A nice big slice of lasagna is so warming when it is cold outside {and it has been mighty chilly down here in Canberra}. Nevertheless, the boys love to be outside rain, hail or shine.

Another parent said to me once ‘there’s no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing’. I thought that this was super clever and upon looking into the saying I found out that it is actually a Swedish/Norwegian saying: ‘Det finns inget daligt vader, bara daliga klader'{such clever cookies}.

In Swedish/Norwegian the word for ‘weather’ rhymes with the word for ‘clothes’.

So we make the most of the day by rugging up with coats and hats, vests and gumboots, beanies and singlets. We run around, we play in the leaves, we make beautiful memories. And then we come home to warm baths and big slices of lasagna!

CHICKEN AND LEEK LASAGNA
500 grams of chicken mince
2 leeks

1 tablespoon of tarragon

500mls of chicken stock

500mls of cream

50 grams of butter
50 grams of flour
3 ½ cups (875 ml) milk
200 grams of tasty cheese, grated

200 grams of ricotta cheese
fresh nutmeg
Salt and pepper

Fresh lasagna sheets

Extra cheese and tarragon

In a large saucepan, brown your chicken mince and soften your leeks. Add the garlic and tarragon into the mix and allow to cook slightly before adding the chicken stock and cream, allowing to simmer and reduce by a quarter. 

In another large saucepan, melt butter and add flour over medium heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until it gathers into a dough. Continue to stir for another minute or so. This begins to cook the flour.

Add a little milk – about ¼ cup. This will incorporate fairly quickly into the dough and will once again come away from the sides of the pan. Once this happens you can add another ¼ cup milk and repeat until all the milk has been added.

Stir in the cheese and freshly grated nutmeg until it melts. Taste, and season with salt and pepper if required.

To make your lasagna, layer a little of the chicken and leeks at the bottom of a baking dish, before adding a layer of pasta, then more chicken and leeks, bachamel sauce and then pasta again. Repeat the layers until you finish with pasta. Top with extra cheese and tarragon and then bake for 1 hour at 180 degrees.

Do you make another version of lasagna? What are some of your favourite winter warming meals? Do you like the combination of chicken, leek and tarragon? And if you whip this up, why not grab a snap shot and upload it to instagram with the hashtag #GoodFoodWeek.