My Chicken Lasagna with Honey Nut Squash Bechamel is true comfort food and it’s loaded with fall flavors that I adore and a good lasagna makes the perfect weekend meal to share with family and friends.
Creating a creamy bechamel begins with a roux — a mixture of butter and flour, whisked together until slightly golden and smooth. This bechamel happens to have roasted honeynut squash in the mix to enhance the taste and give it a dose of fall. Honeynut squash are a smaller hybrid of butternut squash with sweeter flavors and they are much easier to slice and roast in my opinion. The color of these winter squash are intense with deep orange hues and when whisked into a classic bechamel, create an autumnal sauce.
I used a rotisserie chicken that I shredded into bite sized pieces, but you can always roast or poach your own, if that works for you. Layering the lasagna in a casserole dish with sauce, noodles, mozzarella and chicken make it a classic style lasagna, but this one has a sauce that adds a bit of a delicious seasonal twist.
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Ingredients
1 honeynut squash, sliced in half and seeds removed
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups lowfat milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
9 lasagna noodles, cooked al dente
1 whole roast chicken, shredded
16 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced
1/3 cup Parmesan, grated
salt and pepper
olive oil for roasting
(Serves 10)
To Prepare:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place honeynut squash on sheet pan with 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 teaspoon salt. Place cut side down and roast for 50 minutes.
- Remove squash from oven and cool.
- To create bechamel – add butter to a large pot on stove top over medium heat. Stir to melt butter and add flour, whisk. Continue to cook while whisking for 1 minute, add milk and cream.
- Continue to whisk sauce until slightly thickened, about 4 minutes. Scoop roasted squash into sauce and whisk, while breaking any large pieces apart and until mostly smooth. Remove sauce from heat.
- To assemble lasagna – Add a couple ladles of sauce to bottom of pan, top with 3 lasagna noodles (or more if larger pan) to fit across bottom. Top with 1 1/2 cups of chicken, then 6-8 slices of mozzarella, depending upon size of your pan.
- Repeat with sauce, noodles, chicken and mozzarella twice more. Sprinkle top with Parmesan and cover with foil. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and place lasagna on sheet pan.
- Cook in oven for 1 hour. Remove foil and cook for another 10 minutes, just until top is lightly golden brown. Remove and let rest for 15 minutes before slicing. Serve family-style from casserole dish. Enjoy!
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