Swiss Chard Lasagna Florentine

Each week I split a share (1/2 bushel) of organically grown farm-fresh veggies with my co-worker Delia.  Our farm, Cedarmore, is run by an Amish couple and I love reading all the stories about their life and how our food was grown.  They even let you visit the farm, if you want to.  I like that Andy, the farmer that we support, describes a CSA share as a "magazine subscription".  Each week you get something different and each week I also look forward to whatever delicious recipe comes in our box.

This was one of those recipes.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend everyone give it a try.  It was my first venture with swiss chard and it's a new favorite veggie.  I'm always excited to see it in our box when we get it.  The smell of the rainbow chard cooking in this recipe made my mouth water and it was oh-so-colorful!

Swiss Chard Lasagna Florentine
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Ingredients

• 1/2 box of lasagna, prepared according to box
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 5 cups spaghetti sauce
• 1 lb Swiss chard, chopped (separate stems and leaves)
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic
• 15 oz ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large skillet, heat oil and add chopped Swiss chard stems.  Saute for two minutes then stir in the leaves in handfuls at a time, cooking for 3-5 minutes.  Add onion and garlic near the end of sauteing.  Cover and cook for another 3-5 minutes.  Uncover and continue cooking to reduce the liquid.  
3. Warm the spaghetti sauce.  
4. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and stir in the ricotta, the Parmesan and 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese and the Swiss chard.  
5. In a 15 x 9 inch baking dish, layer in 2 cups of sauce, half the lasagna noodles, 2 cups of sauce, all of the egg mixture, 1/2 the mozzarella, then the remaining lasagna noodles, sauce and mozzarella.  Cover with foil.  Bake for 30 minutes, uncover, bake an additional 10 minutes.  Let stand for 10 minutes, cut, serve, and enjoy.

Source: Cedarmore CSA