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 would argue that a proper ragu (soffrito, livers, milk, mince, tomatoes & stock) does take a good couple of hours simmering to be worth doing.

But if you then batch freeze it, you can assemble a very respectable lasagne very quickly - agree that a mix of creme fraiche & Greek yogurt is actually nicer than traditional bechamel.

The longest bit of a lasagne is the ragu, I like to use sofrito, mushrooms etc, lots of garlic and cook it low and slow for a few hours, but I batch cook it in a massive pot on days I'm pottering about at home.
Bechamel 20 minutes tops, I use the grater on our food processor for cheese and the fresh lasagne pasta sheets. On that basis 30 minutes then bung it in the oven.

Batch cook (large amounts) and freeze some

I make lasagne all the time. I do it over two days: the meat sauce on day one, leave in fridge over night, then the white sauce and assembly the next day. Then I cook it first, let it cool, and heat up again - that way it keeps its shape.

I like making it as my family loves eating it.

Don't know those. Doing the all in at the same time has never failed for me.

yep, lasagne done for right should take hours.
the ragù needs to cook for a long time.
the bechamella needs infusing with onion and nutmeg. Then, if don’t correctly the egg white on the top. It’s a labour of love!!
I do it on a weekend and I do the ragù and husband does the bechamella.
30 minutes for a lasagna is an abomination.

I do sometimes buy and m&s one admittedly if I want one midweek. It’s a different experience but still ok.

Just read about your DH @tangerinemagic

Take him at his word then. He can come in after work and do all the fucking cooking, ungrateful pig.

Dont care if he is stressed, so were you and you are not taking it out on him are you?

I make it with an alternative sauce I got from a recipe, it’s milk, sour cream and grated Gruyère cheese (just mixed together cold) then grated Parmesan over once it’s on the lasagne. Takes 5 mins and is delicious!

I make huge pots of Bolognese and freeze them. So that’s great if I am in a hurry. Usually just make the bolognese, let it sit on the stove and use the time to do other things (working, cleaning, reading…).

Béchamel doesn’t take me an hour. But I occasionally make the ricotta version as well.

lasagne isn’t quick but it is absolutely worth it imo.

I don’t make my own lasagne sheets, btw.

I make lasagne for 4 from scratch regularly, as an ordinary weekday dinner when I get in from work: 45 minutes prep, and 35 mins in the oven. Ish. Reading some of the descriptions here makes me wonder whether my lasagne really is worthy of the name though -no livers, no creme fraiche, no parmesan for starters.

like quite a few people have already said I do the bolognaise in the slow cooker, start it in the early afternoon so it is ready at about 6pm. Instead of doing a bechamel (because it is only me and I can't be bothered but would do for guests) I use full fat creme fraiche. I tip it into a bowl and then mix in a load of grated cheese and use this instead. Soak the uncooked lasagne sheets in freshly boiled water and then layer up in the usual way. As I said this is when I make it just for me and it is fine. In the olden days when I did it for family and guests I would do the whole performance but it is too much work now.

Making lasagna from scratch is certainly a ball ache. My issue is that I seem to use every single pan, bowl, utensil etc

Good on you for cooking from scratch - it’s definitely the way forward for taste and making sure we pass on a love of cooking and ingredients. 2.5hrs is a lot though - I would say it takes me 45 minutes tops but I’ve been doing it since I was a kid so that probably helps

When I was a teen, I used to make the bechamel when my mum made lasagne. I had the time to stand and stir it! Now, when I make lasagne, I simmer my bolognese for an hour but I just use a jar of white sauce.

Try Mary Berry's recipe using 900 g of mince. She also says to use hot milk for the bechamel sauce which really cuts down time. I make this regularly. I simmer the mince on the hob for just over an hour and the bechamel takes ten mins to make. Buy grated parmesan or similar from Lidl. Feeds four adults end four children easily. And is a meal in one.

When I’m feeling lazy, I use the frozen béchamel from Picard (you can buy it on Ocado). It’s just flour, butter and milk so no dodgy ingredients and much nicer than the jars.

I use this recipe which I found on the packaging of a 4 pack of Napolina canned tomatoes…. But I triple the quantity for the béchamel as we prefer it. Always a big hit with kids.

I make the sauce in the afternoon/lunch break when wfh then leave it for hours. Make the béchamel (which takes ten mins) and assemble later on, which takes max 30min then the same in the oven.

