Made the lasagna without the lasagna

i always used to make shepherds pie with tin of tomatoes,
ie a bolognaise sauce with mash on top,
but i was an innocent vegetarian, dh complained

I made a quick bechamel to have over filled pasta for lunch OP, as yours has got cheese too I wouldn't think twice about chucking it over the potatoes.

Having potatoes with lasagne though is an abomination - why would you do double carbs and no vegetables?? You might get chips with lasagne in places like Wetherspoons - but that's just because potatoes are really cheap compared to lasagne/vegetables and some people/kids like chips with everything. Next time be reasonable and have broccoli and peas or something.

A fellow boiled spud hater. I think it's the texture and the memory of school dinners. Not much of a mash fan either unless it's had lots of additions and grilled on top to add a bit of texture.
I sometimes boil baby spuds before crushing them, adding butter and olive oil, plenty of seasoning then roasting until crisp. Ie no longer a boiled spud.

this thread has made me smile! Surprised people saying no cheese in the sauce, ok a variation on traditional which is top the sauce on each layer with Parmesan I tend to mix my cheese in - but it’s predominantly bechamel and I add in Parmesan, cheddar and sometimes emmental and try and ensure it’s not too cheesy (not macaroni cheese sauce) then I’ll add more cheese to the top. For sofrito I would always add peppers into the mix and sometimes if I haven’t celery I have to skip it unless I go back to shop. So it would be carrot, onion, red or sweet pepper (like to add more veggies in particularly as kids refuse peppers) and it adds some sweetness and I definitely think the sofrito adds so much more to a ragu. I also add garlic! Then I add pork and beef mince and herbs plus tomatoes and puree.

if I didn’t have sheets and couldn’t be arsed to go out I’d have probably layered with another type of pasta - they’re all pasta at the end of the day - an in Italy once I had something that was more macaroni tubes layered with ragu and bechamel and was lovely.

the potatoes could have been used as layers - people sometimes use for mousakka instead of aubergines so don’t see the issue to do the same here?

it wouldn’t be my go to to have boiled potatoes on the side, I don’t like chips on the side either so have garlic bread and salad or veg. But again it’s fine it’s not like buttery potatoes are a crazy flavour element - would be a lot less weird than adding something like a side of pineapple. Potato goes with mince, and also cheese so I don’t see the issue - each to their own I guess? I have more issues when a person adds ketchup on top of roast potatoes on a roast dinner - now that is odd!

I would just like to point out that the whole history of cooking is the glorious changing, tweaking and melding together of different dishes to produce something that you and your family love. That's really all that matters. I make a long-simmered pork and beef bolognese with a proper soffrito, my husband makes a bolognese of beef mince browned and then stewed briefly in Marcella Hazan's tomato-onion sauce, delicious but nothing like a bolognese. Guess which one our kid prefers!

Also, I would totally eat a pile of mash with bechamel-drizzled mince on top. Or for that matter with no bechamel-drizzled mince on top.

This has been a lovely thread with some brilliant comments and some very good-natured responses from the OP, but (predictably) the "lacking any ounce of humour" contingent have come along to turn it into the usual snipe fest.

Maybe read the whole thread and see how fucking miserable you sound.

Wine/pork/beef doesn’t amount to major variation though, which is my point.

I'd argue that the more often you reheat some things the better they are!

lasagne and chips is normal? My first thought was that it is weird but I have lasagne and garlic bread. I don’t suppose pasta and bread is massively less weird than pasta and potatoes.

There is quite a lot of variation, some families use no wine, some use white, some use red, some use livers, some use milk in the base sauce, some use beef only, some use pork and beef, some use pancetta.

The best lasagne I ever had in Italy was none of the above anyway, it was green pesto, with bechamel. Served with roasted radicchio. In a small family local place, I didnt even order it, they just brought it out when I asked if they did anything without meat in it.

I lust after it to this day. Its from the coast.

I made homemade garlic bread once ... forgot to add the garlic butter I had made 🤭 Sliced potato's sound nice

Genius!

It’s called a mince pie. Mash up the potatoes and put over mince.

Because you have nothing in it that creates the actual flavour. The sofrito, the wine, the herbs, the seasoning - just bland and depressing.

I’m guessing if you invite friends round for dinner they often suggest a takeaway or a restaurant instead?

Try looking at some actual lasagna recipes so you see what’s wrong with yours?

Ive heard of all these things, I would support all of these things, Im not rigid about what goes in what

Guess what, big shocker for you.... recipes and concepts and food combos can change over time, over families, over generations, over continents, its all MADE UP. Yes, there isnt a food god where every recipe is set in stone

As I said, if it wasnt for the new world and the Chinese, Italians wouldnt even be eating lasagne in the first place.

Have any Italians died from this thread yet?

Excellent. That's what I've always thought.

This thread has been hilarious.

Alcohol cooks off. Also I’m fairly certain in France and Italy it’s commonplace. Can’t believe how ridiculous some people are saying not to include wine because of children.

This is wild!

I've been using wine in any ragu meal I make regardless of children or not. Was I not supposed to?!

@Brainfogtothemaxtoo late now but we have a meal similar to lasagne ….. mince bolognaise with cheese sauce on top then little squares of garlic bread (made with sliced bread (cut into 4s) with garlic butter on top. Then baked in oven. It’s lovely

Apologies if I missed it, but I don't think anyone answered your question! Soffritto is a standard basis for Italian (and other southern) sauces: chopped onion, carrot, and celery sautéed in olive oil (or butter), before the mince, tomatoes, etc. go in. You can add pancetta too.

That said, mince, tomatoes, potatoes, béchamel, and cheese are all pretty forgiving as ingredients, so I'm sure your concoction was very tasty all the same!

This thread has just made me laugh because we’ve all been there. Sorry you’re feeling crappy Hope you feel better today .

Far too late, I know, but I would have boiled up some pasta shapes, throw in with the mince, covering with cheese sauce and baked. For the potatoes, I’d have crushed them slightly if new pots with garlic and butter and fried them in until crispy outside, keep warm in the oven. If regular potatoes, add butter and garlic and mash, and fry off dollops into crispy inside patties, or just sauté them in butter and garlic.

or used the potatoes as layers instead of pasta.

or cook some rice, add spice and tin of beans (kidney or black or none, not baked) to the ragu and made chilli, then frozen cheese sauce. Do potatoes as above or sauté with some spices.

or used tortilla wraps (if you had any in) as the lasagna sheets and keep everything else the same as you intended. (This also is good if you add spice (fajita spice) and is a sort of tortilla lasagna Mary berry recipe).

or if you really wanted/could be arsed, make mash, make arrancini type balls using the potato (instead of rice), fried it off and added cheese sauce on top and grill to get colour.

We were supposed to have roast chicken leftover pie today, but I forgot to buy pastry, and couldn’t be arsed to make it. We had roast chicken and veg stirfry with rice! I have leftover roasties I’ll sauté with another meal!

There are no potatoes in a lasagne ~ it's Bolognese sauce and cheese sauce layered between lasagne sheets. As you've cooked potatoes then slice and use them as the layers.

You have made mince and tatties with a side of cheese sauce. Enjoy

I did this last year and used spiral pasta and baked it in the oven. I actually prefer it now. Also there's a similar greek dish.