White Chicken Lasagna

My family rocks. Really. We can not see each other for months, and then when we get together it’s hours and hours of non-stop chatting and fun. And normally, food.

This past weekend, Noel and I were lucky enough to go to Slower Lower for some quality family time. Nevermind that the picture above shows the best weather we had all weekend (there’s no driving rain or 60 mph winds!) and that we all cried a little bit when we saw the sad state of the beach (if you don’t believe me, here’s the same strip of beach last July. Yeah, there was a whole lot more of it). We had two and half days of food, drink, a bit of shopping, and then more food and drink. And my sister was there. It was fantastic.

The main food event was a big family dinner on Saturday night, for which our host Art had devised a menu of lasagna, garlic bread, salad, and pina colada martinis. Blue pina colada martinis. Art is pretty much the King of the Martini, and he’s always coming up with recipes for new ones. Don’t ask me how all those flavors worked together, but they did!

But since it was my birthday dinner, we did something a bit untraditional with the lasagna. Instead of ground beef and red sauce, neither of which I typically eat, we used chicken and cheese sauce made from a simple roux.

Then we chopped up a ton of veggies–peppers, spinach, mushrooms–to sizes perfect for layering!

And finally we stacked it all up in a huge and shiny oversized lasagna pan (I think Art has a special pan for everything)! I had never made lasagna before, so throughout the hour of oven time I kept anxiously peeking, curious to see how our creation would turn out. About halfway through, we had to cover the dish with foil to keep the top from over browning. The suspense of that covered pan nearly got the better of me!

But before we get to the big foil uncovering…let’s get to another unveiling! Of the correct answer to last week’s quiz and the winner of the 990 Square giveaway!

I’m a little ashamed to admit it, because I think it’s a sign that I either made the contest too hard or I’m too good at fibbing, but no one actually guessed the right answer, except for my Dad, who surprised me with it as soon I saw him last week. But since he knew, he didn’t think it would be fair to enter. Still wondering which one it was? It was number 4:

“Noel and I love to travel. We go just about any chance we get and we love seeing the different places and the different cultures all over the world. Although I love almost everywhere I’ve been, there’s one city that truly stole my heart and it’s Prague. I would pick up and move there tomorrow if I thought they would let me take claims at the embassy!”

We do love to travel, but the city I would love to live in is wrong! Noel’s favorite city in Europe is Prague, mine is definitely London. It’s a city with a personality that matches mine! A bit too serious at first glance, but lots of fun right under the surface.

Thanks to Random.org, the winner of our contest was comment number 3–Maureen! She has chosen a copy of the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking Cookbook to add to her collection. I’m sure you will love it, Maureen. Thank you to everyone who played along–I’m so happy that I got to share my birthday and a bit of obscure Beth trivia with you!

White Chicken Lasagna
Adapted liberally from All Recipes

This was sooo good. The cheese sauce, although simple, had a lot of flavor, and the veggies really kicked the whole thing up a notch. The recipe below will make enough lasagna to fill a 13×9 pan–use 1.5 times the quantities below to fill a big lasagna dish. And have some good bread on standby to soak up the sauce!

Ingredients

• 1 box lasagna noodles (don’t use the oven ready ones like we did–the top ones didn’t cook)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 2 cups cubed, cooked chicken meat
• 2 packages fresh baby spinach
• 2 red bell peppers, diced
• 1 pound white mushrooms, sliced
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles using instructions on the box. Drain, and rinse with cold water.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook the onion and garlic in the butter until tender, stirring frequently. Stir in the flour and salt, and simmer until bubbly. Mix in the broth and milk, and boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Stir in the mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Season with the basil, oregano, and ground black pepper. Remove from heat.

Spread 1/3 of the sauce mixture in the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Layer with 1/3 of the noodles, the ricotta, the peppers, spinach, mushrooms, and the chicken. Arrange 1/3 of the noodles over the chicken, and layer with another round of the ingredients. Arrange remaining noodles over cheese, and spread remaining sauce evenly over noodles. Sprinkle with parsley and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Check the lasagna ever 15 minutes and if it starts to get too brown on top, cover with foil. The lasagna is done when a knife inserted into the center goes through without resistance.

Serve with family or friends, for a night of good cheer!

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