Making a lasagne from scratch

When I was a teen, I used to make the bechamel when my mum made lasagne. I had the time to stand and stir it! Now, when I make lasagne, I simmer my bolognese for an hour but I just use a jar of white sauce.

Good on you for cooking from scratch - it’s definitely the way forward for taste and making sure we pass on a love of cooking and ingredients. 2.5hrs is a lot though - I would say it takes me 45 minutes tops but I’ve been doing it since I was a kid so that probably helps

Making lasagna from scratch is certainly a ball ache. My issue is that I seem to use every single pan, bowl, utensil etc

like quite a few people have already said I do the bolognaise in the slow cooker, start it in the early afternoon so it is ready at about 6pm. Instead of doing a bechamel (because it is only me and I can't be bothered but would do for guests) I use full fat creme fraiche. I tip it into a bowl and then mix in a load of grated cheese and use this instead. Soak the uncooked lasagne sheets in freshly boiled water and then layer up in the usual way. As I said this is when I make it just for me and it is fine. In the olden days when I did it for family and guests I would do the whole performance but it is too much work now.

I make lasagne for 4 from scratch regularly, as an ordinary weekday dinner when I get in from work: 45 minutes prep, and 35 mins in the oven. Ish. Reading some of the descriptions here makes me wonder whether my lasagne really is worthy of the name though -no livers, no creme fraiche, no parmesan for starters.

I make huge pots of Bolognese and freeze them. So that’s great if I am in a hurry. Usually just make the bolognese, let it sit on the stove and use the time to do other things (working, cleaning, reading…).

Béchamel doesn’t take me an hour. But I occasionally make the ricotta version as well.

lasagne isn’t quick but it is absolutely worth it imo.

I don’t make my own lasagne sheets, btw.

I make it with an alternative sauce I got from a recipe, it’s milk, sour cream and grated Gruyère cheese (just mixed together cold) then grated Parmesan over once it’s on the lasagne. Takes 5 mins and is delicious!

Just read about your DH @tangerinemagic

Take him at his word then. He can come in after work and do all the fucking cooking, ungrateful pig.

Dont care if he is stressed, so were you and you are not taking it out on him are you?

yep, lasagne done for right should take hours.
the ragù needs to cook for a long time.
the bechamella needs infusing with onion and nutmeg. Then, if don’t correctly the egg white on the top. It’s a labour of love!!
I do it on a weekend and I do the ragù and husband does the bechamella.
30 minutes for a lasagna is an abomination.

I do sometimes buy and m&s one admittedly if I want one midweek. It’s a different experience but still ok.

Don't know those. Doing the all in at the same time has never failed for me.

I make lasagne all the time. I do it over two days: the meat sauce on day one, leave in fridge over night, then the white sauce and assembly the next day. Then I cook it first, let it cool, and heat up again - that way it keeps its shape.

I like making it as my family loves eating it.

Batch cook (large amounts) and freeze some

The longest bit of a lasagne is the ragu, I like to use sofrito, mushrooms etc, lots of garlic and cook it low and slow for a few hours, but I batch cook it in a massive pot on days I'm pottering about at home.
Bechamel 20 minutes tops, I use the grater on our food processor for cheese and the fresh lasagne pasta sheets. On that basis 30 minutes then bung it in the oven.

I would argue that a proper ragu (soffrito, livers, milk, mince, tomatoes & stock) does take a good couple of hours simmering to be worth doing.

But if you then batch freeze it, you can assemble a very respectable lasagne very quickly - agree that a mix of creme fraiche & Greek yogurt is actually nicer than traditional bechamel.

You could have ten young children and it wouldn’t take over two hours.

I bet it tastes divine. I totally see the point when the pasta is going to be used in a dish with fewer ingredients. One thing I've never made! One day I'll have a go at tagliatelle.

Lasagne is a ball ache but definitely worth it imo.

I don't make it that often but do a roasted veg version if it's me and my best mate and a meat version if it's me and DD.

I sometimes take shortcuts like shop bought bechamel/cheese sauce, but it's never quite as good.

Sometimes I make double quantity of bolognese or roasted veg and freeze half which cuts the time down a bit.

I used to when all 8 of us were here. It was vasty cheaper but took so long we hardly ever had it. Was absolutely delicious though.

Now its just me and youngest still at home and she isnt keen, so I just buy ready made. I do miss home made but for one person it really isnt worth the faff, and I dont think it freezes very well.

Home made lasagne is a thing of joy - I make the bolognaise ahead of time in a huge batch. From there I’ll make two family trays of lasagne along with 3/4 individual ones for when I’m home alone. So around 6 or 7 nights dinner for 2 hours of cooking. All good.

I make 4 portions of soffrito whenever I get a head of celery in the veg box then freeze it. I use this when I make ragu and freeze half the meat sauce for a lasagne. I also get DH to grate & freeze strong cheddar cheese when we've used part of a packet. When it's time for lasagne, I defrost the ragu, make bechamel in the microwave (melt butter in heated milk, whisk in flour then reheat, whisk again, add defrosted cheese, heat briefly) then assemble lasagne. Top with tomato slices & parmesan and if it takes more than 20 mins to make plus cooking time then I'd be disappointed!

Make it regularly and I don't think it's ever taken 2.5 hours!

Havent RTFT but Delia's all in one béchamel sauce takes about 5 minutes to make. The ragu I batch cook so I'll either make it when I've just made a batch or will get a portion out of the freezer. I occasionally make fresh pasta but that doesn't take that long either.

It's a quick and delicious thing to make. The more you do it the quicker it gets.

... & that's including the time it takes to grate the nutmeg.

dolmio

Honestly OP, try this one. My two little kids love it. Her books are brilliant. Apologies for state of the page, it’s well used!

@tangerinemagicreading your updates it’s clear this is less about the lasagne (admittedly fiddly) and more about your DH being grumpy and unkind when you’ve tried so hard to do a lovely thing for everyone, in difficult circumstances. It sounds like he’s having a stressful time too, but if he’d come home and said, “oh, homemade lasagne, what a nice treat, I can’t believe you’ve managed to whip this up while looking after the DC”, I’m sure you’d be feeling very different (including about lasagne). Hope you get to reset and things calm down.