Seared Shrimp With Chard, Chiles and Ginger

Seared Shrimp With Chard, Chiles and Ginger
Christopher Simpson for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.
Total Time
20 minutes
Rating
5(954)
Notes
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Spicy sautéed chard with chiles and ginger is full of flavor, easy and pleasing with pretty much any protein. Here, it moves to the center of the plate with plump, seared shrimp. Any kind of chard can be used for this dish, but rainbow or red will be prettier than white-stemmed Swiss chard. That’s because those stems go right into the pan along with the leaves. It’s not only less wasteful, but the stems also add a pronounced, succulent texture to the mix.

Featured in: Sautéed Chard Makes Its Way to Center Stage

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 1½pounds cleaned extra-large shrimp
  • ½teaspoon kosher salt, more for seasoning the shrimp
  • 2bunches red or rainbow chard, rinsed (about 1 pound)
  • 3tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 4cloves garlic, minced
  • 1hot chile like Thai or Hungarian wax, seeded if desired and thinly sliced
  • 1long mild or sweet chile like Italian frying, thinly sliced
  • 1shallot, chopped
  • 1teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
  • 2teaspoons light brown sugar
  • 1teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 to 2teaspoons sherry vinegar, to taste
  • ½cup cilantro leaves
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

288 calories; 11 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 8 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 12 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 37 grams protein; 685 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Season shrimp generously with salt. Wash and trim chard, thinly slicing the stems.

  2. Step 2

    In a large skillet over medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil, then add shrimp and sear until lightly browned, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer shrimp to a plate. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil to the skillet, let heat for a few seconds, then add garlic, chile peppers, shallot and ginger and sauté until slightly browned, about 3 minutes. Stir in sugar, pepper and salt and cook for 1 minute longer. Stir in chard stems and sauté until they start to soften, about 2 minutes.

  3. Step 3

    Add the greens to the skillet along with 2 tablespoons water and immediately cover the pan. Keep it covered for 2 to 3 minutes to allow the greens to wilt. Once the greens have cooked down, remove the lid and continue cooking for a few more minutes to allow the water to evaporate. Add the shrimp and any liquid accumulated on the plate and cook just until the shrimp are heated through, about 1 minute longer. Drizzle with the sherry vinegar and gently toss to coat. Serve hot, garnished with the cilantro.

Ratings

5 out of 5
954 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

excellent, and considering my husband has trouble with any leafy greens besides spinach, a great accomplishment. but 20 min? well, yeah, basically, once you've already washed & cut up the chard (of which i admittedly had too much and will use half tomorrow for something else), headed and shelled the shrimp, chopped the shallot and garlic and coriander (after washing the coriander) — then it took 20 min. and i am not a beginning cook. not enormously fast, but not slow.

This was a great, simple, healthy dinner. I left out the brown sugar and added a splash of soy sauce to the dish. Served over quinoa for a full meal.

left out the brown sugar and instead of the sherry vinegar i used a fresh lime which added brightness to the dish. the dish is very forgiving and tasty over some mixed brown/white rice.

Used 1 Anaheim and 2 seeded serrano chiles and it was a hit with my capsaicin-addict husband. We loved the sweetness from the brown sugar, although I'm interested in swapping soy sauce for the brown sugar/salt combo to see if it generates a more savory alternate dish.

Best of all, I *finally* got a chance to use those pretty rainbow chard stems! Yay!

Very good. Replaced the sherry vinegar with rice vinegar and added spring onions. Used more garlic and ginger — almost twice as much, proportionally — and was glad I did. Fresh and easy.

This was delicious, quite beautiful, and very easy, but, as another cook has noted, in no way could you do it in 20 minutes. I very roughly chopped the chard to make it easier to eat. Will definitely do this again while fresh chard is available at the greenmarket.

I didn't use brown sugar or sherry vinegar. I added more vegetables: mushrooms, red bell pepper. I also used scallops + shrimp. Extra seasonings: paprika, bay leaf. Served over tri-color quinoa. Definitely a keeper!!

Call me a heretic, but I made this with collards and thought it worked. Very much liked the balance of sugar, ginger, garlic, and sherry vinegar. Really important not to overcook shrimp. This is a keeper.

