Lasagna with Chard, Tomato Sauce and Ricotta

Been a while since I've added a recipe here- figured I'd favor you all with a new favorite.

This vegetarian lasagna is easy, delicious, and makes you feel better about eating greens- just in time for St. Patrick's Day! The last few times I've made it I've gone ahead and doubled the recipe just because we eat the regular sizing in one go. And the kids eat it. Plus you could totally just make the tomato sauce from this recipe and toss with it pasta and still have an excellent meal.

Ingredients:
1 generous bunch of Swiss Chard (about 1.5 pds - I've used red and rainbow chard easily)
Salt
1/2 pound regular or no-boil lasagna noodles
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon EVOO
2 large garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 pounds free tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced or 1 (28-oz) can of chopped tomatoes, with juice
pinch of sugar
1 large basil sprig (sometimes I use 2)
pepper
1/2 cup fresh ricotta cheese
1/3- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil while you prepare the chard. Fill a bowl with ice water. Tear the leaves from the stems and wash thoroughly in two changes of water. Discard stems or set aside for another purpose.

2. When the water comes to a boil, add the Swiss Chard leaves. Boil 1 minute (from the time the water comes back to a boil), until tender but still bright green, then remove from the water with a slotted spoon or skimmer and transfer to bowl of ice water. Drain and squeeze out excess water. Chop coarsely and set aside. Cook the lasagna noodles in the same pot of water if not using no-boil noodles.  Remove the pasta from the pot and toss with 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a bowl.

3. In a wide, nonstick frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat and add the garlic. Cook, stirring, just until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, sugar, basil sprig, and salt (begin with 1/2 teaspoon and add more later), and bring to a simmer. Simmer, stirring often, until thick, 15 to 25 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Remove the basil sprig. Stir in Swiss chard and remove from heat.

4. Preheat over to 375 F. Oil a square or rectangular baking dish (no bigger than 2-qt) and line the bottom with a layer of lasagna. Spread half the ricotta over the noodles and half the tomato-chard over the ricotta. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of Parmesan over the sauce.Add another layer of noodles, the remaining ricotta, and the rest of the Swiss-chard tomato mixture, and 2 tablespoons of Parmesan.Finish with a layer of noodles and the remaining Parmesan. Drizzle remaining tablespoon of olive oil over the top. Cover dish tightly with foil.

Bake 30 minutes, or until bubbling and the pasta is tender.

One of the best things about this dish is the prep. You can blanch the chard and make the tomato sauce up to 3 days ahead of serving. You can also assemble the entire dish up to a day ahead. I like to put it together in the morning and then pop it in the over when we get home in the evenings to have it nice and hot for dinner time.

original recipe can be found here.

Enjoy!