Making a lasagne from scratch

[tangerinemagic]

Does anyone actually see the return of investment of time and money here?

I spent 2.5 hours making one (before it even went into the oven). The bechemel sauce took an hour. I don’t know where the time went but melting butter was fast and adding flour but stirring in all that milk and keeping the thickness too forever and I still ran out for the top layer which was devastating (it’s a one layer lasagne). Grating 50g Parmesan to go in is a work out, that’s before the 75g of cheddar to go on the top of it all. I did have kids with me but I wouldn’t ever bother doing it again.

I grew up eating dolmio made lasagnes and that’s how I was taught but since knowing that’s not the right way and additives etc, I’ve just bought lasagne from the deli or restaurants if I go out. Shop bought Charlie Bingham is lovely.

2.5 hours is such a long time. Does anyone do this regularly? It’s like two meals. A bolognaise then a bechemel and that’s before the art of the quantities and building the darn thing.

AIBU to feel so frustrated by this and not want to ever bother again. (Not going back to dolmio either)

I just looked up Delia's ragù bolognese recipe, which was mentioned upthread - it has chicken livers and bacon in it though. Do these really make it better? I'm worried I might not like it, but maybe they'd just make it more complex / rich.

Oh, the current Delia online recipe is different - beef, pork, and pancetta.

Cant see the Coop ingredients online, but this ready meal, bog standard doesnt have any additives, not sure why people keep making out ready meals are full of additives. Some are, some arent

Obviously it wouldnt be nice to eat but its not full of additives

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/310130809?sc_cmp=ppcGHS+-+Grocery+-+NewMPX_PMAX_All_OT_Top+Offers_Online+Budget_1012764**310130809*&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19769785635&gbraid=0AAAAADiyNaupbJgddUfwdo0P2oJrtDq21&gclid=Cj0KCQjwxo_CBhDbARIsADWpDH4eeqqT1eX7Lv678GenQvS8gUrmNoRPge1YJf5Q47ukOZ1_WSNfEusaAu13EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

How odd, you're right - the current recipe on her own website doesn't include chicken livers. I have most of her books and work from those. This is the original recipe. I love the chicken livers in it, but I'm sure it would still be very good without. https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/anauthenticragubolog_66229

I find grating Parmesan finely does take time. Worth it, though.

Chicken livers are quite traditional in some Italian recipes, Ive seen Carluccio do them with livers on a programme once.

Not my cup of tea but I bet its lovely and rich

I'm finding all 3 recipes slightly different @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g! The one in the book is only beef, chicken livers, and bacon, whereas the one you linked to also includes pork.

I do want to try a new recipe, but now I've got too much choice 😄.

I assume that poster was thinking of spreadable butter, not block butter, but there won't be many with a list of ingredients like the one you've found. This is Anchor spreadable: Anchor Butter (50%) (Milk), Rapeseed Oil (33%), Water, Salt (1.1%), Colour (Beta Carotene), Blended Spread 74% (41% Milk Fat, 33% Rapeseed Oil)

Okay not sure why you are specifically quoting me to tell me what's in anchor butter. The list of ingredients I posted is for Dolmio creamy white sauce. It even shows that on the screen shot. I also specifically say that the only thing likely to be added to butter is salt?

Interesting! The one in The Complete Cookery Course (my edition is from the late 1970s) has no pork mince but the one from the Winter Collection (which I think is probably the source of the one I linked to above) does include minced pork as well as minced beef, pancetta and chicken livers. That's the one I use. I don't recall minced pork being widely available back in the 70s, so maybe that's why she didn't put it in originally.

I meant the poster you were replying to, which I thought was obvious.

Well no it wasn't obvious, you quoted me. It came up in my notifications that you had done so. If you want to reply to a specific poster that is already part of a quoted message you need to either @ that poster or go back and quote them direct.

Or you could try reading what I wrote. My post would then have made sense.

Cook the bolognaise in your slow cooker the night before. Buy grated Parmesan. I can do the Bechemel in 20minutes and throw the whole thing together in half an hour. Haven’t heard about using Cheetos.

The joy of lasagne, and bolognaise, is that we all have use different ingredients and methods.

My bol for every kilo is:
1kg good quality Mince - browned in a hot pan with the fat drained
2 red onions
2 tins good quality plum toms (I find them richer than chopped)
A good squirt - just under half a tube of good quality puree
About 300ml of robust red wine
4 peeled garlic cloves - squashed in when they go soft
Three teaspoons dried oregano
Three bayleaves
Salt, black pepper
Simmer for about an hour - two if larger quantities used and if I make lasagne I always start with a much larger quantity.

