(45 min prep, 40 minute cook; 1.5 hour total)
Ingredients
Pesto (6 oz of kirkland)
Lasagna (1 lb)
Ground Chicken (1 lb)
Ricotta Cheese (32 oz)
Mozzarella (3/4 lb)
Egg (1)
Parsley
Garlic Powder
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
Grated cheese (2 tbsp.)
Cherry tomatoes
fresh basil*
pinoli nuts* (2 tbsp.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Heat a pot of boiling water.
In a pan on medium high heat, add a bit of olive oil and the ground chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Cook ground chicken all the way through and break into small pieces with a spatula. Once cooked, set aside in a large mixing bowl to cool.
While chicken is cooling, prepare your pesto. You can use the Kirkland pesto right out of the jar, but make sure you add oil to it, it needs to be a bit thinner than straight out of the jar. I like to 'doctor' mine a bit.*
If you want the pesto to taste a bit fresher, but not a ton of homemade work, use the kirkland pesto. Pour the pesto into a blender. Then add a healthy amount of fresh basil leaves and the pinole nuts. Then add 1/2 a cup of olive oil. Puree ingredients.
Once the chicken has cooled, add the ricotta cheese to the mixing bowl. Cube the fresh mozzarella, then add to the mixing bowl as well. Season heavily with garlic powder, parsley, pepper and season lightly with salt. Add an egg. Sprinkle grated cheese into mixing bowl. Using a spoon, mix everything together thoroughly.
Once the water is boiling, add the lasagna and cook pasta through. When pasta is ready, strain in a large strainer and immediately pour cold water all over it. You want the pasta to stop cooking and to not stick together.
On a cutting board, immediately lay flat the pieces of lasagna. Using a spoon, take the filling and put at the ends of each lasagna strand. You want it to be a healthy chunk of filling. Then slowly roll up the pasta, pushing in the filling on the sides as you go until it is completely rolled. Set to the side and repeat process until filling is all used up.
In a baking dish, add a dollop of the pesto and spread all over the bottom of the dish with the back of a spoon. Then sprinkle a bit of olive oil on the bottom. Then add all of the lasagna rollups in one layer. Using a spoon again, add a spoonful of pesto to the top of each roll-up and spread over each one. You want the sides to be covered well, but lightly, not over-sauced.
Slice the cherry tomatoes in half. Add 2 halves on the top of each lasagna.
Now, if you are ready to cook**, cover the baking dish in tin foil. Put in the oven and cook for 30-40 minutes.
Serve and enjoy!
**if you want to prep this and cook later, this is the point where you would cover the baking dish with saran wrap. Put in the refrigerator. You can store up to 24 hours. Be sure to take it out of the refrigerator an hour before baking, then follow normal baking directions.
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