Lasagne anyone?

ChewChew

I'm back

THis seems to be my weekend routine now. Cooking!! I love it!

Anyways.. tonight I want to make a lasagne. I've made it before but looking for some suggestions with regards to getting the sauce right...

ballsymchugh

paolo tullio (on newstalk on thursday afternoons!) said that you should cook the pasta first, to get the starch out of it before you add the sauce, otherwise the starch leaches into the sauce making it a bit stodgy!

Swampy

The béchamel or the ragu?

ChewChew

ballsymchugh wrote: »

paolo tullio (on newstalk on thursday afternoons!) said that you should cook the pasta first, to get the starch out of it before you add the sauce, otherwise the starch leaches into the sauce making it a bit stodgy!

I always semi cook the pasta anyways. I suppose what I am really looking for is suggestions for a thicker sauce. I always find with the chopped tomatoes and puree its left a bit watery so I'm looking for a more succulent sauce

trackguy

ChewChew wrote: »

I always semi cook the pasta anyways. I suppose what I am really looking for is suggestions for a thicker sauce. I always find with the chopped tomatoes and puree its left a bit watery so I'm looking for a more succulent sauce

You've just got to cook the sauce slowly for a longer time with the lid off the pot/ pan.

For a ragu sauce, I fry finely chopped onion, celery, carrot and garlic until all the vegetables are soft. I remove these from the pan and add in the mince. A mixture of beef and pork mince is nice. I leave it to fry so that it gets a nice crusty brown colour on the outside before mixing it around.

When it is well browned I add the vegetables back in and add in the tinned tomatoes. I add in a tsp of sugar for each tin of tomatoes. I add a little tomato puree and bring the sauce to the boil. Reduce the heat and let it simmer slowly for about an hour.

You should get a lovely thick sauce that will coat pasta rather than just slip off it!

enda1

Basically OP, don't use any tomatoes in your ragu.
Simple really.
Use a sparing amount of concentrate for the tomato hint of flavour and regulate the consistency of the ragu with whole milk.

For the bechamel, make sure its good and thick. I'd use 1.5 to 2 litres of milk for the bechamel for a two sheet across lasagne in a standard pyrex dish.

trackguy

enda1 wrote: »

Basically OP, don't use any tomatoes in your ragu.
Simple really.
Use a sparing amount of concentrate for the tomato hint of flavour and regulate the consistency of the ragu with whole milk.

For the bechamel, make sure its good and thick. I'd use 1.5 to 2 litres of milk for the bechamel for a two sheet across lasagne in a standard pyrex dish.

I know this method alright - I find though that it is not best with lasagne, it's better if you are serving with spaghetti or other pasta. It's relatively creamy in its own right so serving with a bechamel can be overly rich and creamy.

I find a tomato based sauce gives a nice contrast to the creamy bechamel.

enda1

trackguy wrote: »

I know this method alright - I find though that it is not best with lasagne, it's better if you are serving with spaghetti or other pasta. It's relatively creamy in its own right so serving with a bechamel can be overly rich and creamy.

I find a tomato based sauce gives a nice contrast to the creamy bechamel.

Its a rich dish alright!

Sure the city of Bologna used to market itself as the fattest in Europe/Italy in an effort to impress as back then fat equalled beauty. Bologna was a rich place so could afford to eat to excess.

Regarding the use of tomatoes, I'd have to disagree however. I find the over use of tomatoes completely ruins the beef flavour of the dish. The use of pork as stated above can be an interesting twist, but I'd find a fatty pancetta or streaky bacon lightly salted a better meat to supplement the beef.

Like others have said just cook it longer and it will reduce. Also you can make your bechamel thicker than normal which will balance a bit the over-wateriness.

Anyway OP, as long as you enjoy it, knock yourself out.

curly from cork

A handy hint a friend gave me years ago.. always layer with a sheet of pasta on the base so that when you go to slice it you have a base of pasta for solidity