Serves:

6 – 8 as a main

Ingredients:

Bechamel/White Sauce:

• Butter 60 g
• Flour 60 g
• Full cream milk 1000 ml
• Whipping cream 500 ml
• Nutmeg To taste
• Salt & Pepper To taste
• Deboned chicken bones Optional

Chicken, Spinach and Mushroom Filling:

• Chicken legs 4 Deboned and diced up finely
• Yellow onion 1 Finely diced
• Celery stalk 1 Finely diced
• Small carrot 1 Finely diced
• Garlic cloves 3 Finely diced
• Fennel 1 tsp Toasted
• Cloves 3 pieces Toasted
• Portobello mushrooms 350 g Sliced in half and then thinly sliced width-wise
• Spinach 100 g
• Whipping cream 300 ml
• Salt & Pepper To taste

Assembly:

Lasagna sheets 1 packet Use as needed

Mozarella cheese 350 g Add more if you fancy

Instructions:

1. In a large casserole or pot, heat some extra virgin olive oil over a medium heat and toss in your cloves and fennel. 
2. When you begin to smell the aroma of the spices, toss in your carrots, onions, celery and garlic and sweat the vegetables for about 10 – 15 minutes, or until soft. 
3. Make a hole in the centre of the pot by pushing the vegetables and spices to the side and add some olive oil in the middle. Then turn the heat to high.
4. When the pan has heated up, add in your diced pieces of chicken leg. Spread them out evenly  and let them fry off for about 1 – 2 minutes before mixing everything together.
5. Turn the heat back down to medium and continue to cook everything for about 5 – 10 minutes, occasionally stirring the mix to prevent anything from burning. 
6. Add in your sliced mushrooms and spinach and give everything a good mix. Then continue to cook, again occasionally stirring, for another 5 – 10, or until the mushrooms have halved in size. 
7. Add your whipping cream and give everything good mix. Season the mix with salt and pepper. 
8. Bring the mixture up to a near boil and then down to a slow simmer on the lowest flame you have. Continue to cook for another 60 – 90 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
9. Whilst waiting for the chicken to cook, preheat your oven to 180*C and then make your bechamel. 
10. Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat and then add in your flour. Whisk the flour and butter together until you form a roux and continue to cook out the roux for a couple of minutes. You’ll know when this is done when you smell the smell of flour in the air, but cannot taste the taste of flour in the mix. (It’s weird I know but just go with it!)
11. Then gently pour in your milk in 1/5 batches. Whisky until everything is combined and continue with the other 4/5 batches of milk until everything is fully combined and you’re left with a silky and shiny white sauce that JUST evenly coats the back of a spoon. 
12. Season your béchamel with nutmeg, salt and pepper and set it aside. Now it’s time to check back on your filling. 
13. By now the filling should be slightly thick. Take it off the heat and let it sit for about 15 minutes. 
14. In a 25 x 35cm oven dish, ladle a spoon of bechamel on the bottom and spread it out evenly.
15. Then cover the base with lasagna sheets. 
16. Next, add a ladle (or more) of your filling and spread it evenly.
17. Finally, top off with mozzarella. 
18. Repeat this about 3-5 times, or until you’ve run out of filling, or you’ve reached the top of your oven dish. 
19. Cover the oven dish with tinfoil and bake for 20 minutes. Then uncover and grill it (change your oven settings to grill) until the top is all golden, crispy, bubbly, slightly charred…you get the point. 
20. Take it out of the oven and let it rest for at least 15 minutes! Golden rule is about 30. Patience is a virtue. 
21. Enjoy! 

Tips and Tricks:

1. If you have some extra time on your hands, or are not lazy…saute your mushrooms separately in a separate frying pan with a bit of garlic and olive oil until they’ve turned a nice golden brown and have halved in size. This will add another layer of flavour to the lasagna and will turn your white sauce into a slightly beige one. Don’t worry, nothing wrong with that!
2. Check the packet instructions of your lasagna sheets. Some do not require any pre-cooking. If there is no mention of any pre-cooking, then blanche your pasta in boiling salted water for about 1/3 of the packet’s instructions and before using them. 
3. You don’t have to bake your lasagna too long. Everything is already cooked, you just need to give the entire thing enough time to get to know each other. 20 minutes is fine. Any longer than 30 and you’re looking at overcooked pasta, and also possibly an overcooked filling!
4. If you deboned the chicken legs yourself, simmer them in the milk and cream mix you intend to use to make your béchamel for about 30 minutes to extract as much flavour as possible out from them. THEN use that ‘chicken-milk’ to make your bechamel. 

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