Rain be damned, I decided to do this anyway. I started late, and it ran late, but hey, I’m a night owl!
Ok, Iron Chef Time!! This is a big pictorial since it’s an Iron Chef thing, so it is split between 2 posts.
I pretty much stuck with
the recipe shown in a Smoked Lasagna video Bam posted a while back, but I added 4 Cornish Hen Leg Quarters to mine to make it a bit different. To get the Cornish Hen leg quarters, I had to take 2 Hens and cut them myself. I then cut the backbones out and froze the breasts with wings attached. I’ll cook them at a later time.
The chicken was smoked in an 18” Weber Kettle with 30 coals, 15 per side, for just over 1 hour with hickory. I measured the temp, and 30 coals in the 18” Weber Kettle produces a dead on 300 degrees.
I later baked the constructed Lasagna in the kettle with 40 coals which gave me right at 350 degrees in temp. I let it cook for 1 hour.
I used an 8” x 11.5” baking dish…..and it was
TOO small for this recipe! Argh! So make sure your’s is a bit bigger.
There is some work involved in this. Total, I’ve got 3.5 hours invested in this dish which includes 1+ hour of smoke time and 1 hour cook time for the construction. But, it is worth it. This is very, very yummy! I hope you try it. Thanks Bam!!
This one ended up being quite the challenge for me. There is a lot of work involved if you try to do this all in one day. To make it easier on yourself, I’d suggest smoking extra chicken during a Q and save it for this on another day…..unless, of course, you start early and have all day! Also, this is the first time I’ve ever made Lasagna…..sad, but true. I was thinking my baking dish was big enough, but it turns out it wasn’t. Time to get a bigger one!
So, here it is, my Southern Kitchen entry into this, NCT’s first International Iron Chef Challenge! It was fun, and I look forward to doing more IC challenges in the future! Thank God we weren’t restricted by the 1 Hour time limit!
Smoked Chicken Lasagna
Ingredients
8 Boneless & Skinless Chicken thighs
4 Cornish Hen Leg Quarters
16 oz Cottage Cheese (small curd)
15 oz Ricotta Cheese
8 oz Cream Cheese
16 oz Mozzarella Cheese
Grated Parmesan and Romano blend
24 oz Spaghetti Sauce
15 oz Alfredo Sauce
1 pack sliced Baby Portobello Mushrooms
10 Lasagna Noodles, cooked
3 Tbsp Butter
Seasonings – Salt, Cracked Black Pepper, Thyme, Basil, Oregano, Mrs. Dash original.
Procedure
Smoke the chicken thighs and Cornish Hen Leg quarters for 1 to 1.5 hours or until done. When cool, chop the meat and reserve.
In a skillet, melt the butter. Add the mushrooms and sauté over medium high heat until tender, about 10 minutes. When done, drain and reserve.
Place the cottage cheese in a strainer and allow to drain excess moisture, about 15 minutes. Once drained, in a large bowl, add Cottage cheese, Ricotta cheese, Cream Cheese, and half (8 oz) of the Mozzarella. Stir to blend well and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine Spaghetti and Alfredo sauce until well blended and set aside. No need to heat it up. It will heat during the final cook.
Build-1
In a large baking dish, add enough sauce to coat the bottom of the dish. Now add 3 cooked lasagna noodles.
Build-2
Add the smoked and chopped chicken on top of the noodles in an even layer. Next, add the mushrooms on top of the chicken. Now, add 3 more noodles over the chicken and mushrooms.
Build-3
Spread the cheese mixture over the noodles. It’s best to pinch bits off a bit at a time and scatter it about. It will melt and spread when it cooks. Once all the cheese is down, add more of the sauce mixture to semi-cover and fill in the gaps between the drops of cheese. Now cover this with 4 lasagna noodles. You want a complete and tight seal here.
Build-4
Next, use remaining sauce to cover the tops of the noodles. Now add the rest of the Mozzarella in an even layer. Now, sprinkle generously with the Parmesan and Romano blended cheese. Finally, bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Once done, let rest for 15 minutes, then cut into squares and serve.
-------------Pictures-------------
International Iron Chef Challenge – Smoked Chicken Lasagna (Part 1)
The original recipe called for a jar of Alfredo sauce. I used jarred sauce for everything. With so much other work going into this, I appreciate the short-cut. Sorry purists!
They simply do NOT sell boneless and skinless chicken thighs down here. So, I had to buy bone-in and skin on thighs. Then I had to bone and skin them myself. I started with 7, but decided to add an 8th once they were done.
Here are the thighs “marinating” in EVOO, salt, cracked pepper, thyme, basil, and oregano.
I had to cut the leg quarters off the Cornish Hens. These got seasoned with salt, cracked black pepper, and Mrs. Dash original. Note: the skin was discarded.
Smoke the meat!
Here they are on the smoker nearly ready to come off.
And now here is the meat before being chopped.