Your tips for making the best lasagna ever!

[VerityBrulee]

I love lasagna but rarely make it as it's such a faff! I'm going to make one today for my birthday dinner so need your expertise to make it totally delicious

I always make it with full on cheese sauce rather than just White sauce then loads of cheese on top as well . Unhealthy but so tasty. I also make chilli lasagne, which is delish!

Mmm, lots of cheese sounds good!

Pre cook the pasta sheets, even if it says you don't need to. Take care they don't stick together, you only need to do a few minutes, so it's worth supervising it.

Put bacon bits in it too :)

This is mine, it's totally delicious! It's not just me saying that - it's yum!

I make a sort of soffrito, I use my Kenwood mini chopper to whizz up 3 cloves garlic, a red onion, 2 sticks celery, 2 carrots and chop a few mushrooms and some smoked bacon choped up finely (I whizz this in the chopper too, cook this first to get it golden!) sweat this lot off, gently brown it then add the minced beef or cook it separately so it browns not steams, mix this all together and add a few glugs of red wine, and some good beef stock (quantities go on eye, sorry) it will reduce down so don't worry if it looks to wet. Add a good squeeze of tom puree and a glug of Worcester sauce. leave all this to simmer for a good 45 mins if you can. Meanwhile make a cheese sauce, lots of cheese, lots of sauce, we like a creamy lasagne.

sorry that was a little disjointed, just going out so no time to edit but it's so worth making!

And don't precook the lasagne sheets, there's absolutely no need. (sorry to disagree)

I forgot the herbs! fresh basil at the end, dried oregano while the ragu is cooking

My MIL's secret weapon is diced chicken livers in the ragu and sliced mozzerella on top of the mince layers. It is just divine.

You'll need about 3 or 4 bay leaves in the ragu, as well as basil and oregano.

I tried this sauce a few weeks ago and have been making it since - one night have lasagne and then a few nights later we have spaghetti with the sauce

Ooh can I ask on the subject of Lasagne sheets? Whenever I've tried it in the past the sheets t came out uncooked and hard. What am i doing wrong?

Definitely add bacon to it. Yum.

ivykaty that's almost exactly how I always made it until my friend's MIL, who is from Rome, said it needs to be 50% beef, 50% pork mince - so started doing that and it is amazing.

I have some spag bol sauce sitting at home for tonight's dinner, am contemplating a quick stop at the shops to get some lasagne sheets now!

I make it 50-50 pork and beef mince, but still throw in a bit of bacon. It is delicious.

Well, ghastlybespoke, I would say that what you are doing wrong is that you need to precook the sheets, regardless of what it says on the packet. However, as you will see upthread, not everyone would agree with me.

oh, hell yes to the bacon. essentials are:
mince (beef and pork)
onions
celery
carrots
oregano
tomatoes
bacon
red wine

occasional optional extras include bell peppers and/or spinach, and sometimes grated courgettes when we have a million of the bastard things to use to convince reluctant males to eat some vegetables.

Lots of red wine in the ragu, cook on a low heat for ages. Lots of cheese in the white sauce!

Dont fry the mince off, add to the ragu first, then leave to simmer. Beat an egg in the final layer of bechamel sauce. Delish.

As for lasagne being a faff - I tend to make it in the afternoon if I am not working, Once the sauce is cooking I make the white sauce and add cheese. Then assemble the dish and place in the fridge.

I don't see that it is any more or less of a faff than cottage pie or fish pie

Use a nice cheese like cathedral city for the sauce - dislike non cheese lasagne! Use loads of if!!

I use the sachets of lasagne mix for the meaty sauce. It's a little cheat but so so tasty. Buy two. One is never enough.

Thankyou, I shall give both of those suggestions a go.

Do the ragu in the morning and put in slow cooker all day until tea time and all you need to do is White sauce, layering, bung in th'oven. Red wine, paprika and plenty of garlic for the ragu :)