Pbenjay's Blog

When I read the title of this recipe, I said to myself, “Really?”.  I read through the ingredients and directions and realized this would be a great meal in between finishing up the leftovers from Thanksgiving.  Well you know there’s only so many ways you can eat turkey day after day!  So I made it on Saturday and we felt so healthy eating lasagna made with greens!  And it was really tasty too!

photo by Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 lb collard greens, preferably large leaves, stemmed and washed, leaves intact.

Salt to taste

Extra Virgin Olive Oil for the pan

2 cups marinara sauce (yes I used a jarred sauce)

1/2 lb no boil lasagna noodles

1/2 # ricotta

4 oz freshly grated Parmensan

DIRECTIONS:

Steam the collard greens for 5 minutes above an inch of boiling water, or blanch in boiling salted water for 2 minutes.  Transfer to a bowl of cold water, drain and pat dry with paper towels.

Preheat oven 350º. Oil a 2 or 3 quart baking dish with olive oil.  Spread a small amount of tomato sauce over the bottom and top with a layer of lasagna noodles.  Top the noodles with a thin layer of ricotta.  Lay collard green leaves over the ricotta in a single layer.  Top the leaves with a layer of tomato sauce, followed by a thin layer of Parmesan.

Set aside enough tomato sauce and Parmesan to top the lasagna and repeat the layers until all of the ingredients are used up.  Spread the tomato sauce you set aside over the top, and sprinkle on the Parmesan.  Make sure the noodles are covered, and cover the baking dish tightly with foil.

Place in the oven an bake 30 minutes.  Remove from the oven and uncover.  Check to be sure the noodles are soft and the mixture is bubbly.  Return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes if desired, to brown the top.  Allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

* Advance preparation:  You can assemble this up to two days ahead and refrigerate until ready to bake.

Recipe by Martha Rose Shulman, New York Times Cooking