Dishes with Dark, Leafy Greens to Pair with a Light Red Wine

By Food & Wine
Updated January 11, 2017
Credit: © Petrina Tinslay
These tangy recipes range from spicy spinach and tofu dumplings to Palestinian spinach pies spiked with lemon and sumac.
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Spelt Focaccia with Kale, Squash and Pecorino

Credit: © John Kernick
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Rule: Pair dark, leafy greens like spinach or chard with light reds such as Gamay; greens make full-bodied reds too astringent.

Paul Kahan tops focaccia made with spelt flour with tangy marinated kale, soft and sweet slices of winter squash and a few shavings of nutty, salty pecorino cheese.

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Orecchiette with Sautéed Greens and Scallion Sauce

Credit: © Tina Rupp
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Chef Richard Reddington fills homemade ravioli with ricotta, mascarpone, arugula, spinach and Swiss chard, then serves them in a green garlic-and-white wine sauce. To make the dish even easier, toss store-bought orecchiette with arugula and chard (both are tastier than spinach) and make the sauce with scallions instead of green garlic, which can be hard to find.

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Palestinian Spinach Pies

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The spinach filling in these fatayer, inspired by a recipe from Palestinian-born baker Maha Ziadeh, isn't flavored with feta, as it is in the more common Greek spinach pies. Instead, it's spiked with lemon and sumac, a tangy Middle Eastern spice. Ziadeh forms the pies into a triangle, but the half-moon shape here is simpler to do.

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Greek Kale Salad

Credit: © Tina Rupp
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Packed with vitamin A, kale is tasty when it's blanched and tossed with a lemon–olive oil dressing and olives, good sources of healthy fat.

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Crispy Swiss Chard Cakes with Mascarpone-Creamed Spinach

Credit: © Quentin Bacon
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This recipe is based on a Japanese pressed spinach dish called gomae that is usually served cold. Douglas Keane says the trick to making perfect Swiss chard cakes is to press them long and hard enough to squeeze out any excess moisture. That keeps the bread-crumb crust crunchy and concentrates the chard flavor.

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Spinach and Tofu Dumplings

Credit: © Ngoc Minh Ngo
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These nicely spicy dumplings are a wonderful way to eat spinach, which is rich in vitamin C, beta-carotene, magnesium, riboflavin, folate and vitamins B6 and K.

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Swiss-Chard, Potato, and Chickpea Stew

Credit: © Petrina Tinslay
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Inspired by the full-flavored vegetable stews of Spain, this earthy fare satisfies the stomach and warms the soul. Don't worry if some of the potato slices break up during cooking; they'll just add to the country feeling.

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