Lasagna

my son has asked for Lasagna tonight...and so i bought some sheets of pasta to make it......

just realised that lasagna probably has some sort of white or cheese type sauce in it.........should i rush to the shops or is it something i can make from store cupboard stuff.......

I don't eat pasta so haven't made lasagna before...i make spag bol as i can have rice with mine instead of pasta.......

any suggestions of a cookery nature welcome image

Comments

  • Thin bol mix on base of square/rectangular dish, pasta, repeat.... top with pasta sheet then top with a white cheese sauce.

    Cheese sauce:

    Melt large knob of butter, add large spoonful of flour (off heat), mix to paste. Add spoon fuls of milk and mix until combined...repeat until paste is liquid enough to just chuck rest of milk in (?half pint in total). Voila.

    I don't use scales sorry image

  • So yes it should all be in your store cupboard and I forgot to mention chuck in some cheese either on top or with sauce as you heat it once it's combined

    ....oh and I heat the white sauce to thicken it...

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    Have a look on here, here or here.

    All are very good sources of recipes.

    You can probably manage from what you have, if you have mince, onion, carrot, tomatos and/or passata and flour, milk and cheese.

  • OK...panic not.

    Yes - you do need white sauce. If you really don't want to attempt it, buy a jar of Ragu white sauce and alternate layers as follows:

    White sauce

    Pasta

    meat sauce and repeat until the dish is full - sprinkle cheese on top and bake at approx 180 for 40 ish mins (until the pasta sheets are cooked.

    Otherwise Delia will help you through!

  • You forgot to add the cheese OW!

    Main thing I'd add (apart from the cheese) would be to add the flour slowly stirring a lot to get the lumps out and keep stirring when it's heating.  Once all the milk's in, keep stirring - it will thicken after a few minutes on the heat, then add the cheese

  • This will no doubt be frowned on by foodies, but I make lasagne with a cheese sauce. Quantities put together serve 3 reasonable adults with this as the only thing on the plate!

    My version involves tablespoon butter, melted then removed form the heat and stir in enough plain flour to make a thick paste. Pop the paste back on the hob and stir while heating gently for ~ 2 minutes.

    Remove from the heat, and add (in total) ~ 1/2 pint milk. DON'T ADD it all at once. add the milk initially in small lots, stirring into the paste each time. The paste should get thinner as you add milk, once it's moving freely, add the rest of the milk. Return to the hob & heat to a boil, stirring thoroughly. Once it has boiled, it ought to simmer gently for a few minutes.

    I'd add ~ 100g cheese to that much sauce, grate the cheese and remove the sauce from the pan before adding. Don't return to the heat, otherwise the cheese does something really quite nasty.

    Layer lasagne in the bottom, then bolognase, then pasta, cheese sauce, bolognase. Repeat the pasta, cheese sauce, bolognase. Finish with paste & cheese sauce.

    Add some grated cheese on the top, just so it goes nice & crunchy.

    Cook as per pasta instructions, but usually 45 - 50 mins at gas mark 5 or 6.

    Apologies if that's telling you how to suck eggs...

  • ho hum, I obviously type slowly!

    At least I don't disagree with the posts above - or not too badly!

  • Or you can also substitute the white/cheese/bechamel sauce with creme fraiche. 
  • Easier to make the cheese sauce using milk and cornflour, less likely to go lumpy. Paste of milk and cornflour add more milk and stir until thickened, add cheese, cheddar and parmesan and black pepper.

    Layer lasagne sheets, bol and cheese sauce and repeat. Agree with HL, bake well so it all goes mixed up and hot and bubbling. 

  • thank you so much........sorry FF...not sure what bechamel sauce is and no creme fraiche in the house usually......but pleased to see that i have everything from everyones ideas........


    thats what i like everything basic........

    just to work out what i will eat whilst the family tuck in to it image
  • BookyBooky ✭✭✭
    If you've got some of the tomatoey meat sauce left over, have it with some rice image
  • Mr PuffyMr Puffy ✭✭✭

    Oh stop pissing about

    /members/images/376129/Gallery/untitled.png

  • I would need about 12 of those to feed my family Mr P......i have 3 teenage sons with hollow legs as well as my OH.......image

    which is why i usually cook things myself.......but tend to stick to the same things over a month.......
  • PhilPubPhilPub ✭✭✭

    OK, I assume the way I make lasagne is authentic because it's been handed down from my brother's ex's mum who is about as Italian as it gets.  Maybe it's a southern Italian thing but there's definitely no cheese sauce involved, just cheese.  As well as what is basically a bolognese type sauce that's been cooking for bloody ages, I would coat each pasta layer with a generous sprinkling of: mozzarella, ricotta and parmesan.  Mozzarella's got that lovely stringiness, the ricotta gives you all the creaminess you're looking for, and parmesan is, well parmesan.  And use fresh stuff, not the cheapo stuff you get in the plastic tubs (which I do use, admittedly, for more snacky type pasta dishes.) 

