Chicken Sausage Lasagna Recipe

When we were shifting to Trichy, I was a little worried about how little we'll have our loved ones come over. It takes almost 8 hours and 2 flights from Mumbai to come to Trichy. But we have been lucky! In the last one month of being here, my husband's mama-mami (maternal uncle and his wife) and his best friend Mahesh have visited us from Mumbai and Singapore.

Chicken Sausage Lasagna Recipe

It is always so great to have your loved ones make the extra effort to come and visit you at your new home. The last two days Mahesh was here, our days were brightened by his fantastic stories. My contribution to making his visit memorable was (as it will always be) making good food. 

I made this chicken suasage lasagna for the last night of his stay with us. Soft pasta sheets dunked in a creamy white sauce, layered with a herbed red sauce with hidden chunks of chicken sausage. Add to it oodles of cheese on top and you have the perfect dish. It was truly appreciated, and here I am sharing the recipe with you.

Chicken Sausage Lasagna Recipe (With Step-by-Step Pictures)

Preparation Time: 30 minutes 

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

For the Creamy White Sauce:

2 tbsps butter

2 tbsps all purpose flour (maida)

500 ml milk

1 tsp mixed herbs (oregano, thyme, basil, pepper)

Salt to taste

For the Herbed Red Sauce:

2 tbsps olive oil

5 cloves of garlic finely chopped

3 medium onions 

6 tomatoes pureed

1/2 cup water

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried thyme

2 tbsps tomato ketchup

Salt to taste

For the Lasagna:

2  tsps butter plus more for greasing the baking dish

8 lasagna sheets cooked as per packet instructions

2 cups white sauce

150 gms sausages cut into 1/4 inch pieces

2 cups red sauce

100 gms mozzarella cheese

1 tsp mixed herbs for garnishing

Method:

For the White Sauce:

 Heat butter on a low flame in a pan. 

Add in the flour and roast as you keep stirring it. Once it starts releasing a roasted aroma, after about 2-3 minutes, add in the milk. Use a whisk and keep stirring so that no lumps are formed. 

Bring the milk to a boil on a high flame. Then lower the flame and cook for 2 minutes till it thickens a bit. 

Add in salt and the herbs and mix well. 

For the Red Sauce:

In a pan heat the olive oil. Add in the chopped garlic and fry for 30 seconds.

Add in the onions and fry till they soften and turn translucent. This will take about 1 minutes. 

Pour in the pureed tomatoes and cook on low flame for 5-7 minutes till tomatoes are done.

Add in the water.

Keeping the flame low, add in the salt, the herbs and tomato ketchup. Cook for 30 seconds.

For the Chicken Sausage Lasagna:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes.

Heat butter in a pan and cook the sausage pieces on a low flame both sides till slightly golden. 

Grease a glass baking dish with butter.

Step 1

Use half the white sauce to make a base layer.

Step 2

Make a layer of 4 cooked lasagna sheets on top. Pour the rest of the white sauce on top of the sheets and spread evenly.

Step 3

Layer with the cooked chicken sausage pieces.

Step 4

Put the remaining pasta sheets on top.

Step 5

Make the last layer of the herbed red sauce.

Step 6

Break the mozzarella into small chunks with your hand and layer evenly on top of the red sauce. 

Bake the lasagna for 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.

Sprinkle herbs on top for garnishing and serve. 

Shortbread Recipe

Imagine, a golden cookie. You take a bite and it simply melts in your mouth. And you feel the rich warmth of butter with hints of sweetness from sugar. Well, you can experience it too. How? Simply try this very easy recipe at home!

Shortbread Recipe

Shortbread, a cookie of Scottish origin, is a basic butter, flour and sugar cookie. It celebrates butter in ways that makes your tastebuds happy to join in!

Shortbread Recipe

Oh, I am not done counting it's pros (I know you're sold already, but still!). This is a no-egg, pure vegetarian recipe, which is perfect for a lot of Indian households. And it is so easy to make; you don't need very high level of skill. So if you are a new baker, like me, try out this recipe. Be prepared to collect praises like what my husband said, "it's better than some of the cookies I've had in Europe!"

Shortbread Recipe

Here's the recipe of this buttery delight.

Shortbread Recipe

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Cooking Time 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Makes: 12 cookies

Ingredients:

100 gms butter plus more for greasing
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (maida) plus more for dusting
1/4 cup white sugar

Method

In a bowl whisk the butter and sugar together till the sugar dissolves and the mixture becomes fluffy. It will turn whitish and increase in volume.

Add in the flour and fold it in lightly with a spatula or very light fingers.

Slightly dust a work surface with flour. Lightly roll out the prepared mixture into a 1 inch thick layer.

Cut into desired shape of cookies. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C for 10 minutes.

Lightly grease a baking tray. Arrange the refrigerated cut dough on it with a 1 inch space in between.

Bake at 180 degrees C for 12-15 minutes till they turn golden.

Remove onto a wire rack and cool.

Enjoy fresh!

Cheesy Baked Paneer Burjee

If you're anything like me, you are constantly in search of new tastes and new recipes. It's quite common that everyday food gets boring. When these things happen, I like to spice things up!

Cheesy Baked Paneer Burjee Recipe

This dish is another one of my attempts to mix up things. The plan that Sunday morning was to make simple paneer burjee and parathas, And then I thought, nah! It's too bland for a Sunday dish. I was thinking when I saw the oven... and voila!

Cheesy Baked Paneer Burjee Recipe

I thought of how Rohan (my husband) loves these continental meat baked dishes, I thought why not do the same thing with paneer burjee. This cheesy dish combines the zing of paneer burjee with oodles of melted 'cheesy ness'. Try it, it is sure to become a hit with everyone from 6-60 years. It was a hit with us, for sure!

Cheesy  Baked Paneer Burjee Recipe

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 green chillies thinly sliced
2 medium onions finely chopped
400 gms paneer grated
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 + 1 pinch tsps garam masala powder
1/2 cup + 2 tbsps milk
1 pinch red chilly powder
Salt to taste
4 cheese slices cut into half
Butter or oil to grease the baking dish

Method:

Preheat the oven to 150 deg C/ 300 deg F.

In a pan, heat oil and temper with the cumin seeds.

Add the green chillies and fry for 30 seconds.

Next, add in the onions and fry till they sweat (release their water) and become translucent.

Lower the flame and add in the grated paneer, the turmeric powder, 2 tbsps garam masla powder and salt to taste.

Pour in 1/2 cup milk and mix all of these well. Cook on low flame for about 1 1/2 minutes and take off. Take care  not to dry out the paneer burjee, the oven is very drying and will make it rubbery if it's too dry.

Grease a baking dish with the butter. Put in the paneer burjee and make an even layer with the spatula or your fingers.

Pour the remaining milk all across the layer to keep it moist while baking. Sprinkle a pinch of red chilly powder and garam masala on the burjee layer. You can skip this if you're making it for kids who prefer less spice levels.

Arrange the cut cheese slices on it in a criss-cross pattern (it just looks good!)

Bake for 10 minutes till the cheese melts beautifully.

Dig in and serve hot with bread or parathas.