Chard Lasagna

In my opinion a big part of making a house a home is meals.  I love the creative process of creating a meal.  The conversations around the dinner table (without a laptop in hand) are so much more meaningful.  Even doing the dishes can be a great way to clear your head.

Initially, our dining table was crammed into an awkward corner in our kitchen but we have now set it up  in a corner of our living room as we were suffering without a usable dining space.  It looks pretty awkward right now as our living room has wall-to-wall carpet.  I'm envisioning hardwoods some day with a nice area rug to designate the "dining" space.  For now, we have room to sit and eat, and even have a few guests join us. 

Tonight I'm making one of our favorite recipes which I've adapted from an insert in our vegetable box a few years back.  I've included it below.  It's a little intimidating at first because it is so open but I've discovered this is my favorite kind of recipe...I've never made this with the exact same ingredients twice.


CHARD LASAGNA

Preheat Ovent to 350 F

Filling:
Make a tomato sauce (you can use a store bought jar in a pinch but making it yourself is more fun & delicious.  If using a store bought jar heat in a pan and jump to the meat section of the sauce.)

Sauce:
For sauce I like to use one can of diced unsalted tomatoes OR dice a few tomotoes and add them to the pot with some preheated olive oil, then add fresh herbs (basil, sage, thyme, & rosemary are good) and let it simmer. 

At the same time dice one large onion and saute in a large pan with salt & pepper to taste.

When the onions have gotten soft and slightly opaque add other veggies etc. (diced zuchhini, mushrooms, bell peppers, bits of chard, spinach, garlic, pine nuts ..whatever you like) and saute with the onions.  When everything has softened add to the sauce pot.  Add salt and pepper and other spices to taste.

If using meat, now is the time to brown your ground beef, turkey or diced sausage in that large pan that had onions, adding crumbled bacon is good too. 

"Noodles"
In the meantime slice some chard lengthwise to make lasgna noodle-like pieces.  Make one layer on the bottom of a lasgna pan and make enough slices for a top layer.  (You can also do a middle layer of chard with two levels of filling so cut what you'll need for whatever you decide to do.)

Once the meat has browned, add to the sauce pot and let simmer for a few minutes. 

Turn off the burner and set 1 1/2 to 2 cups of sauce aside.  Add the remaing sauce to a heat safe bowl with some binding ingredients like ricottta and cottage cheese, with grated parmesan.  This is the filling for the lasagna and the consistency should not be too watery.  You may want to add the sauce gradually to ensure it does not get to watery.

Add the filling to the pan over the top of the chard.  (If you would like multiple layers of chard layer accordingly) Lay the remaining chard pieces over the filling and cover with the remaing sauce that was set aside.  Top with grated parmesan (or any other cheese).

Bake at 350 Degrees Farenheit for 45 minutes.  10 minutes before the lasagna is finished you can add more cheese if you like an extra cheesy top.  While cooking open some wine so that it can aerate before dinner...drink a glass or two and open another bottle of wine as needed :)

ENJOY!!!