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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Homemade lasagna.

286 replies

Idrinkmywhiskeyneat · 29/05/2024 16:59

Is it one of the best inventions known to man?
Just stood in the kitchen with my lovely meaty, tomatoey sauce in one pan and the cheesy loveliness in the other. One of the best best is getting a spoonful of the mincemeat and topping it with the cheese sauce and just eating it off the spoon, whilst you’re stood over it, cooking it all. It has to be a very tomatoey, cheesy, thick lasagna, also extra nice, if left and eaten later in the evening or the next morning,

Anyway, sorry, just a homemade lasagna appreciation post.

OP posts:
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Liann811 · 29/05/2024 21:06

I love a good old lassange but I never manage to dish it up the way you see it in the photos anyone got any tips to stop it looking like slop. I have tried leaving it for 15 mins before I dish it up but nothing changes. Any help

Panicking23 · 29/05/2024 20:54

I want lasagne now, although I'm slightly horrified at some of these recipes.

A 10 minute beef ragu, not a hope in hell that tastes of anything.

Ragu simmered for at least 4 hours (onion, carrot, celery, garlic, beef and pork mince, rosemary, parsley, oregano, bay leaves, tomato puree, decent beef stock, red wine, and good quality chopped tomatoes, fresh basil in last 10 mins of cooking. Chuck in the rind of some parmesan if you have it.), bechamel, fresh lasagna sheets and a very generous grating of parmesan on top and sprinkled with some fresh basil. Best served the next day after setting overnight in the fridge.

Haribo16 · 29/05/2024 20:52

@Babyboomtastic your lasagne looks awesome have you got a recipe you would be willing to share please my attempts are never that great 😊

dudsville · 29/05/2024 20:47

I haven't eaten meat in a long while now, and I do really like vegetarian lasagne, but my favourite will always be a red wine venison sausage meat one I used to make.

thedendrochronologist · 29/05/2024 20:40

I've agree lasagne tonight for the second time.

Now I make the regular in the morning and whack in slow cooker all day

Then get home and make a cheese sauce instead of becahmel and layer it all up and then leave it to sit and soften up for a while and then I to the oven and 44 minutes later out pops perfection.

PinkCosYouAreSoVery · 29/05/2024 20:39

I do love a home made lasagne but yeah, it's a big old faff and so much washing up. Years ago you used to be able to buy green lasagne sheets (lasagne verdi?), which I much preferred over the standard yellow sheets, the green ones had more 'bite' and taste. Havent seen the green ones in the shops for years which im quite sad about really!

floppybit · 29/05/2024 20:32

Breadcat24 · 29/05/2024 17:26

May I suggest you try making homemade cottage pie- except with spiced keema mutter type mince and garlic turmeric potatoes?

  1. You can still do your double dippy stuff
2.you do not need to add potatoes

Although IMOP you do not need to add potatoes to lasagne as double carb melt down

Ooh, do you have a recipe please?

Original poster
Idrinkmywhiskeyneat · 29/05/2024 20:30

🧀 🧀 🧀

OP posts:
ArchaeoSpy · 29/05/2024 20:27

Idrinkmywhiskeyneat · 29/05/2024 17:00

My tongue is now burnt from my greediness and inability to wait for it to cook

ive done that many times but more with curry and dipping bread

NoddyTheNodule · 29/05/2024 20:26

SisterImpera · 29/05/2024 18:00

YABVVVU!!! Am desperate for lasagna now!

So firstly, what recipe, and secondly, what kind of dish (to serve 6)? My previous attempts have not been great and I can never fit lasagna sheets in my dish without messing around with breaking them up. Please tell!!!

I make mine in a 2lb loaf tin. Gives 3 x generous portions, provides excellent edge crisping, and doesn't require any faffing with breaking/cutting lasagne sheets. The loaf tin lets you do plenty of layers and you end up with a lovely, tall stack of lasagne. I second the recommendation elsewhere in the thread to let it rest for a while after cooking for easier serving.

IamaRevenant · 29/05/2024 20:20

Idrinkmywhiskeyneat · 29/05/2024 17:20

What’s up with the potatoes….😂

Potatoes?!

Nooooo. Served with salad and homemade garlic bread!

