Baby Kale & Goat Cheese Chicken Lasagna

I created this recipe from food I had in the house.  It sort of ended up like a quasi-Mexican lasagna.  I just took my time and prepared/assembled it over a lazy, chilly Sunday afternoon.

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed and cut in 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut in 1 inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
• 3 vine ripened tomatoes, diced
• Pinch of crushed chili flakes
• 2 cans (4 oz) fire roasted diced green chilies
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 tablespoon Mexican oregano
• 2 cups 2% milk
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 6 cups organic baby kale
• 8 ounces goat cheese for sauce and crumbling over each layer
• Kosher salt, to taste
• Fresh cracked pepper, to taste
• 12 green spinach lasagna sheets (mine were no bake)
• 1 cup Hatch Valley green salsa
• ½ cup shredded Mexican cheese blend
• Cilantro, chopped for garnish

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.  Lay on a foil lined baking sheet.

Heat oil in Dutch oven.  Add onion, bell pepper, chili flakes and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and starting to brown.

Stir in chicken until cooked.  Season with S&P.  Stir in tomatoes.

Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.  Whisk milk and cornstarch in a small bowl and add to the pot. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. 

Stir in kale, diced chilies,  4 oz goat cheese, oregano, salt and pepper; cook until the cheese melts and the kale wilts, about 2 minutes more. Remove from heat.

Cover the bottom of the baking dish with a thin coating of sauce.

Lay lasagna noodles down.  My dish took 3 ½ noodles per layer.

Spread 1½ cups of the filling over. Sprinkle with crumbled goat cheese and dot with ricotta.

Repeat with 2 more layers of noodles and filling, ending with a layer of lasagna. Spread remaining filling and salsa on top. Then sprinkle with shredded cheese.

Bake until hot and bubbly, 1 hour. Let stand 30 minutes before serving.

I served, garnished with cilantro.  The goat cheese was really the star of this dish, so if you don't like it, you wouldn't want to eat this.  We enjoyed dinner.  It wasn't my best lasagna I've ever made, but it was perfectly serviceable.  I liked the heat the Hatch chile salsa brought.