Roasted Chicken and Sausage Lasagna

Most likely everyone has had lasagna, and maybe even made their own. What I like about lasagna is that once you get the process right, you can personalize it and add your favorite ingredients. It doesn't have to be a basic, ground beef, tomato and cheese dish.  This version, has roasted chicken, chorizo sausage, two homemade sauces and lots of fresh veggies. Great for welcoming back a good friend, from the great white north. (For Kathy, and 3 others)

Wash and cut your peppers in half, put in a pan, set oven to broil and put on middle shelf of oven. They should be ready by the time your tomato sauce is simmering, in about half an hour. Keep an eye on them. For tomato sauce, follow directions 2 and 3 from 10 Veg Tomato Sauce, you can begin this once peppers are in.

Meanwhile, once your tomato sauce in simmering, in another small pot, on med high heat melt 3 tablespoons of butter, once melted, add flour and mix well. Then while mixing, slowly add your milk, bring to a boil while stirring continuously. Reduce heat to low and add half an onion, with a bay leaf pinned to it with a clove. Stir to keep sauce from sticking, once the sauce starts to thicken ( in about 15 minutes) remove onion and discard, season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat

Sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon.

While your tomato sauce is cooking, mix ricotta mixture, set aside

Remove peppers from oven, place in bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap, the steam will help the skin come off peppers once they've cooled. Remove skin, seeds and slice. Set aside. 

At this point your tomato sauce is ready to be pureed, do so, then season with salt and pepper and basil. On stove top in a large pot, on med high, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil, skin side down brown chicken and season with salt and pepper, add about 1 cup of tomato sauce and bake at 375*C for an hour (half for boneless), in last 15 minutes of cooking add sausages. Remove chicken, discard skin,  it should just fall off the bone, so it can be shredded. Remove sausages and slice. While chicken is cooking you can saute mushrooms, with butter, salt and pepper, on med high heat until soft. (about 10 minutes) Set aside, then with the same pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and saute spinach for about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and remove as much liquid as possible from spinach. 

 In a large pot bring salted water to a boil, cook just a few lasagna sheets at a time, place them in boiling water and when they begin to float (in about 90 seconds) remove, strain and rinse with cold water. Cut your sheets to fit your pan, and make sure they aren't too wet before assembling lasagna. All your ingredients are now ready, start with a thin layer of tomato sauce on bottom of pan, then lasagna sheets. On each layer, spread sauce thinly and sprinkle with a little bit of mozzarella cheese. The order, and what your put on each layer doesn't matter, make it your own!!

The top layer, again spread your sauce thinly, then add most of mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake at 375*C for an hour. Remove foil, turn oven up to 400*C and bake uncovered for 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and beginning to brown. With left over cream sauce and tomato sauce, spoon a little on each plate, cut lasagna into desired sized cuts and place over plated sauce. 

Ingredients:

• Tomato Sauce:
• 1/2 chopped sweet  large onion
• same amount chopped carrots (about a cup and a half)
• 1 chopped leek
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 cans of unseasoned chopped tomatoes (800g each)
• 1 cup of olive oil
• 8 - 10 fresh basil leaves chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Refer to 10 Veg Tomato Sauce steps 2 and 3 for sauce, puree sauce, season and lastly add fresh basil.

• Bechamel Sauce:
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 3 generous tablespoons of flour
• 2 cups of homo milk
• 1/2 onion
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 clove
• salt and pepper to taste

• Ricotta Cheese Mixture:
• 1 egg
• 1 and 1/2 cups of shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 container of ricotta cheese ( 475g about 1 lb)
• 8 -10  chopped fresh basil leaves, chopped
• fresh cracked pepper, about 1 teaspoon

• Everything else:
• 6-10 fresh lasagna sheets (once they've been par boiled, cut them to size to fit your pan)
• 2 Red peppers, roasted and chopped
• 1 package of cleaned fresh spinach, sauteed with 1 tablespoon of olive oil (once cooked, squeeze out most of the water)
• 1 package of fresh mushrooms, chopped, sauteed with 1 tablespoon of butter
• 2 chicken breasts, bone in, skin on is optimal for flavor, but if you must boneless, skinless is fine. A purchased rotisserie chicken, would be great for this as well.
• 2 chorizo sausages
• Shredded mozzarella (450-500g about 1 lb)
• Salt and pepper to taste