Doyoumind · 29/05/2024 20:19

YABU to make cheese sauce instead of bechamel.

Hollowvoice · 29/05/2024 20:17

Love a homemade lasagne and now I want one!
Keema currently cooking for tonight but maybe tomorrow...

Ellaone · 29/05/2024 20:15

My mum always served it with baked potatoes she’s Italian and when she came to the uk she thought they were an excellent pairing 😂 I tend to agree

LongSinceGotUpAndGone · 29/05/2024 20:13

Tesco Finest is the best supermarket lasagne I've tried. It's expensive, though, for the amount you get.

Original poster
Idrinkmywhiskeyneat · 29/05/2024 20:10

@KnittedCardi Nah, too bland

OP posts:
UrsulaBelle · 29/05/2024 20:09

Top tip.

Make double your normal quantity of bolognese, eat first half that night with spaghetti.

Freeze other half.

Defrost in the fridge the day before making lasagne.

Then you only have half the faf of making white cheesy or béchamel sauce and assembling.

We eat much more lasagne these days! 😂

KnittedCardi · 29/05/2024 20:08

Idrinkmywhiskeyneat · 29/05/2024 18:10

Also, what cheese? I used cheddar and sometimes cheddar/mozarella mix

No "cheese" sauce at all. Just bechamel. Parmesan in the layers and on top. End of.

MissBridgetJones · 29/05/2024 20:05

@Westfacing

Come oooon! The best pub meal is (homemade by the pub) Lasagne, chips and garlic bread. Carbs with carbs with carbs!!!

meeeeeee1234 · 29/05/2024 20:01

I love a home made lasagne...
Can I ask how you layer it as I've seen so many variations within the Italian community?

ISeriouslyDoubtIt · 29/05/2024 19:54

Lifelikinotdothinki · 29/05/2024 19:43

I love it but it’s a faff to make.

It's not much more effort than making a pasta Bolognese though. A white cheese sauce only takes minutes then you just layer it with the lasagne sheets and ragu and stick it in the oven. Only 2 saucepans and a dish. I've made loads of dishes that are a lot more of a faff than that.

AllProperTeaIsTheft · 29/05/2024 19:50

Bolognaise is the French spelling of the Italian dish, so I don't know why Brits use it.

Lasagne is the plural of lasagna. The word 'lasagne' means the sheets of pasta, which are plural, just like all the other words for pasta (fusilli, penne etc), because you don't generally eat only one piece! Lasagna is a correct word, but technically it would mean one sheet.

Dis626 · 29/05/2024 19:47

fieldsofbutterflies · 29/05/2024 17:22

Lasagna is way too much faff.

This!!!!

ISeriouslyDoubtIt · 29/05/2024 19:47

Idrinkmywhiskeyneat · 29/05/2024 18:57

Soooo now I’m thinking I’ve been making lasagna wrong, or at least different from
others. I never looked at a recipe, just copied my mum.

I do it this way:

Olive oil in a pan
Minced beef goes in, with chopped garlic and chopped onions
Once it’s browned off, add 2 tins of chopped tomatoes (ones with extra herbs and garlic etc)
Add quite a large about of tomato purée in tube
Mix it all, add Italian herbs, leave to simmer

Start the bechamel (plus cheese sauce)
Melted butter, milk, flour and lots of grated cheddar cheese.

Make it all in layers and top with more grated cheddar and mozarella (almost cheeses can work though)

Serve with…big boiled, buttery potatoes 😅

I would fry off some finely chopped carrot and celery with the onions and garlic first. I'd use 1 tin of chopped up plum tomatoes( tastier and less watery than tins of ready chopped tomatoes) and some passata and a beef stock pot, bit of wine of any colour but red the nicest if I've got some open. Add a teaspoon of sugar to take off the acidity of the tomatoes.
I put lots of extra mature cheddar in the bechemel with some freshly grated parmesan ( off a block, not ready grated or dried).
So, similar to yours although not with the potatoes! I'd have green salad with lots of dressing instead, or maybe some garlic bread.

AdaColeman · 29/05/2024 19:45

Make double the quantity of ragu, then a couple of days later, use it to make moussaka, which is another kitchen marathon but so much worth it.
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