Lasagne thread

Lysander

Lysander

Lysander

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I am attempting to master lasagne - currently I'm an amateur. I've made two so far, one meat [preference] and one vegetarian, I'll be making another vegetarian one tonight.

The first was OK but the top was a disaster. The pasta was too crisp and hard on top. The second time I covered it with foil after baking it for 15 mins and then uncovered it for another 15 mins, and this time the pasta was undercooked! Since I didn't use bechamel sauce but cottage cheese on top of the pasta sheets the second time round, I think that this gave enough moisture to the pasta on top, so next time I'm going to to cook the whole thing uncovered and it should work!

Here's a photo of the veggie one from last time. Like I say, it looks decent but it was undercooked on top under all that cheese.



This is how my veggie one is developing:

Onions
Garlic
Cumin
Tumeric
Chilli
Chopped Tomato
Tomato Puree
Courgettes
Aubergines
Mushrooms
Red kidney beans
Cottage cheese
Extra mature cheddar

{Meat version, I just substitute the veggies for mince at the moment}.

I know some of you here may consider yourselves a whiz with this dish and can probably produce something far superior to mine, which is definitely beginner level.

Please share any pics and recipes of your own, and any improvement ideas you may have.
 
You need that sauce, so it runs through the meat and is all yum.

bechamel sauce with some cheddar/mozzarella is crucial for a good lasagna IMO.

Though I have used the hairy bikers recipe with chunks of mozzarella and it ain't bad.
 
I find the best way to avoid uncooked pasta is to make the lasagne up and leave for around 4hours minimum to let the sauces soak into the pasta sheets.

Another tip is to pre-soften the pasta in warm water before making them up. This also stops the pasta snapping and flying all over the place as you make it fit your dish!

As @bJN says, i tend to follow that Mary Berry recipe.
 
@ Lysander Good luck with your efforts. I have yet to remember to cook mine early enough, let it cool and then reheat to eat which I keep getting told is the way to do it. If in doubt never hurts to try Basics with Babish on YouTube great cooking channel.

As a terrible self publicisit here is a blog post I wrote about making Lasagna with the kids Monsters.
 
Buy fresh pasta sheets from the chilled section.

When I make a lasagne, it is thin layer of ragu on the bottom, then pasta sheet, then bechemel, then a sprinkling of cheese, and then I rinse repeat (with slightly thicker ragu layers) until the pan is almost overflowing. Making sure to end on a layer of sauce and cheese.

30 mins at 180c and its beautiful.
 
bJN said:
I've done Lasagna a couple of times recently and stuck, mostly, to Mary Berry's Lasagna Al Forno recipe to good success. First one was a little dry but overall very pleased with both of them!
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Thanks for this, will look into it and see how I can adopt or adapt it!

Begbie said:
You need that sauce, so it runs through the meat and is all yum.
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Dammit, you're right. That's what gives it that good creamy inside rather than just pasta + filling.

PlacidCasual said:
@ Lysander Good luck with your efforts. I have yet to remember to cook mine early enough, let it cool and then reheat to eat which I keep getting told is the way to do it. If in doubt never hurts to try Basics with Babish on YouTube great cooking channel.

As a terrible self publicisit here is a blog post I wrote about making Lasagna with the kids Monsters.
Click to expand...

Thanks you and thanks for the link - will have a look :)

pepp77 said:
Buy fresh pasta sheets from the chilled section.

When I make a lasagne, it is thin layer of ragu on the bottom, then pasta sheet, then bechemel, then a sprinkling of cheese, and then I rinse repeat (with slightly thicker ragu layers) until the pan is almost overflowing. Making sure to end on a layer of sauce and cheese.

30 mins at 180c and its beautiful.
Click to expand...

Very good advice. I will get chilled pasta sheets tonight to make sure it's not too hard.
 
Lysander said:
The first was OK but the top was a disaster. The pasta was too crisp and hard on top. The second time I covered it with foil after baking it for 15 mins and then uncovered it for another 15 mins, and this time the pasta was undercooked!
Click to expand...
Every Italian chef (even the ones I don't like) and every Italian recipe I have ever known asserts that you should always boil each lasanga sheet for at least three minutes before layering.
I use heavily salted water (to season the pasta) on a rolling boil and only do one layer's worth at a time, so they don't all stick together in the pot. Put the next batch in while you're layering the other ingredients and it should be ready when you are.
 
I think I've done the Guardian ultimate recipe the last couple of times. Definitely needs bechamel sauce (not cottage cheese, that's a cop out) and need to soak/blanche the sheets first.

I argue with my girlfriend every time about blanching the pasta. She insists you don't need to, and every time we don't it comes out all dry and horrible. I think you probably need to let it sit for a good 10mins afterwards right?
 
Scam said:
I argue with my girlfriend every time about blanching the pasta. She insists you don't need to, and every time we don't it comes out all dry and horrible. I think you probably need to let it sit for a good 10mins afterwards right?
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Went through this with my wife once.
Have her (not you) make two smaller lasagne, doing everything identically except one with and one without pre-cooked sheets. She will never do it the wrong way again!!
 
Leastaways with sainsbury wholewheat & garofalo white sheets, that I've been mixing in dishes for years, neither of those need pre-cooking, creating additional washing-up;
just make sure the bechemel is sufficiently fluid and cook dish sufficiently long, even, with a lid on the oven dish for some of the time 170C 50-60min.

Always make the meat sauce up several days before and refrigerate , batch freeze some for later, it won't get together in one day eg., the bay leaves won't have infused.

sometimes add some dollops of moz on the top, left-overs from pizza making.
 
ttaskmaster said:
Went through this with my wife once.
Have her (not you) make two smaller lasagne, doing everything identically except one with and one without pre-cooked sheets. She will never do it the wrong way again!!
Click to expand...
I mean it's just science right? Pasta loves water. It'll soak up all the lovely juices if you don't give it some before the bake.
 
Lasagne (gj spelling it right OP) is my staple dish to cook. Probably not traditional, but learnt it from my mum.

Brown mince and strain off excess fat. Remove from pan then fry off onions in same pan with some oil. Once done, re-add the mince with mushrooms, chili, garlic, and optionally some chopped red pepper. If can be arsed to do stock for more flavour, add some flour at this point to cook onto the mince to thicken things up. Then add 2 tins chopped toms (cheap as you like) and some beef stock if can be bothered. Once simmered for about 20-30 mins, season well (it can take it) with salt and pepper, lea and perrins, and depending on how the chili is behaving at this point, a bit of tabasco. Even sometimes put ketchup in at this point if I feel like it wants more tomato flavour.

Make a white sauce (butter flour and milk) and grate in some cheddar. Layer of the bolognese sauce in bottom of the cooking dish followed by sheets of lasagne (I never pre cook and have never found them to be undercooked), then a layer of white sauce, and repeat. Ideally you get 3 layers in but depends on amounts you have of everything.

Top layer is white sauce with extra grating of cheese on top. Cook for 35-40 mins, keeping an eye that it doesn't burn at the edges.

Serve with salad in summer or peas (and optional baked potato if hungry) in winter.
 
dl8860 said:
keeping an eye that it doesn't burn at the edges.
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But the burnt edges are the best bit... I take a blow torch to mine before serving!

Lasagne has been a favourite of mine for many years, but having recently gone mostly vegetarian I have been trying to perfect my veggie one for a while. I think my favourite "mince" mix at the moment is equal parts soffritto (fried off), lentils (green/brown) and mushrooms (finally minced). Then add the tomatoes, herbs, chilli and cook down. Then assemble. You need to be sure to cook it down a fair amount else you will have a soggy end product.
 
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