Chicken with Swiss chard served with potato and Spring onions mash

A delicious recipe with a vegetable that in Greece is mainly used as a part of a pie filling or as a plain vegetable for salad. But lately more and more often it is used in other dishes and because of it's distinctive taste swiss chard is becoming quite popular

Recipe of Kostas Tsigas,

from "Cook Book" magazine of "ETHNOS" newspaper 

Ingredients (for 4 people):
1 medium chicken, cut in 4 portions
5 bunches of Spring onions, finely chopped (both green and white part)
300gr. of swiss chard, cleaned and cut in thick strips
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut in wedges
½ tea-cup of white dry wine
3 tea-cups of chicken stock
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 tbsp of butter
1 tsp of tomato paste
salt
pepper

Method:
Season the chicken well with salt and pepper.

Warm the olive oil in a wide saucepan in medium-high heat and sauté the chicken until they become well browned on all sides. Transfer the chicken to a plate and leave aside.

Turn the heat to medium, add in the saucepan the spring onions and sauté for 5 minutes stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the potatoes and sauté for 1 more minute and then add the tomato paste.

Stir and pour over with the wine. When the alcohol evaporates, add the chicken stock and transfer the meat back into the saucepan. Turn the heat to medium-low, cover with the lid and simmer for 50 minutes.

Transfer the chicken back to the plate and leave aside but keeping it warm. Add in the saucepan the swiss chard and continue cooking for another 10 minutes. Strain the food through a colander leaving the liquid in the saucepan and transfer the potatoes with the spring onions in one bowl and the swiss chard separately on a plate.

Continue boiling the food liquid until it thickens into a sauce and reduces in volume.

In the meantime, press the potatoes with a fork along with the onions to become a purée. Add the butter in the mixture while it is still hot, season with plenty of salt and pepper and stir well (you can add some milk if you like to make it more fluffy).

Serve immediately putting on each plate a piece of chicken, garnishing with the swiss chard and pouring over with the thick sauce. Serve the potato purée separately in its bowl or divide it onto the plates.