Homemade Lasagne

LoneGunM@n

I made a lasange last weekend [using the Roma lasagne pack] and although very tasty, I felt cheated 'cause I like to make meals from scratch if possible!!

Therefore, please could the food loving peeps give me their favourite recipes for lasagne [sauces]!

dudara

Ok, you're in luck, because I make great lasagne

tomato sauce
Chop two onions and as much garlic as you like. Fry in a heavy bottomed pot in olive oil until soft. Add in two tins of tomatoes, and about 1-2 teasp sugar, as well as salt, pepper, basil and oregano. Maybe a glass of red wine if you have it. Bring to the boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer. After 10-20 mins, taste, it might need more sugar, salt or herbs, you'll know as you make it. what you want here is a rich bolognese sauce.

Bechamel sauce.
Melt about 2oz butter in a saucpan, over low heat. Mix in a tablespoon of flour/cornflour to form a paste. Use a whisk here. Keep it moving and over a low heat to prevent burning. Add in a little milk, and whisk together. As it cooks, it will thicken to a paste again, at which stage you add more milk. Keep adding milk gradually, until you have as much sauce as you want at the thickness you need. If it gets runny, add a little more flour to thicken it again. To make the sauce cheesy, add in grated cheddar and whisk until it has melted. Add salt to season and a little white pepper ( I don't use black here so the specks don't show).

After that I think you know what to do

bonzai bob

home made lasagne is MY FAVOURITE!!!

I haven't tried making my own sauces but who cares, i could just eat 1 all by myself. Best meal EVER!!!

marshmallow

dudara- i might just try making the sauces some time..

i too use the Roma sauces but it's still damn good to eat!! mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm............................

MissRibena

I love homemade lasagne too. Bechemel sauce is love with some freshly grated nutmeg added - it just seems to bring out the flavour and richness a bit more. (It's lovely in scrambled eggs and lots of unlikely dairy dishes - probably every cook knows this but I thought I was great to discover it!). Also Jamie Oliver doesn't bother with white sauce at all and just uses a tub of craime freche, which sounds very yum, I have to say, although I've never had dazzling results from any of Jamie's recipes (apart from the roast chicken).

Lasagne is fairly labour intensive so I take loads of shortcuts and following on from my tightwad post, here's what I do to make cost-effective lasagne:

Re Tomato sauce; make a huge pot of it. Brown about 6-8 onions til nutty for extra flavour (do some on a george foreman if you have one) and fry off some crushed cloves of garlic too. Add approx 1 tin of tomatoes for every onion. Add the following according to taste: spoons of mustard (english one is nicest - one desertspoon per tin of tomatoes), crushed olives, tomatoe puree, red wine if you have it, bay leaves, sugar. Simmer for an hour, take out bay leaves and whiz in blender (optional).

This is where I cheat a bit; you can freeze this in portions and turn it into anything; bolognaise, lasagne, meatball sauce, stir in sauce, chilli con carne. Just don't add in the herbs and spices til you come to prepare the dish for real. (Like cinnamon and chilli don't go with Italian too well and oregano and basil are a bit weird in mexican).

When making the lasagne, make more than you want. Freeze dishes with made up lasagne (no need to cook the pasta sheets) and then you can just bung them in the oven rather than starting from scratch the next time. Note: don't use sauce you've already frozen for this.

Rebecca

Tammyo

I always like to add in peppers, mushroons and carrots- gives it more nutrition and its tastier!! But have to say, made a vegetarian lasagne last week for the first tine and it was delicious!! Nicer than a beef one.Believe me..

bonkey

I notice all the suggestions for tom sauce so far used tinned tomatoes. Just in case anyone is wondering, you can use fresh tomatoes instead (which we always do). As long as you cut out where the stem joins, you'll be fine...chop into chunks and use - don't even bother skinning them.

I'm definitely in the "red wine in sauce" camp...but then again...wine is so cheap over here (poor me...).

If you can get 'em, I'd suggest you try fresh rather than dried herbs. Again a slightly different taste (specially if you can get fresh young garlic).

Oh - one other thing. When you're frying teh mince....season with some paprika, dried ground sage and rosemary, salt and pepper. Don't be afraid about over-seasoning slightly, cause it'll cook into the lasagne perfectly.

jc

bonkey

Tammyo wrote:

But have to say, made a vegetarian lasagne last week for the first tine and it was delicious!! Nicer than a beef one.Believe me..

Had a swiss chard lasagne at a mates place a wee while back. I normally don't like swiss chard...but flippin' 'eck, I was impressed...

jc