A lighter lasagna that still packs a cheesy punch

Suddenly, we are experiencing cooler weather; holiday season is around the corner and more substantial dishes start landing on my dinner table. Lasagna was always one of those dishes but over the past couple of years it began to feel a bit too rich with all that cheese. Everything changed, though, when I made this Chicken and Mushroom Lasagna recipe, which I adapted from Gourmet magazine. It certainly satisfies any lingering lasagna cravings without having to take a nap after the meal.

The flavor reminded me of a pizza I ate in a small Italian restaurant in Mill Valley years ago. Chicken was an uncommon item on pizza back then, and my husband and I were immediately hooked. For months after that, we ate it almost weekly.

This lasagna has the same delicious combination of chicken and mushrooms along with a cheesy white sauce that gives this dish a luscious flavor. Like a traditional lasagna, there are a few steps, but you can double the recipe for another meal or two and even freeze it. Once cooked, the lasagna can go from the freezer directly into an oven.

The recipe calls for no-boil lasagna noodles as well as rotisserie chicken, both of which save you time. Adding the cheese sauce to the shredded chicken keeps the chicken moist. You could also substitute leftover turkey, which also would benefit from being cooked in a cheesy sauce. I used cremini mushrooms — you can use whatever you have on hand, but soon there will be wild mushrooms in the stores and they have wonderful flavor. To me, the best and most unusual ingredient in this lasagna is the Gruyère cheese. It adds an unusually distinct flavor to the lasagna without being overpowering. I added baby spinach, but a combination of super baby greens (spinach, chard and kale) also works well, though any greens will work here and contribute welcome moisture and lightness to the dish.

Marin resident Claudia Alexander has been happily cooking for family and friends for more than three decades. She has a weekly food blog, sweetbynurture.com. You can contact her at sweetbynurture@gmail.com.

Recipe

Chicken and Mushroom Lasagna

Serves 4

Ingredients:

½ rotisserie chicken, about 2 ½ cups shredded

12 no-boil lasagna noodles

¾ pound of sliced cremini mushrooms, wiped clean and thinly sliced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

½ cup of dry vermouth or dry white wine

1 tablespoon of olive oil

4 tablespoons of unsalted butter (½ stick)

4 cups of milk

2 teaspoons of thyme

1/3 cup of all-purpose flour

¾ cup of finely grated Parmesan cheese

1 ½ cups of Gruyère cheese, grated (use the big hole side of the grater)

4 cups of washed baby spinach leaves (baby super greens work well here, too)

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Heat a Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add the olive oil, mushrooms, garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper. Shake the skillet so the garlic doesn’t burn. Cook the mushrooms for a couple minutes until they start to soften, add the vermouth and cook until almost absorbed: about two minutes. Then, transfer to a bowl and add the shredded chicken.

Next, melt the butter in the pan over low heat. Add the flour, whisking to combine. Cook the roux for a couple minutes and then slowly add the milk, still whisking to discourage lumps. (You will have some, but they will melt away eventually — keep whisking!) Increase the heat slightly. Add the thyme, another pinch of salt and pepper, and cook, continuing to whisk gently until the mixture thickens. Take off heat and reserve 1 cup of the sauce.

Pour the rest into the mushroom mixture along with the Parmesan cheese, combine and set aside. In an 8-inch square pan, pour half of the reserved sauce into the bottom of the pan. Cover with three noodles (they will overlap), evenly distribute one-third of the baby greens on top of the noodles and pour one-third of the chicken mushroom mixture over the top. Top that with one-fourth of the Gruyère cheese. Repeat the noodles, greens, chicken/mushroom sauce and Gruyère two more times. You might have to press the greens down a bit, but they will shrink while they cook. Finally, layer three more noodles, the rest of the reserved cheese sauce and top with the remaining Gruyère cheese.

Cover with foil, place on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Take off the foil and cook another 10 minutes until the noodles are golden and crispy. Rest it for 10 minutes.

Once cooled, the lasagna can be wrapped tightly in foil and frozen for up to a month. Cook for 40 minutes at 425 degrees in the foil and then let rest for five minutes before serving.