Proper lasagna is a faff..

[BarrelOfOtters]

it is though.

I don’t meaning dumping jars of dolmio in a slow cooker. But a proper ragu and roux.

I would count it as an easy family meal because - through menu planning - it is always made on a day when I already have the ragu made. White sauce and layering 30 mins absolute tops, then the rest of the time it’s in the oven while doing the usual million and one other things needed. Much easier as a family meal than anything that requires prolonged attention / accompanying vegetables and potatoes etc.

Saying it's not a faff because you can do stuff in advance /use stuff from the freezer is missing the point surely? That's just displacing the faff! I love that you can prepare it in advance - it's great for entertaining because of that. The prep takes time/faff though whenever you do it.

Me too!

Things that make it easier:
Frozen soffritto
Fresh Lasagna sheets
Parmesan instead of cheese
(Purist here, so never add any cheese or mozzarella)
No measuring.

Takes ages but it's worth it. I might do it this week.

You genius

My lasagne comes from the Dairy Cook Book c1974. It would make an Italian cry but it is yummy. Spag bol 70s style and a white roux.

I need that recipe.

I love my Nigella one but I've been looking for the retro lasagne taste of my youth.

Faff displacement 😃

I would say not really, because the stuff in advance also gave ne a meal. So typically, one batch of ragu-type faff gives me 3 meals - bolognese on the day of the faff, chilli on another day, lasagne on a third.

In my mind, I’d have to do the faff for spag bol anyway, so the lasagne and chilli are both ‘freeloaders’

@CornishGem1975

Here you are.
1 recipe spag bol. I throw chopped onions in the slow cooker to get them golden. I also use 5% fat beef mince.
I used the basic white sauce, which I was taught at school, but have included the ones the recipe states as well.

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Thank you @ehb102 I will give that one a try! Love an old school recipe.

I always have to make a veggie one as well as a meat one so extra effort involved! Worth it though but only do it a few times a year. Good when folk are visiting.
I use sweet potatoes, mushroom ( fresh and dried) and spinach in my veggie lasagne.
Meat is batch cooked and used as spag Bol, shepherd’s pie etc.

Love the idea of meal freeloaders! Often if I try and maAke extra bolognaise we end up having seconds or eating it for lunch the next day.

I think k recipe freeloaders would make a great batch cooking book!

I completely agree it’s a total faff……. But honestly it’s worth it when I am arsed to do it. It’s perfect for batch cooking which honestly is its saving grace.

Pretty much my method and I'll also chop and roast off some peppers too and add them.

Oh and fry off some pancetta too and add some red wine in the ragu

Mine definitely isn't a healthy version although sometimes I do lentils and mince 50:50

Oh and I only do 1 tin of tomatoes and instead put in some water and a beef stick cube. This was after ide gone through a stage of batch cooking like a mad woman and realised I used tomatoes every time and everything was getting samey

I do like the sound of scruffy lasagna so may try that next

Also loving faff displacement

I don't think it's difficult... brown the mince, add garlic, tomatoes, purée and a bit of oregano, make a cheese sauce takes 5 minutes and assemble - 15mins max! I do it and a cottage pie at the same time as one child does do tomatoes!

It is a massive faff but so worth the effort.

I cut down the work load by putting the meat and veg in the slow cooker then when nearly done start the white sauce then just layer up when slow cooker finished.

I make it once a,week.Eveything homemade apart from the pasta.The layering is the faffy part.

I put grated cheese in every layer.Game changer.

There's a very quick veggie one you can do with spinach and cottage cheese.
It's just assembly work after you make the white sauce.

200 gms baby spinach leaves and 2 tubs of cottage cheese. A jar of nice tomato sauce. You can use defrosted frozen spinach either.

The fresh lasagna sheets are best for this one as it doesn't need much baking.

Wilt the spinach in a colander by pouring boiling water over. Squeeze out water and chop finely.
Empty the cottage cheese into a bowl, stir in the chopped spinach. Add a decent bit of salt, pepper, pinch of nutmeg, maybe some oregano and thyme, a crushed garlic clove (optional).
Layer the spinach mix with the lasagna sheets and tomato sauce. Then last layer is lasagna sheets with white sauce over. Grate a bit of cheddar and/or Parmesan over the top.

20mins in a hot oven. If you've used dried pasta sheets it'll take a bit longer.

You can also do this as Cannelloni by stuffing the cottage cheese/spinach mix into the tubes then pouring over the tomato sauce.

Yep...I really enjoy cooking but lasagna is one of the few things i buy ready made. M&S in our house.