Chicken and Bacon Lasagne

This is not something you see much of today but I recreated this from a memory in the 1980s when I had a frozen one.

Really cheap to make and no special equipment is needed. This is the “cook from scratch version” but if you prefer to make some shortcuts using premade sauces, ready-cooked chicken, or whatever, then you can of course do so.

Ingredients

I used 500g of fresh chicken thighs from a 1-kilo pack of fresh thighs.

I used 4 rashers of cooking bacon. You can use any shape though as you will cook it and chop it.

2 mushrooms

1 largish onion

Fresh basil (or dried)

3 or 4 garlic cloves or 1 teaspoon dried garlic

2 tins of chopped tomatoes

12 sheets of lasagne sheets

For the white sauce:

600ml milk. Any type. I used plant milk

1 heaped tablespoon of cornflour or plain flour

1 teaspoon mustard. English or Dijon

A little salt to taste

Approx 80g of cheese. I used Red Leicester but Extra Mature Cheddar is best.

Method:

Slice and dice mushrooms and onion

Put the chicken pieces into a pan of cold water. Enough water to cover. Bring it to a boil, cover, and simmer for about 20 mins or until they are cooked. This is where using fresh is easiest. When you have taken the chicken out, this water, skin, and bones can be used as a starter broth for soup later on.

While the chicken is cooking, add the bacon to a pan and add a little lard or oil if needed. Lard will make your bacon crisp better. You may prefer not to crisp the bacon and to trim off the fat. either way works but crispy bacon will add more flavour.

While the bacon is cooking, add the sliced mushrooms, garlic, and onion. This is where you will decide if you need to add a little fat to the pan.

When the bacon is cooked, remove it and chop it up as you prefer. Return it to the pan and drain off any liquid fat.

When the chicken is cooked, remove it from the bone while hot (I used a knife and fork to do this) and add to the pan with the bacon. Put the bones back into the pan of chicken water.

Mix together the items in the frying pan and add the two tins of tomatoes to it. Give it all a good stir. Now add the basil leaves or a couple of teaspoons of dried basil or oregano if you prefer.

Mix this together and simmer in your frying pan. If there is no room in the frying pan, transfer to a saucepan the correct size.

Make your white sauce

In a nonstick pan, blend the cornflour with milk to a paste. Just the same as making custard! The difference is that this is savoury not sweet.

Add the mustard and about half a teaspoon of salt or less to taste. You can always add more later. Add in more milk and blend until you have added about half of the milk.

Put this on a low heat and using a wooden spatula or something non-metalic keep stirring while it is heating.

As it heats up it will begin to thicken. You may need to remove it from the heat while you are constantly stirring it. As it gets a bit thicker, add some more milk and keep repeating this. I tend to pop it on and off the cooker a few times during the time it thickens to prevent lumps or burning. Keep stirring it! You will probably use up all of the milk but the important thing is to get the sauce to the thickness you like. Taste the sauce from time to time and add more salt if needed but you will get saltiness from the bacon.

If you do not like mustard just leave it out but it adds to the “cheesy” taste.

I have not used cheese in this sauce but if you wish to add some you may. I use the cheese to sprinkle over the top at the end.

Assemble your lasagne.

My dish is big enough to divide into 6 portions which is what the above ingredients are based on.

Pour half of the tomato and meat sauce into your dish

Layer your lasagne sheets on top of it. I Put 2 rows of 2 sheets, overlapping each other in the middle, and add a further two sheets to the sides, facing front to back at each end. That way to should have 2 layers of lasagne sheets in all parts of the dish.

Now cover this with the rest of the tomato and meat sauce

Add your second layer of 6 sheets of lasagne. Same as before.

Now pour all of the white sauce over the top of the pasta sheets.

Sprinkle the grated cheese over the top.

This is a very simple assembly as I have tried to keep the recipe easy.

Cook Gas 4 or 5 for about 45 mins or until browned and bubbling. I use the second shelf of the oven but all ovens vary.

***I find I get the best results from letting the assembled lasagne sit for a couple of hours to let the lasagne sheets absorb the sauces. This, however, is a personal preference and is not necessary.***