaves, and cook 3 minutes more. Drain off the excess liquid, and transfer the mixture to a bowl. Season with the salt and pepper. Stir in the Jarlsberg, 1 tablespoon of the crumbs, and the Parmesan. Set aside.

6. Stir the butter and remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil together in a small bowl.

7. Open 1 sheet of phyllo on a work surface. Brush it with some of the butter and oil mixture. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of the crumbs.

8. Top with 4 more sheets of phyllo, brushing each with butter and oil and sprinkling each with crumbs. Top with the remaining sheet, and brush it with butter and oil.

9. Spoon the filling along one short end of the phyllo, leaving about 1 ¹⁄₂ inches empty on each side. Fold the long sides in, overlapping the filling by 1 ¹⁄₂ inches, to enclose the ends of the filling.

10. Roll the phyllo and filling over onto itself to form a strudel roll. Place it on a baking sheet seam side down and brush the top with any remaining butter and oil. Bake until deep golden, 25 minutes. Let the strudel stand for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

Comments
This recipe is from The New Basics Cookbook.  Since I got two bunches of chard this week, and wanted to do something different with at least one of them, this is the recipe I decided to try.  We all loved it and found it delicious, but I have a feeling that you could wrap anything in phyllo dough and it would turn out well!

Shown here with Filet Mignon and Mushrooms.

New Basics Cookbook