    An extra large layer of cheeses on top of the final layer before you whack it in the oven and don't let it out till there's some serious crispy bits of overdone, brown cheese on top.  If you've used enough sauce there will still be enough moist stuff inside but you don't want to be eating the gooey, soppy mess you get with a cheese sauce.  Just my opinion, like.  image

    BTW, don't ask me about quantities, it's been ages since I've made one.  All I know is, to get the sauce as rich as you need it, you'll always need at least one and possibly two more tins of tomatoes than you really thought was necessary.  That's the key to a good lasagne - rich sauce, lots of proper Italian cheese and don't skimp on the cooking time.

  • My ex-MIL is from South Italy and does exactly what Phil says above with cheese (mozz; ricotta, parmesan) + she added in hard-boiled egg to the layers too. ... and ditto it can't ever be too tomatoey ... and seconded - don't skimp on the cooking time.  I also notice that the amount of lasagne sheets stated in a recipe can usually be halved unless you like chomping through masses of pasta on your way to find the filling/sauce.

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    I use this recipe and works a gem.

  • sounds good Phil.but not the type of thing found in my basic store cupboard image
  • Phil that recipe sounds lush. I will be trying that sometime
  • PhilPubPhilPub ✭✭✭
    Thinking about it, probably the reason I haven't done it for a while is because it takes feckin ages to do properly.  You want well over an hour for the sauce, then all the layering, plenty of time in the oven... in fact my brother used to clear all the kitchen surfaces, cover them with flour and actually make the pastaimage  Now that was a full-on military operation.  I think even he buys the pasta sheets these days.
  • i like to make most meals from scratch.but making pasta would be a step too far from me........and I cheat and use frozen garlic so that its always here and i don't need to chop it....

  • I made one 2 weeks ago Phil - a vegetarian one.  It was a major faff and reminded me why I never make them.  Extra annoyingly a friend asked me to bring it to a dinner party because I was the only non-meat eater and they didn't want to cook for me.  Next time I'll eat at home and join them for dessert like I usually do.
  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    I make pasta - it's fun!  It's not difficult, Seren.

    I use a pasta machine, which makes the rolling out easy.  You can even make the dough in a bread machine if you have one.

    My lasagne recipe has little meat, an onion, a carrot, white wine (cooked down) and passata.

    You layer the meat sauce with pasta, bechamel sauce, and grated parmesan (quite a lot of parmesan), finishing with bechamel and cheese for that topping image.

    Traditionally, pasta dishes don't have the lashings of sauce that we tend to put on them, so lasagne should have a lot of pasta to sauce.

  • as i don't eat pasta wilkie i am not excited by the opportunity to make it myself image......if my son want to learn thats his choice image....I try to avoid getting gadgets that are used once or twice and then left on a worktop or cupboard to collect dust....i think most of us have one or two
  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    I don't have any gadgets that gather dust, the pasta machine gets used regularly, as does the bread machine - I very rarely buy bread.

    I don't have a microwave, though, or a toaster!

  • Making pasta is easy, As Wilkiie says..... Although for pasta sheets a rolling pin is enough.

    a couple of rashers of smoked bacon as well as red wine, passata carrot and onion in mine...

    Delia does a wonderful 4 cheese lasagne, With roquefort, gorgonzola, mozzerella, parmiesan with spinach and pine nutsin the white sauce

  • BookyBooky ✭✭✭
    I think I might make a lasagne this week. All this talk of them is making me want one!
    *goes to google Delia's recipe*
  • It is now in the oven.......

    but i know what my eldest will say.......he will eat it all but it won't be as nice as Marions.......he was in residential school for over 5 years....and in his house he had a brilliant cook.......so if i try any dish that she used to make..i always come second.......

    but as long as they all enjoy it i don't mind......
  • Thanks Phil ! <makes notes>
  • If you put too many sheets in the water at one time they'll stick and you're f*cked...
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