White Cheese Chicken Lasagna

She Said:

I have been very remiss in updating over here at He Said:She Said. It's been a really busy time! We did not cook much last weekend (read: I did the cooking) but we did cook the weekend before. And actually, I did the cooking then, too. Hmm...I see why I haven't been updating!

I was looking for something specifically to take as "leftovers" to work for lunches. I get tired of soups so fast it's not even funny. And I can't for the life of me think of any type of sandwiches to make that I'll appreciate so I try to go with something casserole-y. (See prior post.)

I went a little out of the ordinary and found a white cheese chicken lasagna. I made it pretty much like the recipe lays it out except that I added more cheese, of course, and chicken and didn't have any fresh parsley so I used dried. It's fabulous and not at all figure-friendly. I can heartily recommend it!

Here's where the recipe comes from.

White Cheese Chicken Lasagna

9 lasagna noodles
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 (I used skim)
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided (I used regular - not low-fat)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cups ricotta cheese (I just had a huge container of ricotta and eye-balled it as I was assembling)
2 cups cubed, cooked chicken meat (I had more than 2 cups of chicken)
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. 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 2 cups mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Season with the basil, oregano, and ground black pepper. Remove from heat, and set aside.

Spread 1/3 of the sauce mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer with 1/3 of the noodles, the ricotta, and the chicken. Arrange 1/3 of the noodles over the chicken, and layer with 1/3 of the sauce mixture, spinach, and the remaining 2 cups mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Arrange remaining noodles over cheese, and spread remaining sauce evenly over noodles. Sprinkle with parsley and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven.

Now, if I had it to do over again, which I do as long as I'm still on this earth, I would have combined the chicken and spinach together and split them between the layers so that I didn't have one layer of nothing but chicken and one layer of nothing but spinach. But, as it is, I cut the whole thing up into 12 portions and packed it up for lunches so when we reheat, we just chop it all up and mix well before eating anyway.

I must make mention of the cheese sauce. Now I had revealed my awesome macaroni and cheese recipe a while back. The cheese sauce there is quite good. But the cheese sauce from this recipe knocked my socks off. The seasonings and Parmesan cheese in it plus the delicate flavor of the mozzarella cheese and the chicken broth/milk mixture is an incredible combination. I will make this cheese sauce again for a simple pasta side dish with some breaded chicken breasts or broiled fish for dinner one night. It's just that good.