Chicken, Spinach, Artichoke, and Green Chili Lasagna

I have tremendous respect for the generations of Italian Grandmothers who pour their souls into the preparation and preservation of perfect Lasagnas!  My problem is (please don't hurt me), I'm not a real fan of traditional Italian Lasagna.  Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of a Lasagna... I mean, layers and layers of pasta, meat, gooey cheese, and creamy filling should appeal to just about anyone, right?  I just prefer a lighter one that's less heavy on the acid!

Here's a lighter Lasagna that pressed all of the right buttons for me; Chicken, Spinach, Artichokes, and Green Chilis.  Good, right?  Gimme!

You Will Need:

• 1 lb. lasagna noodles (maybe less), cooked, drained, and ready to go
• 3.5 tbsp. butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3.5 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 2 c. Half and Half
• 1.5 c. Whole Milk, (Diet Milk is "wrong")
• 1 c. freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano (The King of Cheeses)
• 2 c. shredded rotisserie chicken
• 1 frozen block of chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1 can (14oz) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 4 large roasted green chilis, diced
• 30oz of ricotta cheese (yes... 30!)
• 4 c. shredded mozzarella

With apologies, I would like to submit that I had a LOT going on yesterday and my decision to assemble this dish should probably have been delayed.  To that end, I'm afraid I don't have any pictures of the process... but I'll do my best to describe everything!

First, preheat your oven to 350, then grab a large 6qt pot.  In the pot, melt the butter and toss in the garlic.  Sweat the garlic in the butter over low heat until the kitchen smells like someone's cooking lasagna!  Add the flour and stir together to make a roux.  Bring the heat up to medium and stir this roux for about 5 minutes.  Then bring the heat up to medium high and pour on the milk and half and half.  Stir until the mixture gets very thing and bubbles.  Don't let boil, because it's "jet engine" hot and sticky (like napalm)!

When the mix is good and think and bubbly, slowly add the Parm and stir it all in until it's melted.  Drop in the chicken, spinach, artichokes, and green chili.  Drop the heat to low and give it all a final stir, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Now, grab a 13x9 casserole pan and smear butter on the bottom or sides (or spray it with Pam).  Get a silicon spatula and start layering.  The layers described below are from the bottom-up in your pan.  For instance, Step 1 is the bottom layer that goes first in the pan:

1. Spread a thin layer of the chicken mixture
2. Lay down a layer of overlapping lasagna noodles
3. Spread a thin layer of Ricotta cheese
4. Spread another layer of chicken goop
5. Sprinkle two cups of mozzeralla
6. Another noodle layer
7. Ricotta
8. Chicken Goop
9. Two cups of shredded mozzeralla

Use your spatula to gently press down and smooth over the final mix as best as you can.  Use a paper towel to clean the edges so it will look pretty when you take it out of the oven!  Put the lid on (or cover tightly with foil) and slide it into the oven for 45 minutes.

When time is up, remove the lid and slide it back into the oven to let the cheese on top develop a nice golden brown later of crispy bubbly goodness!  Pull it out of the oven and let it set, on the counter, for about 5 minutes.  This is difficult because you're hungry, I know, but it's important to let all of the layers sit together for a few minutes, so they won't ooze all over the pan when you finally cut into it... :)