You will need:
4 cups cooked chicken breast roughly chopped
Red Sauce:
Heat the following ingredients on medium. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes. Set aside.
398 ML can (approx) Aurora Diced Tomatoes or other Italian brand
660 ML (approx) Aurora Strained Crushed tomatoes or other Italian brand
3/4 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup – 3/4 cup red wine (you can add extra chicken stock but the wine gives it a much richer flavour)
Vegetable layer:
2 TBLSP. olive oil
1 medium onion
4 cloves garlic minced
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup fresh basil chopped and *optional 1 cup chopped spinach or baby spinach
1 tsp. fennel seeds. This is very important. They add a wonderful flavour that will be missed without them.
Saute vegetables in olive oil on medium heat for 5 minutes and add garlic. Saute for another 2 minutes and add rest of ingredients. Stir and set aside.
Bechamel sauce:
2 TBLSP. butter
1/4 cup flour
salt and pepper
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 cups 2% milk
Melt butter and add flour. It will look wrong and will come together in a clump.
Don’t worry!
remove from heat
Add 1/4 cup milk and use a whisk to blend. the clump will begin to break up. Put it back on low heat and add another 1/4 cup milk. Continue to whisk and the mixture will become creamy. With pot (would it be better to say sauce pan?) (yikes) on low heat add the rest of the milk . Continue to whisk and turn heat to medium. don’t leave the stove!
Mixture will thicken. You don’t want it super thick. Just not watery.
If it is too thick you can add a little more milk. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg and set saucepan aside.
If you use dried lasagna noodles, cook according to package instructions. If you use fresh ones you don’t need to precook them.
Layer a medium pyrex pan (No bigger than 9×13) with:
1 cup tomato sauce.
layer of noodles
chicken
vegetable layer
bechamel
a drizzle (approximately 1/2 cup) of tomato sauce
noodles
tomato sauce
cheese
2 cups cheese for the top. I like a mixture of parmesan/cheddar/gruyere (not a mozzarella fan unless it is buffalo or burrata)but please use whatever type you like.
Bake at 350 until top is melted and brown and sauce is bubbling. I like to put my pyrex on a cookie sheet so I don’t get sauce all over my oven.
cut into slices and serve with green salad
