Making a lasagne from scratch

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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 was thinking the same. Betchemel sauce takes about 5-10 minutes and I grate some cheese into mine too. Mince cooks in about 8 minutes, drain then add a handful of herbs, squeeze of garlic puree, pinch of salt, and add 2 tins of chopped tomatoes. Stir about and simmer for 10 minutes then layer with lasagne sheets and the Betchemel sauce and sprinkle parmesan and cheddar on the top and serve with garlic bread. Last time I made it took me less than 40 mins from scratch to putting in the oven and I always make 1kg of mince so enough for second day too.

I was taught to add chicken liver (chopped fine it basically melts in) by a waiter in Naples - he also insisted that you need a glug of milk in after browning the mince. Both do make it richer tbf.

However, I recently ended up with a large block of pate courtesy of Too Good To Go. None of us really like pate, so I've frozen it in stock cube portions & bung a couple in in lieu of liver. Saves a rather slippery gory chopping job, & tastes fab, so a useful hack!

There’s a lasagne and a lasagne though
simmering for 10 mins isn’t giving you a delicious ragu - I’m not a snob but the longer it’s cooked, the nicer it is!

Why no cheddar? try using italian cheeses like mozarella...

I was given a cookery book in 1989 by my sister. The cookery year. By readers digest.
The bechamel sauce is made by infusing milk with half and onion studded with cloves and a bay leaf or two.
Simmer for about 10 minutes.
The ragu is much better with white wine not red, include star anise and Henderson's or Worcestershire sauce. Add some full fat milk into the meat and it dissolves the tough gritty bits. Always use tinned tomatoes not chopped tomatoes.
Fry the tomato paste as that gives a lot of flavor. Be wary of stock cubes that may contain too much salt.
2 hours is not unreasonable. But you can make 10 portions and freeze the ones you don't use on the day.
No such thing as one layer lasagna lol.
And many people swear by plotting the pasta sheets but I find it a pain in the ass.
Hope that helps.

All recipes take ages the first couple of times (or feel l I ke they do). You get better and quicker with practice. And the taste is so much better!

Make double the ragu.

Have half, as Bolognese that night.

Freeze the rest.

Make lasagne later in the week with the frozen portion. Then you only have one sauce to make on lasagne day.

I put really finely chopped black pudding in my ragu, it may sound wrong but it's rich and lovely.

I never put white sauce between the layers, only on top. Waste of time, you can't taste it anyway.

Mine’s bubbling in the oven

yes it is a bit faffy but definitely worth it

Takes me a while but most of that is simmering. Also a lot of the time I cheat and make DH knock up a cheese sauce so really all I do is a bolognaise and some assembly then take all the credit 😁

Similar for me, I do a big batch and freeze. My downfall is sometimes the labels fall off. One night we had baked tiramisu for tea as it looked remarkably like lasagne.

I stopped making my own lasagne a couple of year’s ago even though my kids liked them, I just lost interest in the rigmarole. I only have them in winter now and I buy it from M&S.

You could always make the bolognese part and buy a bechamel sauce as a compromise? I always cook my bolognese long and slow anyway cos I think it tastes better but it doesn’t have to be done like that. And a bechamel shouldn’t take an hour.

This is why i buy a family
size one from my local butcher, he does a family size lasagne and family size pie, so 2 nights dinners for £15.50

oh and whilst I’m simmering i sometimes make lasagna sheets, so easy, though fresh (not dried) supermarket pasta doesn’t taste any different and dried tastes fine though different texture

Cheddar????
Why has no one mentioned the use of cheddar??
Please don’t add cheddar!

But you are so right. It takes ages, anyone saying it takes 45mins to an hour is not making it correctly.
It is also quite pricey to make.
When I make it I batch cook the bolognese, usually around 8kg. I freeze some as pasta sauce and I make a couple of lasagne and freeze one or two.

When I have made everything just for one lasagne it does feel like a lot of work.

Shock horror- I’ve been known to make a quick meat lasagne meat lasagne meat cheese and skip the bechamel completely, and I like it!

I would do it all at once, e.g. as your butter melts, chop and fry your onions for a separate pan, stir the flour in to the butter and add some milk whilst the onions soften, then add beef to the onions whilst the becamel milk heats up.... it takes maybe 30 mins if you have both sauces on at once, max. Then maybe 5 mins to layer....

It is an effort though, I don't make them every week. It's a nice treat maybe once a month when I have time. I can't cope with stir in sauces, they're just full of stuff and it doesn't taste the same to me. Could you buy grated cheese if it bothers you grating it (it doesn't seem to take me that long tbh).

It's just practice op. On a batch cook day I can get 5 things going and done in 2.5 hours ready to freeze.

It can take a while for the ragu as we cook it a long time but we also make a lot so it can be used as a non lasagne sauce too. Never taken an hour to make bechamel though.

Don’t waste your money on pasta sauces! Full of sugar and rubbish.

A carton of passata (sieved tomatoes) then add herbs, garlic.

I soooo want lasagne now. My tip is 50/50 cornflour and plain flour for the sauce.

My kids used to love "dad's lasagne", and I still get requests for it when they come home (all grown up now) (I was the main cook when they were little)... but they knew it was only possible when I had the time to do it 👍

I love lasagne but agree it's a faff. I speed it up by using pre grated cheddar (no Parmesan) and doing an all in one bechamel. I also make double the quantity of ragu and freeze some for the next time.

I would rather go without lasagne than eat a pre made sauce so it's very much a once in a while treat not a regular family meal.