Spinach Pesto & Swiss Chard Lasagna

Jovial has new gluten free lasagna noodles, have you tried them? By looking at the box, you would never imagine how difficult it is for our pasta artisans to make this product. You see, gluten gives elasticity to dough and without gluten, these noodles can curl up or warp during our slow-drying process. You may have noticed in the boxes that not every sheet of lasagna is perfectly flat. In fact, each and every noodle must be inspected and placed in the boxes by hand to ensure you get the best quality product we can make. We know so many of you have been missing delicious lasagna, and now we think we’ve got a great product to offer, so the effort is absolutely worthwhile.

We have been baking lasagna in our kitchen in a variety of ways these past few months. After the classic lasagna, this is one of our favorites.

INGREDIENTS

for a quick spinach pesto

• 6 oz. baby spinach, steamed
• 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp. butter, softened
• 1/3 cup Pecorino Romano grated cheese

for the layering greens

• 10 oz. swiss chard, boiled and chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 oz. pancetta, diced (or use 8 oz. of chicken, sausage, salmon or white beans)
• 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

for the béchamel sauce

• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. rice flour
• 1 cup milk, heated
• pinch of salt
• pinch of ground nutmeg

other ingredients for layering

• 9 oz. box of jovial gluten free lasagna
• 1 ½ cups of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (or mozzarella if you prefer)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Steam spinach and leave moist, not squeezing out the cooking water from the greens. Add to your blender with olive oil and salt to taste, but try not to add extra oil. Pulse gently until minced. Add butter and grated cheese and blend on low until smooth. Set aside in a small bowl.
2. In a large skillet, cook garlic and pancetta with olive oil on medium low heat until the pancetta starts to brown. Add chopped swiss chard with salt to taste and cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Set aside in a medium bowl.
3. In a medium saucepan, prepare the béchamel by melting butter, then adding grated nutmeg and a pinch of salt. Whisk in rice flour and cook for a few seconds until the butter is fully absorbed, then slowly add the milk, 1/4 cup at a time, whisking well in between so the sauce is velvety smooth. After all the milk is added, let cook until thickened and set aside.
4. Clean the skillet and set 2 quarts of water to boil. For this recipe, it is best to boil the lasagna noodles for a few minutes before layering. Our lasagne does not need to be boiled when using tomato sauce, but for more delicate recipes like this, we think a quick boiling is best. When the water boils, add salt to taste and boil 4 noodles at a time, each for 4 minutes.
5. When the first set of noodles are ready, you can begin to layer your 9″ x 13″ pan as follows, then bake at 375ºF for 35 minutes covered with aluminum foil and 10 minutes uncovered until browned.

• Spread a few tablespoons of spinach pesto on the bottom of the dish.
• Add four noodles, cover with 1/3 of the béchamel, then 1/4 of the pesto, then 1/3 of the swiss chard and 1/4 cup of grated cheese.
• Repeat for two layers.
• Cover the top with remaining pesto and grated cheese.