There is lasagne love going on in my kitchen. Lasagne al Forno last week and chicken and leek this week. The sauce could be made in advance and is a simple stew of onion and leek with small scraps of chicken with a thick and creamy white wine, chicken stock and milk sauce; a very rich take on the more usual béchamel. I dredged the top with lashings of grated Parmesan mixed with coarse breadcrumbs made with stale sourdough. I served this handsome lasagne with a tumble of peas and asparagus.
Serves 3-4
Prep: 30 min
Cook: 60 min
1 onion
50g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
200g leeks
4-5 chicken thigh fillets
2-3 tbsp flour
150ml white wine
150ml chicken stock
300ml milk
375g egg lasagne sheets
squeeze lemon
4 tbsp coarse home made breadcrumbs
finely grated Parmesan
Halve, peel and finely chop the onion. Melt half the butter in the olive oil in a spacious lidded sauté/frying pan and stir in the onion. Cook over a medium heat for a few minutes, add a generous pinch of salt, turn the heat low, cover and leave to cook while you trim and slice the leeks in 1cm thick pennies. Agitate the leek in a bowl of water and drain. Cut the chicken into large Dolly Mixture size pieces. By now the onion will be semi-cooked. Stir in the leek, cover again and cook, giving the occasional stir, for 10-15 minutes until the leek is soft and sloppy. Tuck the flour-tossed chicken between and around the leek and cook, turning/tossing the pieces as they change from pink to white. Add the wine and stock and simmer for a few minutes whilst stirring to make a thin, smooth sauce. Tip the contents of the pan into a mixing bowl. Add 50g butter to the pan, stir in 1 heaped tbsp flour, adding 300ml milk, stirring constantly to make a thick, smooth sauce. Carefully drain the juices/sauce from the chicken into the sauce. Simmer to amalgamate, taste and add salt and lemon as needed to fine-tune the flavours. Begin layering up the lasagne – I chose a gratin-style dish 20x30x5cm – starting with a small smear of the sauce followed by a third of the chicken, a scant layer of sauce, lasagne sheets to cover and then repeat once ending with a very generous layer of sauce. Mix together Parmesan and breadcrumbs and dredge over the top of the lasagne. Place in a shallow roasting tin in case of spillage as it cooks in a hot oven – 180C/gas mark 4 for 30 minutes or until the top is very crusty and golden. Be careful as you tuck in, it will be very hot.