Collard Greens Lasagna

I’ve made this lasagna dozens of times for company and just for the fam and it’s always a favorite. It’s light put definitely hits the spot and a good way to sneak greens into an otherwise veggieless dish. This recipe is adapted from The NY Times (one of my favorite places to get recipes). I changed some of the quantities and added a sauce recipe as the original leaves it up to you.

Recipe adapted by Tierney Larson from Martha Rose Shulman of The NY Times.

Ingredients:

For the Sauce:

1/4 cup olive oil

1 yellow onion, minced

kosher salt

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbl tomato paste

1/2 tsp dried oregano

freshly ground black pepper

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup of white wine

2 28oz can whole peeled tomatoes with juices, tomatoes crushed with your hand

For the rest:

15oz whole milk ricotta

1/2 tsp lemon zest

1/4 cup of heavy cream

kosher salt and black pepper

1 bunch (about 1lb) of collard greens, stems removed, leaves left whole, rinsed

1 lb lasagna noodles

4 ounces grated parmesan cheese

ok so..

In a medium saucepan you’re going to start your sauce. Heat the olive oil over medium heat then add the onions and a pinch of salt and cook stirring occasionally until translucent and soft, about 7min. Add the garlic, bay leaf, another pinch of salt, a good grind of black pepper, and tomato paste and cook stirring now and then until the tomato paste turns a brick red color, about 3 minutes. Add the oregano and let it cook for about a minute until fragrant. Then add the wine and scrape up any bits of tomato paste using a wooden spoon from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a simmer and reduce the wine by half, about 3-4 minutes. Add the tomatoes that you crushed by hand (it’s fun try it) with their juices and give it a good pinch of salt and a stir. Bring to a simmer and then lower the heat to low and let it slowly simmer away for about 30 minutes-1 hour. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Blanch your greens: boil some generously salted water in a large pot over high heat and get a bowl full of ice water ready near by. Put the trimmed collards into the pot and blanch for 2 minutes then immediately remove them and plunge them into the ice water to stop the cooking. Take them out once cooled and lay them on a kitchen towel to pat them dry.

If you want to be a risk taker-Do no pre-boil your noodles! Seriously I’ve tried it with straight up dried lasagna noodles right out of the box and it cooks perfectly! But if you’re having company over and don’t want to risk it I understand. So if you’re using no-boil noodles just follow the instructions on the box. For regular lasagna noodles, you can toss about 3 at a time into the same pot you blanched your collard greens in for about 2-3 minutes a batch. Whatever path you choose make sure they’re very al dente. Then lay them on a sheet tray lined with paper towels and drizzle a little olive oil on them so you can stack them without them sticking. If you want to be even moreeee fancy, use fresh pasta sheets and don’t par boil them, they will cook perfectly!

Combine the ricotta, heavy cream and lemon zest in a medium sized bowl and season to taste with kosher salt and pepper.

For assembly:

Preheat the oven to 350F

Lightly oil your 12x9 dish or any dish around that size, then add a tiny bit of sauce to coat the bottom. Then this is your pattern: single layer of lasagna noodles, thin layer of ricotta, single layer of collards, layer of sauce, sprinkling of parmesan cheese. Repeat and you’ll get to about 4-5 layers depending on the dish you’re using. Hold back some sauce and parmesan for the last layer, the topping will be the sauce topped with parmesan. Make sure your noodles are all covered with the last layer of sauce, then sprinkle with the parmesan and cover the dish tightly with foil. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the noodles are cooked through and the lasagna is bubbly. Remove the foil and cook for a further 5-10 minutes until lightly browned on top. Remove from the oven and let sit for about 10 minutes until cutting and serving. Enjoy!!!