Does anyone have the dogs bollocks of Lasagne recipes?

[LaurieFairyCake]

I need to make a really good one for a crowd on Easter Saturday, a delicious meat one and a veggie one.

I've heard Carluccios has a good one? Any thoughts ?

Difference between a home-made Lasagne and one from Carluccios - which should it be?

Delia's lasagne is always a hit in our house.

I'd suggest beef mince instead of dog bollocks, but if they are minced well and cooked long and slow perhaps they will be the secret ingredient that makes carluccio's taste bland?

I second Delia's. It was in one of the How To Cook books and a revised version of her original 70s version. It is really nice.

DP makes a dog's bollocks lasagne using beef mince. His secret ingredient is cinnamon - add some when you're frying the onions at the beginning.

Many Italian recipes use a mixture of beef mince and pork mince.

I never use a recipe and just make a basic mince ragu with pork mince, as DD won't eat beef, onions, garlic, tinned tomatoes and pancetta. I give it a long slow cook and then layer it up with fresh lasagne sheets and top it with Delia's all-in-one béchamel sauce recipe and sprinkle the top with a load of grated cheese. I bake it at gas mark 5 for about 40 minutes.

This is yum
Serves 6

2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to cook the pasta
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 stick of celery, finely chopped
500g chuck steak, cut into small dice
50g chicken livers, trimmed and finely chopped
100ml red wine
400ml passata
Grated nutmeg
50g butter
50g plain flour
600ml whole milk
About 9 sheets dried egg lasagne (depending on the size of the sheets and your dish - you'll need 3 layers of pasta)
100g grated parmesan

1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan and gently fry the onion until softened. Add the carrot and continue to cook for 5 minutes, then add the celery and cook for another 2 minutes. Turn up the heat, add the chopped beef and cook until browned all over, then stir in the chopped livers and cook for 3 minutes.

1. Pour in the wine and passata, season with salt, pepper and a pinch of grated nutmeg, then bring to a simmer. Cover partially, turn the heat down, and leave to simmer gently for 2 hours. Uncover, and simmer for another 30 minutes, or until the sauce is well flavoured and almost dry.

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C. To make the béchamel, melt the butter in a medium pan, and then whisk in the flour. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring, then gradually whisk in the milk, and bring to the boil, still stirring. Season and simmer for about 5 minutes until thickened.

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add a couple of drops of olive oil. Blanch the pasta, in batches to stop it clumping together, for 1 minute, then drain, separate and leave to dry on a tea towel or greased plate or board.

1. To assemble the lasagne, take a deep, wide dish and coat the bottom with a third of the meat sauce, topped with a quarter of the béchamel, and a sprinkling of parmesan, and finally a layer of blanched pasta. Repeat two more layers, and then top the last layer of pasta with the rest of the béchamel, and the remaining parmesan. Grate a little nutmeg over the top, and cook for 40 minutes, until golden and bubbling.

1. Allow to rest for at least 20 minutes before serving – lasagne is better warm than hot, and even better the next day.

Can I just mention that if you use fresh pasta you don't need to pre-cook it. I find pre-cooking lasagne a real faff as it sticks together if you aren't careful. In fact you don't need to precook most dried lasagne sheets. Just make sure your ragu has plenty of liquid.

Grated carrot and chopped up celery makes it yum !

I also think Delia's is the best. But I have adapted it slightly by using a bit more mince, include pancetta in the ragu sauce, and add some grated cheese to the white sauce. Yum.