Mary Berry's chicken lasagne recipe is designed for a quick family dinner, with a timesaving twist on the traditional white sauce. The dish can be prepared in under 30 minutes and serves six to eight people.
A creamy shortcut
In her Mary Berry Cook and Share cookbook, the cook admitted: "I've cheated with the white sauce and made a quick creamy sauce instead." The recipe notes add: "There are fewer layers than in a traditional lasagne but it's still creamy and delicious."
She also shared a professional tip for speeding up cooking: "Soaking the lasagne sheets in water first ensures they will cook quickly." The recipe uses chicken thighs instead of the traditional beef.
Ingredients and method
For the chicken mixture, the recipe calls for two tablespoons of olive or sunflower oil, 500g of boneless and skinless chicken thighs, half a red chilli, two large garlic cloves, 200g of button mushrooms, 200g of baby spinach, two teaspoons of cornflour, 200g of crème fraîche and one tablespoon of chopped flatleaf parsley.
The sauce requires a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes, two tablespoons of sun-dried tomato paste and one tablespoon of chopped thyme leaves, seasoned with salt and pepper. To assemble, six sheets of fresh lasagne and 150g of grated cheddar are needed, along with a 1.8 litre ovenproof dish.
Cooking steps
To start, pour the oil into a frying pan over a high heat, add the chicken and fry briskly until golden but not fully cooked. Add the chilli, garlic and mushrooms, then the spinach, stirring until wilted. Blend the cornflour with two tablespoons of water until smooth, then stir it into the pan with the crème fraîche and parsley until thickened.
For the sauce, combine the tomatoes, sun-dried tomato paste and thyme in a bowl, season and mix thoroughly. Soak the lasagne sheets in boiling water for a few minutes until softened, then layer a third of the chicken mixture, a third of the tomato sauce and three lasagne sheets in the dish, repeating the layers.
Finish with the remaining chicken mixture and sauce, scatter the grated cheddar on top and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until golden-brown and piping hot. Serve alongside a fresh salad.
