Pesto Chicken and Mozzarella Lasagna
Ingredients:
Creamy pesto sauce:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tbsp gluten free flour
325ml whole milk
350g homemade pesto
ground black pepper to taste
Lasagna:
800g chicken thighs
1 tbsp olive oil
9 gluten free lasagna sheets (see my pasta recipe for homemade)
425g ricotta
1 large egg, lightly beaten
100g freshly grated Parmesan
2 tbsp dried parsley
500g mozzarella, broken up into bite sized chunks
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C.
Creamy pesto sauce: In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add flour and whisk for 2-3 minutes. Gradually add the milk and continue to whisk until thickened, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in the pesto and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Rub olive oil over chicken breasts and season with kosher salt and pepper. Bake the chicken for 30-40 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Allow to cool. Use 2 forks to shred chicken into bite-size pieces.
In a medium bowl, use a fork to mix together the ricotta, egg, half of the grated parmesan, parsley, and 1/2 tsp salt.
Spread a thin layer of creamy pesto sauce on the bottom of a 9×13 lasagna dish. Add the shredded chicken to the rest of the sauce and stir until combined.
Layer 3 lasagna sheets, half of the ricotta mixture, one third of the chicken pesto mixture, and one third of the mozzarella. Repeat. Finish with remaining 3 lasagna noodles with the remaining ricotta mixture on top. Sprinkle the top with 2 tbsp of parmesan.
Bake 25 minutes covered with foil, then an additional 5-10 minutes uncovered, until cheese is melted and edges are bubbly. Allow lasagna to set for 10 minutes before serving.