Lasagna w/Chicken, Prosciutto and Spinach

By stancec44

From Lasagna book by Jack Bishop
To freeze, wrap uncooked lasagna in pan - tightly in plastic and then in foil. Defrost in fridge 1 day before being baked and served. Can take straight from the fridge and cooked, but will take a bit longer. Best not to let sit at room temp too long, or it becomes soggy.

Note: I always 1 1/2x or 2 x the sauce (both Béchamel and base sauce) on his lasagnas

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb. fresh spinach, stems removed
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 small onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 oz. prosciutto, cut into 1/2" squares
• 1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut crosswise into 1/2" wide strips
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1/3 c. dry white wine
• 2 c. canned crushed tomatoes
• 1 recipe egg pasta or spinach pasta or 18 dry lasagna noodles
• 1 1/2 c. Bechamel sauce (recipe in Sauces)
• 1 c. freshly grated Parm

Details

Servings 6

Preparation

Step 1

Bring several quarts of water to boil in a medium size pot. Add fresh spinach and cook for 1 minute. Drain spinach well. when cool, chop coarse and set aside.

Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onion and sauce over medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and prosciutto and cook, stirring frequently to separate pieces of ham, for about 2 minutes.

Raise heat to med-high, add chicken, salt and pepper and cook, stirring often, until meat is seared, about 3 minutes more. kAdd reserved spinach and stir to distribute evenly. Add tomatoes and bring mix to a boil. reduce heat and simmer gently until sauce is quite thick, about 30 minutes. Taste for salt and set aside.

Cook and drain pasta. Preheat oven to 400.

Grease a 13" x 9" lasagna pan. Smear 3 Tbsp bechamel across bottom. Line bottom with a layer of pasta, making sure noodles touch, but do not overlap. Spread 3/4 c. tomato sauce over pasta. Drizzle w/3 Tbsp. béchamel and sprinkle w/2 Tbsp. cheese. Repeat layering of pasta, tomato sauce, béchamel and cheese four more times. For the sixth layer, cover pasta with 6 Tbsp. behamel and sprinkle w/remaining 6 Tbsp. cheese.

Bake lasagna until top turns golden brown in spots and sauce is bubbling, about 20 minutes. Remove pan from oven and let settle for 5 minutes before serving.