Chickpeas & Chard

2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs dried minced onion
pinch or 2 of saffron threads
2 garlic cloves
sea salt and ground black pepper
1 cup cilantro leaves
1/4 cup parsley leaves
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 Tsp tomato paste
14 chard leaves (2 medium bunches) with stems
2 15oz cans chickpeas, with liquid

1) Heat 1 Tbs plus 1 tsp olive oil in wide skillet. Add onion and saffron. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 1 to 2 minutes. Pound garlic with 1/2 tsp salt, cilantro, parsley and cumin to make a rough paste. When onions are golden, add paste to pan along with tomato paste.
2) Slice chard leaves off stems. Place in wide pot with 2 cups water and cook, covered, until wilted, about 5 minutes. Set leaves aside in colander, reserving cooking water.
3) Trim chard stems so that you're left with plank like pieces of even width. Cut planks (stems) into fine dice and drop into reserved chard water. Simmer until tender, about 10 minutes.
4) Add chickpeas with liquid, or 1 cup water or stock, to the onion. Coarsely chop chard and add it as well. Simmer 10 minutes, then add chard stems. Taste for salt and season with pepper. Serve with remaining oil drizzled over all.

Review: This recipe was doomed. I cleaned the chard, which came from the grocery store and had been stored in the fridge for almost a week. I soaked it in a bowl of veggie cleaner and water, plunging my hand in and swishing it around. As I pulled the first stalk out to chop it, I flipped it over and found a honeybee - struggling to walk away. How was it still alive? How did I not get stung already? Was it from another country? Well, I freaked and killed it with my knife. Then, I was really grossed out. So, I double cleaned everything and moved on. Which including slicing off part of my finger and fingernail in the process. No blood, but a little disconcerting to see nail and skin on your cutting knife. At that point, Mike took over quite a bit of the cooking. However, he left out the tomato paste and we ended up wasting the entire can, since I had already opened it. Great. At this point, I was hating this dish. However, it was yummy and did not allow me to hate it for long. Maybe you should leave out the tomato paste when you make it, too. I don't recommend the rest of the drama.