How do YOU make lasagne? I know people vary, interested to see the differences

[MamaG]

i do cheese sauce
lasagne sheet
bolognese sauce
lasagne sheet
bolognese sauce
lasagne sheet
cheese sauce

i have a bit of mustard (and less cheese) in my cheese sauce

my bol sauce is normally lamb, has onion carrot pepper and garlice whizzed together... add mince and brown, add tin toms, tom puree, worcester sauce, mixed herbs, amd tomatoe KETCHUP

at ketchup being used in ragu. at baked beans!

I think I might have been away from the Uk for too long.

Yo, Califrau, want me to sling you some scamorza affumicata?

I do a basic bolognese sauce which I make in huge quantities to freeze. After years of making a bechamel sauce I am now a convert to Jamie Oliver's method. Simply add a couple of handfuls of grated parmesan to a tub of creme fraiche. Add a couple of finely chopped anchovies (although tastes fine without if you don't have any) Season with nutmeg and pepper. If it is a little thick you can loosen by adding A SPLASH OF MILK. vERY QUICK, VERY EASY AND ADDS a nice flavour to it. I don't think I will ever go back to faffing with making a sauce again.

(soory for caps)

mate of mine adds a punnet of cherry tomatoes to the bol sauce. Awesome.

ketchup is my magic / secret ingrediant

and it makes it SOOO yummy

all 9 of my charges (and their friends who have consumed it) agree my lasagne / bolognese is the yummiest they have ever had! (and so do I!)

Ragu - bacon or pancetta fried till the fat crisps, then onion (must have bacon crisp but can't have brown onion). Finely diced carrot if I feel we are even more than usually lacking on the vegetable front. Minced beef, browned. Red wine, reduced. Passata or creamed tomato (cannot be doing with tomato lumps), tons of dried oregano.

Simmer forever.

Basic white sauce with pepper and nutmeg.

Construction is then: meat, white sauce, pasta, meat, pasta, white sauce, parmesan.

Or thereabouts. I've treated myself to a new packet of lasagne pasta, the old one had a use-by date in 2001 (HUGE box) and was getting a bit chewy.

lol at the chewy lasagne sheets

eeeew at baked beans!

Very at the scamorza - never seen it ouside London. And not out in the sticks... But then I like my scamorza melted with wine and served with good bread.

But for me a ragu needs to start with onion, celery, carrot and good olive oil. Then add good quality pancetta cubes, followed by mince. Tinned toms, tom puree, mixed herbs (fresh if possible but dried oregano) and a good pinch of sugar. I sometimes use some good quality veg stock as well. Cook in pressure cooker and the family recipe also has a good slug of milk added at the end, although I do not always do this.

And then layer with bechamel and lasagna sheets - bechamel, pasta, ragu, bechamel, pasta, for a couple of layers - and top with bechamel and cheese. Mozzarella and parmigian as a minimum.

I made a big lasagna on Saturday afternoon - it was fab!

ok next question

the lasagne sheets that say no need to soak......... do they "really" go soft when you cook them in the oven?

I always pre soak or simmer in boiling water before making up the lasangne. but would love not to but too scared in case I ruin it!

I've never had a problem. They soften after about 25 minutes cooking.

Unless they went out of date seven years ago.

I've got Waitrose ones now. They're crinkly. Much smaller packet. Learned my lesson there.

definitely no need to soak - they cook in no time.

Mince cooked than lasagne sauce from a bottle, layered with fresh pasta sheets and white sauce from a bottle, then grated cheese on top and in the over for 30 mins (total cooking time 40 mins). Never a scrap left...

Am I a bad mummy???

I do a low-carb version - very long-cooked rich meat sauce as previously described (mince/pancetta/shallots/red wine/tomatoes/herbs/maybe a few mushrooms), cream sauce (double cream heated in m/wave to thicken, pepper & grated nutmeg then mozzarella cheese melted into it), using President Emmenthal cheese slices as the lasagne sheets - they keep their shape and have a similar mouthfeel to cooked lasagne but no carbs!

Yummy

Pheebe, I wondered when/if someone would post my recipe! I add mushrooms, onions and herbs too. Does that make me a better mummy than you? Even if dd is too young to eat it...

Yummy scrummy though!

.

Definitely pancetta or bacon in ragu ( also must have red wine in, or failing that some sort of alcohol. Most things bar Amaretto work quite nicely.)

White sauce has to have freshly grated nutmeg in it.

Tis my kids favourite meal but it requires too many suacepans and dishes to be done too regularly.