Organic Recipe Friday: Cook it Down, Eat it Up!

Chard Quasi Lasagna

It can be pretty easy to get carried away at the farmers’ market. The kale and the sweet potatoes and the peppers look so good. And you’ve always wanted to try kohlrabi and broccoli raab and beets. The next thing you know, you’re headed home with enough food for everyone on your block. It’s not the worst problem in the world.

I recently found myself in this boat when I had a massive bunch of chard from my CSA, two kinds of beans, tomatoes, an eggplant and more, and then returned from my favorite local market with heirloom tomatoes, crimini mushrooms, corn, lettuce, a leek, a dozen apples and a few other things. What to do… Start by consulting my assorted Moosewood cookbooks.

The recipe for “Swiss Chard Rolls Two Ways” seemed like a great use of cooked chard—lots of vitamin A, C and K, and several minerals—which meant I could eat it all, plus those tomatoes and mushrooms, with a source of protein I tend to forget about. But filling and rolling up all those leaves seemed like a lot of work. So I tweaked the ingredients and the assembly instructions, using the filling as a layer and the chard as a layer. Voila, lasagna! Sort of.

Chard Quasi-Lasagna

Serves 4

• 1 large bunch chard
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 large leek, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 cups mushrooms, crimini or similar, chopped
• 3 large tomatoes, thinly slice all but a half
• 1 16-ounce container low-fat organic cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup grated part-skim organic mozzarella (fresh would be delicious but packaged is easier to grate)
• 1/4 cup basil, coarsely chopped
• Black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring medium pot of water to boil. Wash and remove stems from chard. Blanch leaves – immerse in boiling water for about three minutes. Remove, rinse with cold water to stop cooking and, if not too hot, unfold and lay flat on a paper towel.

Heat olive oil in large skillet. Add onion and leek, and sauté until onion in translucent. Add garlic, sauté another minute, then add mushrooms. Cook until they’ve shrunk a bit. Put everything in a box, add cottage cheese, mozzarella and black pepper, and stir well.

Put half tomato and basil in mini food processor and blend until smooth.

Coat medium or large baking dish with nonstick spray. Arrange a layer of sliced tomatoes. Cover with cottage cheese mixture. Cover with layer of flattened chard leaves. Pour pureed tomato over everything and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for about 30 minutes. Let cool in dish for a few minutes before slicing. I had a lot of liquid but just left it behind.

Photo Credit: Flickr CC User (and author) bornOKthefirsttime