Best Chicken Lasagne

Serves 8

This recipe is my special present to you! A super moist gourmet lasagne, just like mama used to make, but mercifully without so many pots and pans to wash up! The big trick is to soak the sheets of pasta in warm water for 10 minutes to soften them. To calculate exactly how many sheets of lasagne you need – fit the sheets in the dish, multiply by three for the three layers and you know how many to soak.

Recipe Category

Pasta, Poultry – Chicken

Products in this recipe

Chicken Flavour Stock Powder, Lemon & Black Pepper Seasoning, Four Cheese Pasta Sauce

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You will need

Main Dish

1 whole cooked chicken, cubed
1 T (15 ml) Ina Paarman’s Chicken Flavour Stock Powder
1 cup (250 ml) hot water – use an extra 125 ml water if the chicken is very dry
1 t (5 ml) Ina Paarman’s Lemon & Black Pepper Seasoning
½ cup (125 ml) parsley, chopped
200 g flat lasagne sheets
1 x 400 ml Ina Paarman’s Four Cheese Pasta Sauce
½ cup (125 ml) fresh milk
250 g smooth creamed cottage cheese
1 egg

Topping

½ cup (125 ml) grated pecorino or parmesan cheese
1 T (15 ml) olive oil or melted butter
½ cup (125 ml) soft white breadcrumbs

Ina’s Tip

A grilled supermarket chicken works well if you are in a hurry. Otherwise poach your own fresh chicken in 3 cups of water mixed with 1 T (15 ml) of Ina Paarman’s Chicken Flavour Stock Powder for 45 minutes. After poaching, use 1 cup (250 ml) of the leftover stock instead of the 1 cup water and 1 T Chicken Flavour Stock Powder to moisten the chicken.

Method

Adjust oven rack to the middle position. Preheat oven to 180°C.
In a large bowl, toss the cubed chicken with the Chicken Stock (dissolved in 1 cup of water), Lemon & Black Pepper Seasoning and parsley. Mix well. Set aside.
Soak the lasagne sheets for 10 – 15 minutes in hot tap water. This dramatically improves the tenderness of the pasta and reduces the baking time of the lasagne to only 35 minutes. Spread sheets out on baking paper.
Pour the Four Cheese Pasta Sauce into a medium bowl. Pour the milk into the empty pasta jar and shake well to get every bit out. Pour into the bowl, adding creamed cottage cheese and egg to thin the sauce down.
Using a 30 cm x 24 cm ovenproof dish, spread ¼ of the cheese sauce mixture into the dish. Layer with a 1⁄3 of the pasta sheets, then 1⁄3 of the chicken mixture and another ¼ of the cheese sauce. Repeat layering twice more and end with a layer of cheese sauce mixture.
Mix the grated cheese, olive oil or butter and fresh breadcrumbs and sprinkle over the top. Bake for 35 minutes until nicely browned. Serve with a well-dressed Italian salad with Ina Paarman’s Classic Balsamic Vinaigrette or Creamy Caesar Salad Dressing and country style bread.