Lasagne

[shazbang]

Following wingnuts question, can anyone give me a really good bog standard recipe for lasagne? Its my favourite dish but somehow never seems to come out right when i make it from scratch. cheers :-)

[heathfield]

Using the bog standard recipe that comes on the lasagne packaging usually results in a gloppy mess. If that's the problem, just put your cooked lasagne aside till next day. It'll have totally firmed up, and can be reheated in the oven. (about 180 deg C for 25 to 35 mins).

[beryllium]

Hey shaz, when you make the mince, ie, meat, onions, garlic,mushrooms, fresh basil, dried oregano herbs, bay leaf, nutmeg, tinned toms, courgettes if liked, stock and red wine, cook it until the juice is cooked down, so you dont have too much 'wet' food to layer with the cheese sauce....

for cheese sauce, we use 6 eggs beaten, mixed with ricotta, mascarpone, gruyere and parmesan and whipping cream and top off with grated cheese and parmesan before the oven....

the next day is heavenly.....

[bellasasha]

i will give you the traditional italian recipe my family use:

we make the pasta from scratch too, but you can use ready made lasagne sheets...boil them up in boiling salted water with a few drops of olive oil in the water. cook 4-6 sheets at a time to stop them sticking. cook them until they are just pliable and drain on a t towel.

make the bechamel sauce which is flour and butter, make a roux, add milk, nutmeg, pepper and a bay leaf and cook until thick

make bolognese sauce, olive oil and onions and garlic, cook til soft, add mince and brown well, add tins of tomatoes and passatta, cook for about an hour.

on the bottom of an oven dish put some of the bolognese sauce, place a layer of pasta sheets, then bolognese, bechamel and some mozzarella, then pasta sheets in the opposite direction, bolognese, bechamel, parmesan, keep repeating til dish is full. top with bolognese, bechamel and a mix of mozarella and parmesan....cook for 45 mins, you can then freeze this and keep for abput 3 months....buonissimo!!!

[nickmo]

And when you get bored, try 1 of the 466 options: http://www.astray.com/recipes/?search=lasagna

Have a go at crab, or dandelion, or white chocolate with peanut ice cream (if you try this, the 'half & half' ingredient in case you didn't know is a mix of half cream and half full fat milk) or spinach and sausage - lots of ideas - but the original is probably the best, and the above from bella.. is about as good as you'll get.

[aprilarnold]

It doesn't have to be so difficult! chop some onions nice and small. Fry them in a dash of oil, low heat with some crushed garlic, dont let them burn. put them on a plate, turn up the heat and put the mince in the pan brown it off stirring to brown evenly after 10 mins add the onions, tip in a tin of chopped tomatoes, a spoonfull of oregano, 1 grated carrot, 2 inches of tomato puree, an oxo cube crumbled, a teaspoon of sugar, and a splash of leftover red wine (you could always open a fresh bottle which means you can then drink the rest while the bolognese is cooking!) Put the lid on the pan - I sometimes use my wok if I'm making a pound of mince. stir occasionally, add salt and pepper as needed. Make the white sauce in whatever way you do yours. Make layers of dried pasta sheets and bolognese. Top it with white sauce and grate lots of cheese on top. Put it in the oven for an hour. Serve with a big bowl of home-made coleslaw and the wine if you have any left! A garlic pizza bread goes well too.......