Lasagna Rolls with Alfredo Sauce

Dinner tonight is going to be, to put it delicately, kinda freakin' fattening. I think it also is going to be delicious enough that I don't really worry about the calories! Instead of a traditional lasagna with red sauce, I'm making lasagna noodles, a filling of ground chicken, spinach, bacon, mushrooms, provolone, and mozzarella. Rolling them up, and covering them with a little Alfredo. Got all of that? Did you have a heart attack just reading about it? Don't worry, I'm serving it with a spinach salad on the side. That counts for something, right?

Step 1: Boil the lasagna noodles according to package directions. I like to toss them with a little olive oil in the strainer, helps them from sticking together while you're assembling everything else!

Step 2: Cook the bacon. I'm using 4 pieces for tonight's dinner. Remove bacon (saving that sweet sweet bacon grease) and crumble. In that bacon grease, cook the ground chicken. Add a tbsp of garlic powder , and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Remove and set aside with cooked bacon.

Step 3: Heat up a little olive oil. Saute one diced onion over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, then toss in about a cup of diced mushrooms. Saute for another 5 minutes, and add one bunch of fresh, chopped spinach. Stir around until it begins to wilt, then season with salt and pepper. Add a tbsp of water, lower heat and cover with a lid. Let spinach wilt completely, another 7-10 minutes, then remove from heat and drain off any remaining liquid. When it's completely cool, add to the cooked ground chicken, and stir in the cheeses and bacon crumbles.

Step 4: This step is either fun, or a giant pain in the butt, depending on your personality type. Take a cooked lasagna noodle, lay it flat, and spread out about 1/4 cup of filling over it. Roll up the noodle from the short ends, and place rolls seam down in a baking dish.

Step 5: Cover lasagna rolls with alfredo sauce. That recipe will be for another post, too. (Maybe one night when we're eating leftovers, I'll do a post all about sauces!) Then, sprinkle a little reserved mozzarella cheese over the top. Mmmm, cheese. It just makes everything better. That's a scientific fact. (It's not.) Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Drink some wine while you wait, that's much more fun than stuff like dishes.

Ingredients:

8 lasagna noodles
4 pieces of bacon
1 lb ground chicken
1 diced onion
1 cup diced mushrooms
2 cups raw, chopped spinach
1/2 cup provolone
1 1/2 cups mozzarella (use 1 cup in mixture and reserve 1/2 cup to sprinkle on top)
2 cups alfredo sauce

My First Attempt At Chicken Livers

Ok guys. I'm not going to lie. The idea of chicken livers is not, um, my favorite. I don't know if it's because you have to grow up eating them or what, but I have always passed up the opportunity to eat them.

My husband and kids on the other hand? They're homegrown Kentuckians. I think it must be in their blood. My neighbors here in KY? Love 'em! Good friends? Love 'em! Clearly there's something about chicken livers that I'm missing, right?

So, chicken livers, you get your last chance tonight. I've lived in the Bluegrass state for 5 years now. I'm going to fry you up the Southern way, and hope for the best.

Step 1: Rinse livers really well. I did this in a colander. Then you want to put them in a container (I use gallon-size plastic ziploc bags) covered with buttermilk. I've heard it softens the texture and helps remove some of that...liver-y...flavor that so far, I have not enjoyed.

I would let them soak in the buttermilk for at least an hour, but not more than 4-5. I think after that, the enzymes break down the meat too much and they get weird. That's totally the scientific food term for it. (It's not.)

Step 2: Take another container (another one of those ziploc bags for me, love those things. Less dishes? That leaves more time for porch drinking after!) and mix together 2 cups of flour with 3 tbsp garlic powder, 2 tsp salt, and 1 tsp pepper. Also my secret ingredient. Are you ready for my secret ingredient? It's Hungarian paprika. I put it in nearly every flour or crumb coating when I'm going to fry stuff. I just do. If you want to be in my awesome secret paprika club, you can add 1 tsp paprika to your flour mixture too. Mix all the dry ingredients well.

Another benefit of the ziploc bags? Just zip that sucker shut and shake away to combine. No mess AND my inner lazy self is appeased!

Step 3: Using a fork, pierce each liver as you transfer them from the buttermilk to the flour. This apparently will help them from popping so much when they're frying. Once you've poked all the livers and transferred them to the flour mixture, toss them well in the flour and spices until well coated. Another secret tip: After I've done these three steps, I start preheating my oil. ONLY after. I think it's good for the food you're frying to sit and rest awhile in the coating or batter. Helps the breading stick.

I fried these, about 4 at a time, at somewhere between "pretty hot" and "really freaking hot" oil temperature. That is literally the very best I can do, as I don't own or use any kind of cooking thermometers. Sorry folks. We are high tech and fancy over here. They fried for about 5-7 minutes. Secret tip #3: Lightly salt each batch immediately as they come out of the oil. Seriously. It makes for the best fried everything!

I thought they were ok. I could stuff a few smaller ones down with copious amounts of my awesome gravy (that recipe for another post), but alas, chicken liver and I are seemingly not meant to be friends. My four year old twins wolfed these down, for the record. Getting kids to eat things like liver is a win in my adventure book!


Ingredient List

1 lb of chicken livers
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp paprika, optional for the awesome

Oil for frying

Gravy for dipping