Made the lasagna without the lasagna

[Brainfogtothemax]

What to do?

Just prepped for dinner, did all the mince with tomatoes, onion etc and made the cheese sauce, boiled some potatoes and went to get the lasagna sheets and don’t have any.
Not feeling 100% so cba going to the shops, how can I make it into a proper meal? I have some pasta I could use instead, but what about the potatoes? Save them for tomorrow 🤷🏻‍♀️

In Italy the recipes sprinkle the bechamel sauce layer with Parmesan - making a kind of cheese sauce once it’s baked in the oven.

I always thought the English version with just white sauce was really odd.

I use croissant dough in mine when I have no pasta

It's almost as if there's not a single recipe for this ancient (not solely Italian) dish that has been influenced by lots of different cultures, trends and access to different ingredients over the centuries...

Isn’t that what you were planning anyway - potatoes and pasta too?!

I love how you think the suggestion of a shepherds pie lasagne is weird. But not that buttery potatoes with lasagne is? 😂

Bechamel sauce in lasagna layers and Parmesan cheese grated on top.

Lasagne is a fundamentally Italian dish and there isn’t actually a huge amount of variation. The north uses bechamel with parmesan and the south uses ricotta.

I was commenting on the uproar that OP didn’t know you don’t use cheese sauce in lasagne. Which is actually totally untrue.

Thank you for this thread, I've been grinning and chuckling at the comments 😂
Came to say I love your name, it matches for this reply especially 😆🫣
I get awful brain fog too.....

I had to ask my phone about the cheese in a Bechamel sauce and it doesn't include it. It becomes a Mornay sauce but honestly.... Who really gives a fuck??
Cheese or no cheese 🤷🏼‍♂️ it's a sauce for lasagne.

The mash idea as layers is a good one.

I don't have any further ideas (and realise that this was started yesterday).
I just wanted to tell you that you have a fan here 😁

Not according to my phone it isn't lol 🤣

This is the most ridiculous post ever. Where has your common sense gone ??

Definitely potatoes. Italian moussaka.

🙄

I’ll admit it doesn’t look like fine dining material but I’d absolutely smash it

Also I’ve only just registered your username and I feel it really does explain a lot

My son’s Italian mother-in-law rarely uses lasagna sheets, just layers any pasta with bolognaise and tops with bechamel sauce.

I really like a bit of bechamel or cheesy sauce with mash. I wouldn't rule out boiled (new) potatoes with a shop bought lasagne either, so I kind of get where OP was coming from there, but I've always accepted I'm an oddball on that front, and wouldn't offer it to anyone else.
OP, I hope you're feeling better today. If you find yourself in a similar position in future, pasta bake with whatever shapes you have in, and fry up the potatoes as a side.

I miss the laugh icon so much.

I did this last year and used spiral pasta and baked it in the oven. I actually prefer it now. Also there's a similar greek dish.

You have made mince and tatties with a side of cheese sauce. Enjoy

There are no potatoes in a lasagne ~ it's Bolognese sauce and cheese sauce layered between lasagne sheets. As you've cooked potatoes then slice and use them as the layers.

This thread has just made me laugh because we’ve all been there. Sorry you’re feeling crappy Hope you feel better today .

Far too late, I know, but I would have boiled up some pasta shapes, throw in with the mince, covering with cheese sauce and baked. For the potatoes, I’d have crushed them slightly if new pots with garlic and butter and fried them in until crispy outside, keep warm in the oven. If regular potatoes, add butter and garlic and mash, and fry off dollops into crispy inside patties, or just sauté them in butter and garlic.

or used the potatoes as layers instead of pasta.

or cook some rice, add spice and tin of beans (kidney or black or none, not baked) to the ragu and made chilli, then frozen cheese sauce. Do potatoes as above or sauté with some spices.

or used tortilla wraps (if you had any in) as the lasagna sheets and keep everything else the same as you intended. (This also is good if you add spice (fajita spice) and is a sort of tortilla lasagna Mary berry recipe).

or if you really wanted/could be arsed, make mash, make arrancini type balls using the potato (instead of rice), fried it off and added cheese sauce on top and grill to get colour.

We were supposed to have roast chicken leftover pie today, but I forgot to buy pastry, and couldn’t be arsed to make it. We had roast chicken and veg stirfry with rice! I have leftover roasties I’ll sauté with another meal!

Apologies if I missed it, but I don't think anyone answered your question! Soffritto is a standard basis for Italian (and other southern) sauces: chopped onion, carrot, and celery sautéed in olive oil (or butter), before the mince, tomatoes, etc. go in. You can add pancetta too.

That said, mince, tomatoes, potatoes, béchamel, and cheese are all pretty forgiving as ingredients, so I'm sure your concoction was very tasty all the same!

@Brainfogtothemaxtoo late now but we have a meal similar to lasagne ….. mince bolognaise with cheese sauce on top then little squares of garlic bread (made with sliced bread (cut into 4s) with garlic butter on top. Then baked in oven. It’s lovely

This is wild!

I've been using wine in any ragu meal I make regardless of children or not. Was I not supposed to?!

Alcohol cooks off. Also I’m fairly certain in France and Italy it’s commonplace. Can’t believe how ridiculous some people are saying not to include wine because of children.

Excellent. That's what I've always thought.

This thread has been hilarious.