A delicious main course lasagna recipe for a larger group – and it’s relatively quick to pull together. Just add a salad and you are good to go.
The recipe is inspired by one from ‘Savor the Flavor of Oregon’ (a great cookbook!!). I’ve changed it – what else is new – and it is one of my favourite Lasagna recipes. The biggest challenge for me is not getting confused in putting the layers together – not sure why that should be so difficult :^)
For the cooked chicken I put a frozen roasting chicken in a slow cooker for the day. Easy! Eight hours later it was done. I cooled the bird overnight then pulled all the meat off the bones and used what I needed for this recipe and froze the rest for another day. (or buy a pre-cooked bird from your local grocery!)
The lasagna noodles do NOT need to be precooked. They cook perfectly inside the lasagna – the key is a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of the pan before you lay the noodles.
4 cups (1 liter) cooked chicken, cubed
2 cups (500 ml) cottage cheese (low fat works)
1 medium onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 red pepper, diced
3 cups (750 ml) salsa (mild, medium or hot)
3 cups (750 ml) tomato sauce
1 tbsp (15 ml) chili powder
1 tsp (5 ml) cumin
12 lasagna noodles, uncooked
2 1/2 cups (625 ml) mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 1/2 cups (625 ml) cheddar cheese, shredded
Preparation –
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Prepare ingredients as noted.
- Saute onions, garlic and red pepper in a bit of oil over medium heat until soft.
- Add salsa, tomato sauce, cumin and chili.to onion-garlic mixture and heat through.
- Layer ingredients in a 9 x 13 inch ungreased or greased baking pan as follows:
- spread a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of the baking pan
- spread 1/3 of uncooked lasagna noodles on top of sauce (amount needed to cover base times 3)
- spread 1/2 of the cottage cheese over top of the noodles
- spread 1/2 of chicken over top of cottage cheese
- spread 1/3 of sauce over top of chicken
- spread 1/3 of cheese over top of chicken
- repeat layers starting with noodles, 1/2 of cottage cheese, 1/2 of chicken, 1/3 salsa, 1/3 cheese
- finish with a layer of noodles, remaining salsa (1/3) and cheese (1/3)
6. Bake uncovered at 350 for about 50 minutes.
7. Let stand for 15 minutes or so before serving.
Serves anywhere from 10 (big eaters) to 14 (small eaters)