Easy Recipe: Lasagna made the simple way

Let's make some delicious chicken lasagna. The difference with the traditional lasagna recipe is that we will use spaghetti instead of lasagna noodles, which are not always stocked in our kitchens. All you need to do is have everything ready to use. We will have our white sauce, tomato concasse and spaghetti all prepared and ready to use. We shall then toss everything up in a baking tray and bake it.

To make white sauce

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup milk

1. In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour, salt and pepper until smooth.

2. Gradually whisk in the milk. Bring to a boil, stirring for 2 minutes or until thickened. Use immediately or refrigerate. 

To make tomato concasse

4 tomatoes cut into wedges

100g tomato paste

1 teaspoon garlic ginger paste

1 onion, roughly cut

Juice of 1 lime

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

Handful of coriander leaves

Salt to taste

What to do:

1. In a blender, blend the tomatoes, black pepper and coriander until smooth.

2. In the same hot pan with the oil that you used to pan sear chicken, fry the onions until golden brown, add the garlic-ginger paste and turmeric.

3. Pour in the blended tomato mixture cook for 5 minutes then add in the tomato paste and lime juice. Adjust seasoning with salt and cook until thick.

What you need for the lasagna

250g spaghetti, boiled 

4 chicken thighs or breasts, pan seared 

250ml thick white sauce 

250ml tomato concasse 

200g cheddar cheese, grated 

150g mozzarella cheese, grated 

2 tomatoes, sliced 

1 sweet pepper, sliced 

Salt and pepper to taste 

1 glass baking tray

What to do 

1. Using a tablespoon, spread about 50ml of the white sauce on the baking tray. Add about 50ml of the tomato concasse over the white sauce.

2. On the other hand, using a fork, shred the chicken, separating it from the bones and then sprinkle a little bit of the chicken over the sauces.

3. Add the cheddar cheese sprinkling it on top of the sauces

4. Add the mozzarella cheese over the cheddar cheese. Now it’s time to layer half of the cooked spaghetti over the spread.

5. Repeat the steps, white sauce, tomato concasse, chicken, more cheese.

6. Arrange the sweet pepper slices then tomato slices on top of the layers. Sprinkle some salt and pepper if you wish (remember cheese has salt already so you want to be gentle with the salt).

7. Make sure your oven is at 220°C then bake in the oven for about 30 to 35 minutes or until the top is nicely crusted. Once ready, remove from the oven and serve as a meal on its own.