2010 Cooking Club Week 25A: Chicken Lasagne

Chicken Lasagne

3 large skinless chicken breasts
½ onion roughly chopped
1 carrot
1 celery stick
1 bay leaf
Salt & pepper
235 g baby spinach (or defrosted frozen)
25 g butter
250 pot ricotta/cottage cheese/ soft cheese
145g Basil pesto
300g lasagna sheets
Tomato sauce
125 g mozzarella
25 g parmesan
Poach the chicken with the onion, carrot celery, bay leaf for about 20 mins until cooked through. Cool and chop into small chunks.
Melt butter in a large pot, add spinach and cover until spinach wilts. Allow to cool. Squeeze out excess water and chop roughly. (or defrost a few chunks of frozen spinach!)
Mix the ricotta & pesto, if you are using cottage cheese use a processor to reduce to a paste. Mix this into spinach.
Layer:
Half the chicken
Half the ricotta mix
Lasagne sheets
Half the tomato sauce
Half the cheese
Repeat
Sprinkle with parmesan.
Bake at 200 for about 30 minutes.

This tastes even better if made the day before


Quick Tomato sauce

3 cloves garlic, grated
2 onions finely chopped
1 tblsp basil leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
2 400g tins of tomatoes
Salt & pepper
1 tsp sugar
Splash Balsamic vinegar.

Heat the oil and cook onion until soft.
Add garlic & cook for a couple of more minutes
Add tomatoes, sugar, vinegar and salt & pepper.
Cook over a medium to high heat for about 25 minutes until reduced to thick, stir occasionally.
Add the basil.

Multi purpose really but great for the lasagne above


Pesto
• 50g basil
• 30g pine nuts
• 30 grated parmesan
• 1 clove of garlic
• 85 ml olive oil
Whizz first 4 ingredients; gradually add oil until well mixed.