#59 - lasagna with greens

lately i have been cooking according to what new seasons has on sale that week. this week the things that interested me were: chard, bacon, smoked mozzarella. i have also been craving lasagna so it quickly became a great idea in my head. when i was at work i saw ina garten on the food network make a portobello mushroom lasagna and it looked and sounded awesome! it all came together perfectly in my head. so i went shopping and ended up with a nice bag of groceries, i couldn't wait to make it!

smoky bacon chard lasagna

1. bring large pot of salted water to a boil and cook 1 lb lasagna noodles according to directions. cook just before assembling so if it's fresh, wait until later because it only takes a few minutes.
2. make white sauce: melt 1 stick of butter in a large saucepan. add 1/2 c flour and cook for 1 minute over low heat, stirring constantly with a whisk. pour 4 c (1 qt) whole milk into the butter-flour mixture all at once. [recipe says to heat milk first, which i didn't do and it turned out fine]
3. wash and clean 1-2 bunch(es) chard (swiss, green, rainbow, or red). [mine was extremely large so i just needed one] chop stems and leaves. chop 3 strips bacon.
4. heat 1 T olive oil in very big pan, add 1 minced garlic clove and chopped bacon. after a minute or so, add chard stems. cook for 2 minutes then add chopped leaves. cook until slightly wilted.
5. shred 1 lb smoked mozzarella cheese.
6. assemble lasagna in 9x13 pan: a little bit of white sauce, lasagna noodles, ricotta cheese, white sauce, chard, mozzarella cheese, then repeat a couple times. for the top layer - noodles, white sauce, mozzarella cheese. bake at 375F for about 45 minutes, until all bubbly and slightly brown. let it sit for 10 minutes before cutting.

so how did it turn out? good enough to share but it definitely would've been better if i added some sauteed mushrooms. it is very rich and probably horrible for you cause it has bacon, cheese (although the ricotta was part skim!), whole milk and butter. it was worth the calories though. i will try to get a picture of this lasagna tomorrow. i love eating!