If Kristen Lainsbury’s Swiss chard situation is anything like mine right now, then she will be able to put this week’s recipe to good use. You may recall that she wrote, “Last year I grew more Swiss chard than I needed, and I got so tired of saut?ing it that I swore I’d never grow it again. Of course, I planted more this year! Now I need to figure out what to do with it.”

As I see it, the object of this game is “use as much Swiss chard in one recipe as possible.” And Ruth Thurston of Machias rose to the challenge with some help from Marian Morash’s Victory Garden Cookbook, which Ruth says is her favorite source of vegetable recipes. (That book was published in 1982 as a companion to the PBS television show.)

Now, I looked for recipes that started with words like “take one pound of chard” or “lots of cups” of cooked chard, and saw two that really appealed to me. One of them was a soup that would use a pound of chard, and only requires you to stew up the chard, a carrot, some celery, and onion or leeks, until they are a little soft.

Then you cook some potato till it is tender and mash it against the side of the pan. And then you put the soft vegetables in with the potato, add some chicken broth, salt and pepper, and cook it all together. If you puree it, and add some herbs such as dill, parsley and chives then chill it, you could even have a nice cold soup for a hot muggy day. If you add a little cream then you have an elegant Swiss chard soup.

I saw another that I actually tried, adapting it to our needs, and we really liked it a lot. It makes a good main dish for supper and uses a pound and a half of the stuff – or two pretty good handfuls. Feel free to play with the seasonings. I used chorizo (that spicy Spanish sausage) as the sausage in my trial, but you could use Italian sausage and herbs including oregano, garlic and fennel seed, or you could use a plain old breakfast sausage and really load up on onions and coarsely ground pepper. Or you can make a vegetarian one with lots of dill, parsley, thyme or savory in it.

I bet, too, that if you think this sounds good to you but you don’t have Swiss chard, you could use spinach instead.

Looking for…

Skye Howard of Gouldsboro is looking for a fruit jelly recipe, which features minced dill as a major ingredient.

Send queries or answers to Sandy Oliver, 1061 Main Road, Islesboro 04848. E-mail: tastebuds@prexar.com. For recipes, tell us where they came from. List ingredients, specify number of servings and do not abbreviate measurements. Include name, address and daytime number.

Swiss Chard and Sausage Pie

Serves six

Enough pastry for a two-crust pie

11/2 pounds of chard, or three tightly packed cups of cooked chard

1/2 pound chorizo sausage (optional)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup onion

3 cloves garlic minced

3/4 cup ricotta cheese

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 teaspoons whole cumin seed, slightly toasted

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Trim your chard leaves by slicing out the ribs and setting aside to chop into 1/2-inch pieces while you steam the leafy portion. When the leaves are cooked, steam the rib pieces and then recombine and squeeze to remove excess moisture.

Remove the sausage form its casing and break it up into a large saut? or frying pan; brown the sausage, and drain it. Put the olive oil in the pan, add the onion and over a medium heat, cook it until it is soft. Add the chard and garlic and heat the chard through, stirring to allow moisture to evaporate away. Combine the chard mixture with the sausage, ricotta, eggs, Parmesan and seasonings. Mix well. Line a 9-inch pie plate with a crust and put in the filling, and then the top crust. Crimp. Bake for 35 minutes.