Lasagne

[jennyjoan]

When you make your lasagne - what cheese do you top it with.

I made one yesterday and used Extra Strong Mature Cheese and it was too strong for me. But my visitors thought it lovely - next time I make it I want to get a milder cheese. Would it be morrezzla(sp)

[diddlydo]

I bet the Italian friend didn't use a tub of bought so-called "fresh" sauce which is full of additives, stabilisers etc etc. If you've got a microwave, a plastic or Pyrex jug and a whisk you can make bechamel much better than any ready-made sauce.

[Tilly2]

Tell me how, diddlydo, please.

[Togo]

You just add smoked pancetta to the ragu whilst cooking Jenny. I even once experimented with smoked cheese in the Béchamel but it was not an improvement.

[dannyk13]

Here's one recipe Tilly, you can find many more on line.

https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/international/european/french/classic-white-bechamel-sauce

[Prudie]

I'd also say that authentic lasagne doesn't have cheese in at all.

[MargoTester]

https://epicure.com/en-ca/recipe/4461
This any help Tilly

[dannyk13]

Prudie, not in it, but shaved cheese on top.

[Togo]

Ditto Danny.^^ It was the Americans(who else) that substituted the Béchamel with Ricotta cheese. Why would you do that?

[gingejbee]

diddlydo....fresh sauce with no additives, stabilizers etc etc...not difficult to find...

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/waitrose-cooks-ingredients-bechamel-sauce/808002-673847-673848

[Tilly2]

Thank you, Danny and Margo. I might give it a go.

I think a lasagne is what you want it to be. I think we could quibble all day about the authenticity. What I cook is what I like the taste of. I don't really mind if it's not the real McCoy. We like it, so that's fine.

[dannyk13]

Tilly, one of the joys of cooking is to adapt a recipe to suit your own taste.

[gingejbee]

Tilly....absolutely agree. Ask 10 Italians to make a lasagne and you'll get ten different versions - same as moussaka and the Greeks and Scouse and Liverpudlians!

[MargoTester]

Exactly Tilly, I like a little Gruyere cheese on mine, probably frowned on, but we like it.

[Togo]

Just another little fact. I am pretty sure that originally the Italians used sago flour to make the Béchamel, but corn flour suits me. Sago flour is harder to source for a sauce.

[pastafreak]

// Togo

Ditto Danny.^^ It was the Americans(who else) that substituted the Béchamel with Ricotta cheese. Why would you do that? //

According to wiki, there are many regional variations. This I discovered when comparing the Naples version made by my mum, with the totally different version an Italian friend made. She told me that it was originally a celebratory meal with many variations. Obviously the neopolitan version became the "American lasagne" because most Italian immigrants were from the south.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasagne

[diddlydo]

Tilly - microwave bechamel. Heaped desertspoonful flour in jug, whisk in milk, add big knob of butter + salt and pepper. Heat, whisk, heat, whisk until desired consistency (add more milk if too thick). Child's play. Same method to make cheese sauce, parsley sauce etc etc.

[Tilly2]

Thank you for that, DD. You make it seem so simple. I will give it a go.