Chicken lasagne with butternut and broccoli

For the chicken:

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and brown chicken on all sides. Stir in the onion and sauté for a few minutes. Reduce the heat, add the thyme, bay leaf and wine and season to taste. Simmer with a lid on for 20-30 minutes or until the chicken is just cooked.

Spoon out and keep the cooking liquid. Debone the chicken and cut into pieces. Place butternut in a small amount of water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Simmer for 10-15 minutes with the lid on until nearly soft. You don’t need to add salt to this.

Add the broccoli on top of the butternut in the last 5-8 minutes so that it can steam lightly.

For the sauce:

Pour oil into a saucepan and heat slowly while stirring in the flour until a paste forms.

As soon as it starts to brown, add the milk a little at a time and stir well after each addition until everything is absorbed. Stir until all the milk is mixed in and add the cooking liquid and onion from the chicken.

Stir well and bring the sauce to a boil over a low heat.

Allow to simmer until thickened slightly, then stir in the mustard, thyme and chicken and season to taste.

Preheat the oven to 180 °C.

Spoon one third of the sauce into the bottom of an oven dish and spoon one third of the butternut and broccoli on top. Place half of the lasagne sheets on top.

Pour another third of the sauce on top and repeat with a third of the veggies and a second layer of lasagne. Finish with the remaining sauce and veggies on top. Sprinkle cheese over.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the lasagne sheets are cooked. Enjoy with a big green salad.

Republished with permission of Heleen Meyer from the book, Make five. Photography by Neville Lockhart.