Red Chard with Tomatoes and Blackened Chillis

We’ve had our first snow fall in New York already, even though it is still October! This means that the farmer’s market will soon be devoid of all fresh leafy produce. So as a last hurrah to the vestiges of warm weather, I cooked-up two bunches of glorious red-tinged chard, accented with beefy steak tomatoes and smoky blackened chillis. Until April . . . .

Ingredients
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
6–8 whole Dried Red Chillis
2 tbsp Olive Oil
6 cloves Garlic, finely minced
2 lbs [1 kgs] Red Chard, washed and cut into 2-inch strips, including stalks
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
Salt (to taste)
1 tsp freshly ground Black Pepper

1. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet or frying pan over high heat. When the oil is smoking, add chillis and sauté briskly for 1 min until they are blackened. Remove chillis to a small bowl. When they are cool to touch, using your hands, crush the whole chillis roughly into small pieces and set aside. 
2. Add olive oil to same pan and heat. Add garlic and stir for 1 min until lightly golden. Add chard in batches and stir briskly until the leaves are wilted. Add tomatoes, salt, and pepper, lower heat, and continue cooking till the tomatoes have softened, about 5 mins. Turn off heat. 
3. Sprinkle with crushed chillis and stir gently. Let the flavours steep for 15 mins before serving.