Today I’m excited to share with you an incredibly delicious twist on the classic lasagne. It’s packed with so much flavour, I’ve got a feeling you’re going to love it. Follow me…
Chicken and Pancetta Lasagne
Typically a lasagne would be made with a minced/ground beef ragu, maybe even with pork or sausage in there. But today we’re using chicken, which really does work so delightfully.
What kind of chicken should I use?
You’ll definitely want to use chicken thigh over chicken breast. Breast will dry out over the long cooking period, whereas thighs are much more robust. Plus, chicken thighs are more fatty and with that, they add bags more flavour to the sauce.
Pancetta
I love adding pancetta to the ragu for a few different reasons:
Fat – you can render down the fat and use it to fry the chicken thighs. Flavour – pancetta adds heaps of smoky flavour to the ragu. Pairing – great with chicken.
To kick off the ragu, we’re going to extract the fat from the pancetta and fry the thighs in it. The thighs don’t need to be cooked all the way through, just focus on developing flavour on the outside. Process shots: add pancetta to pan (photo 1), fry then remove (photo 2), add thighs (photo 3), fry then remove (photo 4).
Chicken Ragu
Once you’ve fried the chicken, leave all of the excess fat in the pan (aka liquid gold). We’ll use this to fry the carrot, onion, garlic and celery. From there, we’re going to create a rich tomato sauce. The base is tomato passata and tomato paste, but we’re also going to add in some red wine for some depth of flavour. Other than that you don’t need much more fuss, just some bay leaves and fresh thyme for a boost of flavour.
Simmering the Ragu
We’re going to simmer the ragu with the lid on and then with the lid off. A generous simmering time is important for a few different reasons:
Chicken – simmering will help tenderise the chicken. Flavour – it will give time for the flavours to marry together. Reduce – removing the lid will help reduce and thicken the sauce.
Once you’ve simmered the ragu, just remove and shred the chicken, then stir it back through the sauce. You can then leave it as you make the bechamel sauce. Process shots: fry carrot, onion, celery, garlic (photo 1), fry tomato paste (photo 2), simmer red wine (photo 3), add chicken, pancetta, chicken stock, bay leaves and thyme (photo 4), simmer (photo 5), remove and shred chicken then place back in sauce (photo 6).
Bechamel Sauce for Lasagne
What is a lasagne without the bechamel sauce? There are of course many recipes that don’t use it, namely American-Italian recipes that often use ricotta, but using bechamel is the elite option (IMO 😇). We’re also going to make this cheesy by adding some Cheddar! I have also tried this recipe with Gruyere, which works really nicely too.
Bechamel Sauce Seasoning
To spruce up the sauce I recommend some salt and white pepper (although you could use black) alongside some nutmeg. The nutmeg is essential – it gives the sauce such a lovely boost of flavour! Process shots: melt butter (photo 1), stir in flour (photo 2), add milk then add cheese (photo 3), season (photo 4).
Assembling Chicken Lasagne
I like to use fresh lasagne sheets because I prefer the texture (the lasagne stays intact better i.e. not so wavey). From there the layers go as follows:
Layer 1: Lasagne Sheets Layer 2: Chicken Ragu Layer 3: Bechamel Sauce Layer 4: Mozzarella (just on the top)
You’ll end up with 4 layers of pasta, 4 layers of bechamel, 3 layers of ragu and 1 layer of mozzarella. Process shots: spread some sauce in dish to prevent sticking (photo 1), add lasagne sheets (photo 2), add ragu (photo 3), add bechamel (photo 4), repeat and finish with bechamel sauce (photo 5), add mozzarella and bake (photo 6).
Serving Chicken Lasagne
Once the lasagne is out of the oven it’s important that you let it rest. If you slice in straight away the layers will slide about. They need time to retain their shape. Here I’ve served with some Garlic Bread and a side salad! Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for this chicken and pancetta lasagne shall we?!
For more similar recipes check out these beauties:
Delicious Lasagne Recipes
Classic Lasagne Sausage and Fennel Lasagne Veggie Lasagne Ravioli Lasagne
