Lemon, Swiss Chard, Sausage, and Chioggia Beet Lasagna
I think there might be something in the air/internet. Last week, in search of a tasty way to cook up our first batch of red swiss chard from the garden, I came across this post on Cup of Jo. That post led me to this recipe on Martha Stewart Living, which I promptly bookmarked. After making it myself, and diligently photographing all of the deliciousness, I planned out a post for this morning to share this yummy summer lasagna with all of you. Opening my computer this morning, I see that one of my fave food blogs, A Cozy Kitchen, posting this recipe this morning! It's as if the lovely Adrianna read my mind. So, rather than doing a straight-up recipe today, I'm going to share my pictures, thoughts, and general steps in this delightful dinner, and refer all of you to either of the two recipes linked above for proportions and step-by-step instructions. Ah, I heart the interwebs...
My happiest moment of the weekend was filling a grocery bag with the first load of veggies from the garden. Swiss chard, chioggia beets, carrots, green onions, arugula, and lettuce were all overflowing from the bag, so I made it my mission to make the best ever garden-fresh dinner. After I found the recipe for this lasagna, I decided to alter it just a bit to include the beets. It was a good move, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is thinking about making this dish (and I also highly recommend that you do).
I got Italian sausage from a local farm's butcher, and Joe helped me cook it up before layering it in the lasagna. I've recently read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, and have been exploring a pseudo-vegetarian lifestyle. While I'm not going all-out veggie, I'm only buying meats from local, environmentally-friendly and ethically-acceptable farms and butchers. It's narrowed the playing field quite significantly, but I can live with less bacon if it means the meat I'm getting is good for me, the animals, and the earth. (Side note: I do plan on writing a more substantial post about this sometime soon. There's much more to say.)
I am obsessed with the light, creamy, chard-y bechamel sauce that this recipe calls for. I almost always make lasagna with a tomato-based sauce (though I do often add cream), so I love how this no-tomato version totally changed the vibe of the dish. I'm equally obsessed with the gorgeous striations on these chioggia beets. Have you ever seen anything so pretty?
Layer, layer, layer! Because I'm lazy and clumsy, I always use the ready-to-bake lasagna noodles. It's probably a cop-out, but they taste just as good and save time and noodle-tearing. The layers of steamed lemons were the perfect unexpected kick to this lasagna. I never would have thought to include them on my own, but they added the perfect summery pizzazz to this meal.
Ain't it purty? So colorful, healthy, hearty, and effing delicious. Joe and I marveled at every morsel, and happily ate the leftovers for lunch the next two days. Oh, and it pairs perfectly with a bright sauvignon blanc, so don't skip that!
We paired our lasagna with a fresh salad from all-gardened foods: lettuce, arugula, carrots (confession: we definitely picked the carrots before they were totally mature, but we just couldn't wait! We tried to pull only those carrots that had started to crowd the other plants), and green onions. I love the mad spicy kick that fresh arugula adds to a salad (so different than store-bought!), and it was incredibly satisfying to know that everything we were eating was grown by us. I am so looking forward to many more months of these homegrown, homemade meals.
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