Homemade lasagna.

[Idrinkmywhiskeyneat]

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.

I make the best. And I don't have to precook anything! Not the sauce, not the cheese. I make a meat version and a veggie one. Recently for a trip away with 8 other people, the veggie said she was dreading it as all non vegetarians don't know how to cook veggie (🤨) and it's always bland, but this was the best lasagna she'd ever had.
Mind you she made veggie chilli the next day and it was... bland (I also make a fab chilli, but not a veggie one).

You’re not wrong. Husband’s birthday coming up. We’ve been lucky enough to eat at some of the world’s best restaurants. He has a great palate, appreciates wines, etc. asked him what he’d like for his birthday dinner. No hesitation “your lasagna, please”!

I use fresh pasta, ricotta in the bechamel and barolo in the ragu. Love on a plate 😁

I love my lasagne but I get feedback that I put too much veg in it 😔. Has to be full of peppers mushrooms onions and courgette 50/50 with the meat for me personally. Then served with salad and balsamic dressing. My absolute favourite meal. Has to be home made restaurant or shop bought never have enough veg

Peppers and courgettes don’t belong in a lasagna with meat 😱😁

My friend says “bollug-nays” and it makes me irrationally irritated.

No veg in it for me except the usual celery, carrot, onion
I love salad on the side though, it was my fixation meal for about 2 weeks!

And liver.

I used to live near a really good Italian deli in Brighton and you could buy "ready meals" there which were homemade by the owners. Their lasagna was everything that supermarket bought ready meals will never be. Almost as good as mine and perfect in the winter when it's a Friday, you're tired, you don't want to cook but you want lush food. Happy days!

I haven’t made lasagne yet this year, I may have to rectify that. Takes a couple of days because the ragu needs to rest. Worth it though.

With you on the salad and balsamic dressing. ( just iceberg and tomatoes). Making lasagne is just making 2 sauces and then layering. I've trained my kids to layer. HNRFT but I add a middle layer of cottage cheese/ baby spinach/ tin tomatoes. A bit of nutmeg on the top bechamel layer ( along with heaps of cheese and into the oven. You can make both the sauces in less than 30 minutes. Bolognese takes the longest but bechamel takes about 15 minutes. It's so much easier than a roast and then you have leftovers you can eat or freeze in portions.
Don't forget the salt!!
It's probably cheaper to buy frozen ones, but homemade is so easy and yummy. And the house smells yum

Goodness! Resting ragu! That's a new one. I do agree that lasagne is better the day after it is made though.

I love lasagne but recently I prefer stuffed peppers. Tastes like lasagne but without the lasagne sheets which I don't love anyway.

I feel the same. When it's bursting with veg, it's just next level!

Layer, grate a bit on top, bung in the oven. Serve with salad (or chips, or indeed boiled potatoes, or mash!?!!) I prefer it with Sarsons vinegar

Some serious food heathens on here

@MouseMinge Sending positive vibes for good news next month enjoy your lasagne - hope your friend doesn't serve it with big boiled buttered potatoes!

I agree! Most restaurants have changed their recipes over the years and so my homemade lasagnes feel more special! Although I have a quick cheat recipe for the weekdays (cheese sauce and less tomato) and it takes me about an hour to make.

There is only one cafe near my work who I’d get lasagne from as it tastes close to homemade.

@KreedKafer
"And in Italian, is pronounced 'boll-o-nyeh-zeh',"
No it's not! Not sure how to phonetically do the 'gn' sound (same as lasagna) but there's no 'n' sound there and definitely no 'y' sound 🙂

Recently substituted gnocchi for the sheets, was exceedingly good.
I add green lentils to the ragu which goes unnoticed and veg are grated into it so dissolve. I make the ragu in a slow cooker overnight, just bung in before bed. It is very quickly assembled the next day.

I love doing a lasagne and I don't find it a faff. I make the Bolognese sauce the day before, takes about 15mins to prep and leave it cooking for a couple of hours. Next day, make the bechamel sauce, later, top with grated cheese and bake for 30mins. Recently, I've started to use the food processor to chop up the onion, carrot and celery which makes it even easier.
Had it yesterday!

How do people layer their lasagne?

i’ve not quite figured out what I prefer. Have seen some recipes that put the white sauce between to pasta layers

Like the "ni" in "onion" would be the nearest equivalent. Very definitely a /n/ sound, followed by a semi-vowel /j/ that in letters would be rendered with a "y" or "i" when trying to tell people how to pronounce it. Without phonetic symbols, it's standard to render the "gn" in Italian words as "ny + vowel" as pp has.
How is there not a /n/ in your lasagne, gnocchi and Bolognese?

Oh you poor thing.
May I suggest this super nourishing dish that is a bowl of comfort and beloved by young and old alike.
Make a chicken stock from bones, onions, full bulb of garlic, lots of herbs like bay, sage and rosemary from the garden, if you have them.
Boil the hell out of them, bash down, allow to stand for an hour, drain.
When drained, add a bag of spinach, heat and whizz up. Then add a bag of orzo pasta. We call it baby pasta.
Cook, top with grated parmigiana.

Comfort and real nourishment in a bowl.
I wish you well.

However you want.
I go for as many layers of pasta as possible, which makes a more solid sliceable dish. Probably about 8-10 layers of pasta in total.
Apart from the bottom, which I just use the meat mixture to coat the tin to stop sticking, every other layer I put a mixture of meat and bechamel together. I didn't use to, but dp who's a chef was taught that way and I much prefer it now. Here (Puglia) they also put mozzarella into each layer.

Yet you don't know how to use a comma. Maybe spend a bit of time educating yourself before trying to be clever with others. Rarely works.

It's a sound that doesn't exist in the English language. Just looked it up and phonetically it's ˈɲ

I'm not here arguing how British people should say it, but in Italian there is no 'n' sound and no 'y' sound. Google an audio of how Italians say it.

Yes absolutely or left over roast lamb and make shepherds pie