But OP I would not be doing this with a toddler and baby underfoot! In fact I’d not be keen to try any new recipe alongside childcare - life is stressful enough as it is.

Sounds like you did really well in the circumstances.

https://napolina.com/recipes/traditional-lasagne/

I tend to batch cook the bolognese as I like it to have simmered for a few hours

all in one method of bechamel takes 5/10 mins

I can make one in about 60 mins from scratch using a pressure cooker for the bolognaise. Béchamel I can knock up in 10 mins (warm milk with onion and bay leaves to infuse while melting butter and flour together, the cook out the flour for a couple of mins).

I think 30 mins would be pushing it, but to be fair in my 60 mins it’s probably around 30 mins of effort and the rest is just letting things bubble away. I like my bolognaise well cooked and if I have time I will just let it simmer away for a couple of hours on the hob.

Also NO to cheddar cheese!!!! It has no place in a lasagna!!!

I buy fresh pasta sheets though as even I cba making my own :-)

That is the recipe I used. It came out as way too much ragu in the end. I also thought she said warm milk so was too scared to burn it, maybe needed to heat it first for longer. It was 750ml which took ages.

it does taste really good though, even if it is one layer as I ran out of bechemel and is a bit sloppy (too hungry to let it sit longer).

I won’t be defeated. My OP said I wouldn’t ever bother again but I will.

next time make the Ragu 2 days before. Make the bechemel a few hours before and let it cool down. Make it all totally cold and then cook, then let it cool down again.

As for DH he has apologised. Said it tasted amazing. I guess with kids things do reach boiling point. It’s a lot more stressful than being at work. Toddlers can say 15000 words a minute, usually the same thing over and over and over. It’s the definition of going insane :) both DCs in bed. Going for my second helping.

thanks for all your tips!! Can’t wait to try the next one. Will report back when I do. maybe will leave it a couple weeks.

It's one of my favourite meals but does take me about 2 1/2 hours but I make enough for 3 to put 2 in the freezer. I do find it exhausting though, but, it is a meal I can hide veg in. Juiced spinach, courgette and carrot can go completely undetected even very finely chopped mushrooms and tinned tomatoes can slip under the radar.

Squeamish, I am going to try Mary Berry's idea of the hot milk next time.

Yep, this is “ delia” cheat method of bechemel and really works well,
was coming on to say this

make sure butter and milk are cold when put flour in. Whisk continuously while comes up to boil. Add more milk if need to thin down, then lower heat right down to cook through, using a wooden spoon to stir frequently to stop sticking.

its about 10 mins at most - and it’s done while ragu is cooking

it doesn’t need cheese in sauce. It’s going between layers of meat and pasta ( except top layer) and there’s enough flavour in sauce to drown flavour of cheese. It’s surplus fat and calories not needed.

i only use mozzarella and a small , single layer of grating of Parmesan on top. That’s around 3 mins work - tear mozzarella, and no grating . So goodness knows why op’s doing all this grating- that’s way too much cheese.

dont use lasagne that needs pre blanching. Buy stuff that you can just layer in dry

its the ragu that takes time. But even with doing a proper soffrito for 15 mins it’s still only 30 mins of actual prep time. Wack lid on, turn heat right down, or even wack in a low oven if you want to forget about it. It needs at least an hour plus . Ideally 2 if you’re Italian. I do it in pressure cooker to speed up cooking. Or a slow oven would work doing meat bit a day before.

yep, it’s more hassle than most pastas. But really can’t beat homemade if you’re making effort and you use the full Monty of the soffrito, plus lardons, and a good slug of red wine, bay leaves and fresh mushrooms. If you’re going to effort make it worthwhile !

I always make plenty… double the amount, batched. Then freeze rest as single portions already cooked, or another family sized one all ready for its bake. Then you get double the reward of effort.

i reckon an hours prep from scratch at very most.

What do you use instead of cheddar? Why no cheddar?

It takes me about 2.5 hours as well. Bachemel isn't just a roux, it needs to infuse with cloves and onion prior. It's a labour of love but I get 10 (large) portions out of it and it freezes great. Definitely a favourite, and a bottle of red whilst cooking, (obviously for the Ragu 🫣) goes down well.

I skip the béchamel entirely and just put a fuckton of mozzarella and grated Parmesan on the top (heathen that I am). I have made it the right way once - and filed that under things I am not doing again.