Chicken lasagne with butternut & broccoli

This recipe was a happy accident made with a bit of this and a bit of that from the fridge. I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine did. You can prepare this lasagne with store-bought lasagne sheets or make your own fresh pasta with this recipe. Making fresh pasta is not difficult and quite a lot of fun for the whole family to assist with. And the flavour and texture is just sooo good!
Chicken lasagne with butternut & broccoli
Recipe from Make five/Maak vyf
Serves 6
Chicken
10 ml (2 tsp) olive oil
4 chicken thighs or 3 chicken breasts on the bone
1 onion, chopped
few sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
250 ml (1 cup) white wine, water or Rooibos tea
salt and pepper
300 g butternut, peeled and cubed
200 g broccoli, cut into florets
White sauce
30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil
30 ml (2 tbsp) cake flour
625 ml (2½ cup) milk
15 ml (1 tbsp) Dijon mustard
30 ml (2 tbsp) fresh thyme leaves
250 g lasagne sheets or 200 g fresh lasagne sheets
60 ml (¼ cup) grated pecorino cheese
1. Chicken: Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and brown chicken on all sides. Stir in the onion and sauté for a few minutes.
2. Reduce the heat, add the thyme, bay leaf and liquid and season to taste. Simmer with a lid on for 20-30 minutes or until the chicken is just cooked. Spoon out and keep the cooking liquid. Debone the chicken and cut into pieces.
3. Place butternut in a small amount of water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Simmer for 10-15 minutes with the lid on until nearly soft. You don’t need to add salt to this. Add the broccoli on top of the butternut in the last 5-8 minutes so that it can steam lightly.
4. White sauce: Pour oil into a saucepan and heat slowly, while stirring in the flour until a paste forms. As soon as it starts to brown, add the milk a little at a time and stir well after each addition until everything is absorbed.
5. Stir until all the milk is mixed in and add the cooking liquid and onion from the chicken. Stir well and bring the sauce to a boil over low heat. Allow to simmer until thickened slightly then stir in the mustard, thyme and chicken and season to taste.
6. Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Spoon one-third of the sauce on the bottom of an oven dish and spoon one-third of the butternut and broccoli on top. Place half of the lasagne sheets on top.
7. Pour another third of the sauce on top and repeat with a third of the veggies and a second layer of lasagne. Finish with the remaining sauce and veggies on top. Sprinkle cheese over.
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the lasagne sheets are cooked. Enjoy with a big green salad.
Image: Adel Ferreira Photography
In September 2020 this was part of an article on pasta in LiG Tydskrif.
Heleen, dit lyk heerlik, kan ek die resep gebruik vir
iemand wat op n “Hart Foundation” diet is.
Dankie
Heila
Hallo Heila
Ja, jy behoort dit kan gebruik. Die enigste ding wat hier belangrik sal wees vir die persoon, is die porsie wat geeet word. Eet dit beslis met ‘n lekker porsie slaai, in plaas van bv brood.
Groete
Heleen