CHARD LASAGNA: A thing of Great Beauty!
THE BLURB:
To anyone who watches the vlogs, or infact follows me on Instagram will know – I am a dedicated lover of chard! But I know there are plenty out there who remain unconvinced. Try this recipe and see where you stand afterwards…
The key to this recipe is to stem the chard. I have said it before but it really did change chard from a vegetable i was none too fussed about to a real favourite just by treating it as two separate vegetables. The stem and the leaf.
This recipe is a leaf one but don’t throw away the stems (unless, like my mum, you can’t stand them. Even in soup!) you can use them like you would a Pak Choi.
THE INGREDIENTS:
For the tomato sauce –
- 1 medium onion
- 2 fat cloves of garlic
- 400ml tinned tomatoes, or the equivalent in homegrown
- Salt
- A splash of olive oil
For the white sauce –
- 25g of butter
- 2 tablespoons of plain flour
- 250ml of milk
- Nutmeg
- Salt
Also –
- 6 lasagna sheets
- 180g of stemmed, washed chard
- 60g mozzarella
- A sprinkle of grated Parmesan
THE METHOD:
For the tomato sauce heat the oil in a pan, add the diced onion and garlic and allow it to soften until translucent. Add the tin of tomatoes then refill the can with water and add that too. Allow this to simmer until its reduced by half. Salt to taste and leave to cool.
Whilst that is bubbling away, set a large pan of water on to boil.
Once it is at a good rolling boil, blanch the chard leaves for 30 seconds in the water or until the leaves have ‘collapsed’ but are not mushy, using a draining spoon scoop them out and leave them to cool in a colander over the sink or a bowl to catch the liquid. You may need to do this in two batches.
Once cool give them a light squeeze to get rid of some of the water.
With a normal meat lasagna, the pasta is layered raw but this version is so much lighter it needs a head start. Once the chard has been blanched, using the same pot of water par-boil the pasta sheets. This will probably need to be done two at a time to avoid sticking and takes about 3 mins each go. They want to be flexible enough that they don’t break when handled but not totally cooked.
As they become ready, fish them out into a bowl of cold water to stop them drying out.
To assemble –
Spoon about half the tomato sauce onto the base of a square baking dish and cover with two sheets of pasta.
Onto that, spread out the chard and half the mozzarella. You want a decent layer. Sometimes I retain a bit to put on the top but this isn’t necessary. Season with salt and pepper and cover with another two sheets of pasta.
The next layer is the rest of the tomato sauce and mozzarella. Cover with the last two sheets of pasta.
I normally assemble the thing before making the white sauce because you really want to have this hot to pour over the top because its goes claggy and uncooperative if you let it cool.
So leave the assembled dish aside, melt the butter in a pan over a low heat and sprinkle over the flour. Using a whisk or wooden spoon mix the two together until they are one frothy mass. Keep stirring so it doesn’t brown. Keep cooking this mixture until in pales in colour, just a few minutes and get ready for a bit of furious mixing.
If you warm the milk its less frantic but i never bother. If you mix it hard enough to got give it a chance to form lumps. Warm or cold, add the milk to the mixture starting with about a 3rd and then the rest gradually. Keep stirring. Once its silky smooth and about the consistency of loose custard (you may need a little more or less milk), add the salt and a good grate of nutmeg to taste. Pour the mixture over the pasta, making sure to cover it. And sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
This goes into an oven preheated to 220 and will take about 20 -30mins, or until bubbling and browning on top. Let it stand for a few mins before cutting and serving. It’s considerably ‘looser’ than a conventional lasagna and generally wont land on the plate in a neat manner but the flavor is second to none. serve with a bright fresh green salad and crusty bread.
NOTES and LINKS:
So this is obviously a basic lasanga recipe and like most of my recipes, can be riffed on. I’ve done this with all sorts of greens – turnip tops, cavolo nero, even cabbage! Although, the cabbage one was stretching it a bit.
For more Chard-Worshipping, i have a blog post about how much i love the stuff here –
