Chicken & Spinach Lasagna Bake with Four Cheeses, GF

By MaryEllen

This Chicken & Spinach Lasagna Bake with Four Cheeses is made with a flavorful white sauce, is easy to prepare, feeds a crowd, freezes well, reheats beautifully – it has it all.

Ingredients

• Ingredients:
• 1 1 1 pound (455 g) skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about two large halves)
• 3 3 3 tablespoons FODY Chicken Soup Base
• 1/4 1/4 57 cup (1/2 stick; 57 g) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1/4 1/4 1/4 cup (60 ml) FODY Shallot-Infused Olive Oil
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 cup (36 g) leeks, green parts only
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 cup (32 g) scallions, green parts only
• 1 1 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 1 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 1/2 1 to 1 g) low FODMAP gluten-free flour, such as Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Baking Flour
• 3 3 2% cups (720 ml) lactose-free whole or 2% milk, at room temperature
• 12-ounces 12-ounces (340 g) part-skim mozzarella, shredded
• 4-ounces 4-ounces (115 g) Gruyere, shredded
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 cup (50 g) grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 10-ounce 10-ounce (280 g) box gluten-free rice flour lasagna noodles, such as Tinkyada
• 5-ounces 5-ounces (140 g) baby spinach (see Tips)
• 1 1 1 pound (455 g) lactose-free cottage cheese (see Tips)
• 1/4 1/4 1/4 cup (8 g) chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Details

Servings 16
Adapted from fodmapeveryday.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preparation:

Position rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Coat the inside of a 13 x 9-inch casserole dish with nonstick spray; set aside.
Fill a very large pot with 4 liters of water, bring to a boil and whisk in the FODY Chicken Soup Base. Add chicken breasts, adjust heat to low, and simmer very gently for about 5 minutes. Then turn off heat, leaving chicken breasts in hot liquid. Check the chicken after 10 minutes; the breasts should be just cooked through but still very moist. Remove breasts from liquid and set aside on cutting board to rest. Save cooking liquid in the same pot.
Heat a large, deep skillet over medium heat and add butter and FODY Shallot-Infused Oil. Cook for about a minute or until butter is melted. Add leek and scallion greens and sauté for a few minutes or until softened. Add basil and oregano and sauté for about 30 seconds. Add flour and whisk occasionally, for a minute or two, until flour is beginning to slightly color. Slowly whisk in milk and 1/2 cup (120 ml) of the chicken-flavored cooking liquid from the pot you set aside. Keep cooking and whisking until you have a thickened, smooth sauce. Stir in mozzarella, Gruyere and 1/4 cup (25 g) Parmesan and cook for a minute or two, whisking a couple of times, until cheeses are melted and sauce is smooth. Taste sauce and season with salt and pepper, as desired. Remove about 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) of sauce and set it aside, and set aside the skillet with the bulk of the sauce as well.
Go back to pot with reserved liquid and bring back to a boil. Roughly break the lasagna noodles into large pieces and drop into boiling liquid. Cook, stirring often, until very al dente (about 1 or 2 minutes before they are al dente proper) and add spinach to boiling liquid and pasta. Stir spinach into liquid; it should wilt almost immediately. Drain pasta and spinach. Add pasta and spinach to sauce in a deep skillet and fold to coat well and combine.
Chop chicken into bite-sized pieces; I like small, flat slices rather than cubes.
Scoop about one-third of the pasta mixture into your casserole dish, dollop with half of the cottage cheese and scatter half the chicken on top. Make another layer of pasta, cottage cheese, and chicken. Finish off with pasta mixture, then spread top evenly with 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) of reserved sauce. Sprinkle reserved 1/4 cup (25 g) of Parmesan on top along with parsley.
Bake for about 35 to 45 minutes or until bubbling and the top is golden brown and crusty here and there. Let lasagna sit for a few minutes before serving. Don’t even try to serve neat portions. Just scoop it out and enjoy! We like it with a green salad.

Tips

If baby spinach is packed in your market in 6-ounce (170 g) or 7-ounce (200 g) containers, you can use that amount.
If your cottage cheese is very wet and soupy, scrape it out into a wire-meshed strainer and let it drain while you are preparing the recipe. Just set it to drain as the very first thing you do.
To make the lasagna ahead, you can pause right after you have assembled it in the casserole dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, or you can freeze it for up to 1 month. Defrost in refrigerator overnight and either way, bring to room temperature before baking.