Bechamel/cheese
1L semi skimmed
Brought to a simmer with 3 bayleaves, half an onion and 8 black peppercorns and left to cool - probs overnight
An inch of butter and a heaped tablespoon of flour
2 to three handfuls of grated mature cheddar
A vacuum pack of grated parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste

Make a roux, add the milk gradually to get the right consistency, add the cheese and season to taste - it might not need salt depending on the saltiness of the cheese.

That would be enough for three layers of pasta sheets in a deep roasting tin. It would serve 8-10 - I'd freeze some for later in the week.

In reality if making lasagne it's usually when catering for many so I'd double the above and bake it in the turkey tin which takes four layers.

I do: meat, pasta, sauce - finishing with sauce and grated cheese (the ready grated 4 cheese packs are good for the topping).

There are no rights or wrongs if the end product is yummy.

'One Layered Lasagne' is my favourite insult for people misses point of thread

I will add, they shouldn't take that long OP. You've got some very good tips on here.

My ragu starts with carrots, onions and celery sticks. For a normal meal for four it would be 2 of each chopped into small dice (takes an age, but so worth it). These get cooked in a drizzle of oil for twenty minutes.

They then come out of the pot and the mince goes in. Either 500g of lean beef mince of a pork and beef combination. This gets browned and I add to it half a tube of tomato puree, 4 cloves of garlic, salt and pepper and dried herbs.

Once it has browned I add back in the vegetables, two tins of tomatoes, a beef stock pot and a red wine stock pot. I’ll add some extra water if it looks dry. I’ll then cook that down for up to two hours.

Stirring occasionally, but basically left alone. If when I want to use it, the sauce is to thin then I thinken with slaked cornflour.

I made a venison and haggis lasagne the other week with a peppercorn sauce in place of the bechamel and that took about an hour and a half all in including sauces from scratch however I have been known to just use jars for if I need a really quick meal.

I haven’t read the whole thread but my helpful tip is for the béchamel ( cheese can be added for macaroni cheese). 500ml milk, 25g butter, 25g plain flour, salt and pepper. Mix in a bowl/ measuring jug ( it will be lumpy). Pop into the microwave for a minute at a time, taking it out and whisking around between each minute. Usually takes about 4 or 5 minutes in total. It will thicken up and voila, easy bechamel sauce. Sorry if this has already been mentioned. 🙂

I make the ragu in the slow cooker overnight, browning the mince beforehand. Make the béchamel in advance and use no cook lasagna sheets. Buy grated cheddar and Parmesan then just assemble sometime in the next couple of days.
Ragu is all the better for sitting for a couple of days in the fridge 😋

That sounds amazing.

Someone in here recommended a chicken Alfredo lasagna that I make quite a but that is also good.

Haggis, Venison and Wild Scottish Mushroom Lasagne

Haggis
Venison Mince
Crushed tomatoes or tinned is fine
Oyster Mushrooms, finely chopped (or shop bought)
Carrot, grated
Red onion, finely diced
Bramble Jelly
Tomato puree
Neeps, grated
Garlic, crushed
Dried mixed herbs
Fresh basil
Cream
Black Pepper
Whisky
Dijon mustard
Cream
Beef stock
Orkney Cheddar
Fresh Lasagne Sheets

1. To make the tomato based venison sauce, add the onion, carrot, neeps, garlic, tomato puree, crushed tomatoes, Bramble Jelly, torn fresh basil and dried herbs to a pot, add a splash of water and seasoning, simmer for 30 minutes. Blend to desired consistency, taste, adjust seasoning.
2. Brown the Venison Mince and mushrooms, add in the prepared sauce, reduce to thicken.
3. To make the Whisky Sauce, add a knob of butter to a pan, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, 3 tbsp of Whisky, double cream, a generous crack of fresh black pepper and a splash of beef stock. Bring up to heat and reduce to thicken, season to taste.
4. Assemble the layers, alternating each layer (1 layer Whisky Sauce and Haggis then cheese, next layer Whisky Sauce and Venison Ragù then cheese, etc).
5. Top with Scottish Cheddar and bake until golden.

That's the recipe I followed however I couldn't find Venison Mince so I used diced Venison and slow cooked it until it fell apart and it was great I found the recipe on Facebook.

Wow. I must hunt down some venison. Not literally, obviously!

@tangerinemagic I hear you on the bechamel sauce! I have always always struggled with making the sauce and always found it takes me ages however I do it....but my mil showed me last week how she makes her white sauce just by putting cornflour and milk together in glass jug in microwave and heating for a minute, stirring with fork, sticking back in for a minute longer and so on till you get the consistency you want, it honestly Is a total game changer!!!

Decent lasagna is a labour of love if you do it traditionally. Warm the milk leave a bay leaf in and make the filling properly with pork and beef with milk in etc. but it’s sooooo good.