Mecca Café Viaduct’s chicken lasagne with pumpkin and spinach

1.To prepare the pumpkin, preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the pumpkin in a roasting pan and toss it in the olive oil and seasonings. Roast the pumpkin in the preheated oven until it is just tender, about 15 minutes.

2.To make the white sauce, melt the butter in a pan over a medium heat. Stir in the flour. Gradually whisk in the milk. Cook, stirring, until the sauce is thick. Stir in the pizza cheese and seasonings.

3.To prepare the filling, heat the oil in a pan and sauté the onion until it has softened and is translucent. Add the chicken and tomato paste and cook it for 3-4 minutes. Add the tomatoes and simmer until the chicken is cooked, about 5 minutes.

4.Combine the baby spinach, feta cheese and cottage cheese.

5.Cut the lasagne into 3 sheets to fit a 26cm x 20cm greased baking dish. Place one sheet of lasagne in the dish. Spread the sheet evenly with the chicken mixture. Sprinkle over ¾ cup of the pizza cheese. Top the cheese with a second lasagne sheet. Place the pumpkin on top plus another ¾ cup of pizza cheese. Cover the cheese with a third lasagne sheet and top it with the spinach mixture plus another ¾ cup of pizza cheese. Press down lightly on the lasagne. Cover the top of the lasagne with the white sauce and the remaining pizza cheese.

6.Preheat the oven to 180°C. Bake the lasagne for 1½ hours.