Made this tonight, and it was SO DELICIOUS!! My family loved it! I didn't notice that the chard stems and stems aren't added at the same time. I had them all together in a big bowl, and tried to separate them as best as I could once I realized that I needed to cook the stem pieces first. Whoops. It didn't matter. I think next time I'll increase the chard. Side note: the prep takes at LEAST 20 minutes, plus the actual cooking time. I'll recruit a helper next time :)

After reading the comments, I adjusted the recipe. I added zucchini with the chard stems as we did not have enough chard. I sautéed the shrimp in sesame oil to give them more flavor. I served over polenta after adding soy sauce, fish sauce, coconut aminos and rice vinegar instead of water and did not add sherry vinegar. It is seasoned well and next time I’ll serve over sushi rice with sesame and seaweed.

This was delicious! I didn't have access to any of those highfaluting peppers, so I just made do with a jalapeño and an Anaheim. And it turned out tasty!

The chard definitely doesn't need as much cooking time as suggested here, but the flavoring in this recipe is spot on. I used an aged white wine vinegar in place of sherry vinegar, and used precooked shrimp to save on prep time. I also used a red jalepeno as my hot pepper. Will most certainly make again, but I'd love to try it with Thai chiles as the recipe suggests.

Very good, but this takes more like 45 minutes with all of the chopping.

this was probably one of the worst meals I have ever made. I consider myself an accomplished cook, and I love vegetables, but this was a dud... The shrimp ended up steaming at the end and the vinegar flavor was too pronounced,My husband and I declared this inedible... an unusual failure for MC

Quite good and a keeper. Having no fresh ginger on hand I used the jarred grated ginger from The Ginger People along with some of that liquid (contains sugar) and omitted the brown sugar, along with ramping up the garlic and hot peppers. Excellent!

All the earthy, vegetal flavors of the chard and peppers just seem to dominate the shrimp here. I agree whoever said this was a bit of a dud. The veggies as is would be great with the bigger flavors of a grilled ribeye or some spiced lamb. If you do prepare this, I also second doubling the aromatics and seasoning with some soy or fish sauce. But as a side dish, I still prefer MC’s simple sautéd Swiss Chard recipe.

I thought this would be an unusual and tasty combination of ingredients. But sadly, it was disappointing and dull even with the suggested additional spicing. Sorry to give a negative review to any of Melissa’s recipes, which are usually spot on.

Another delightful, unusual mixture of flavors from Melissa Clark. It must become part of my routine rotation, although probably only when my garden is yielding loads of chard and cilantro, as all winter and into the spring. How perfect the sherry vinegar is!

Loved this. So simple but if you don’t want the brown sugar chop up some fresh pineapple and put it in when you put in the cilantro. Works really well with the heat from the Thai peppers.

This meal is bland and expensive. The garnish alone costs at least $10. It is essentially salted shrimp that are then tossed with a salad. Do not waste your time.

Terrible. Flavorless. Steamed shrimp tossed in a salad.

Cooked according to the recipe and served with fresh corn polenta (a recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookbook “Plenty”), it was easily the best thing we’ve eaten in months. Planning on making regularly as long as my garden is producing chard.

Also, if you use a garlic press instead of chopping it, grate the ginger as instructed, and use partially cleaned shrimp (head already removed) the 20 minute prep cooking time is doable.

Fantastic. Great flavor. Had no chard, so used frozen spinach. Also frozen shrimp. It was still a crowd pleaser.

This is a great dish and it is easy to do. I used Thai chili paste (about 1 tsp) and a flame roasted poblano pepper, thinly sliced after removing the skin and seeds.

Double the ginger

Less sugar. Light black pepper.

Absolutely delicious!!!!!

I swapped in lemon juice for the vinegar and added some fish sauce - highly recommend the fish sauce to increase the depth and complexity, it adds a lot to this dish and plays up the other flavors. I served it with some Thai rice and it was a perfect, bright summer plate. Rainbow chard might also be the most beautiful ingredient to work with and this recipe gets big bonus points for using the stems, which provide a needed bit of crunch.

I used rice wine vinegar instead of sherry vinegar, and couple of shishitos for the hot pepper, as i couldn't find a wax pepper or similar. Next time maybe a jalapeno. Very good flavor, but the prep time is longer than the cooking time.

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