By the end of the working and school week I feel weary. This means dinner needs to be something I can make in automatic mode, an old favourite, guaranteed to be wolfed down by my children. A meal that can be prepared well ahead of serving time that still tastes great and is nourishing. For me, lasagne tick all the boxes. 

This is a photo of our dinner this evening. My lasagne is not a pretty, squared shaped, perfect looking shop-bought variety. It is rustic and home made in appearance. It has layers and layers of pasta sheets, meat sauce enriched with vegetables, nutmeg scented béchamel and cheese. This lasagne is made to be eaten, not just admired. 


My Lasagne to serve 8 people

Don’t be put off by the various steps. Lasagne is an easy and rewarding meal to make, especially if you use my method of cooking the meat sauce. 

1) Meat Sauce

Use the sauce from my recipe for Super Tasty Spaghetti Bolognese which can be found under the Blog Archive section. Cooking the sauce in the oven is a true time saver. You will have meat sauce left over which can be frozen for later use. Alternatively, if you want enough sauce for this lasagne only, then halve all the quantities specified in the bolognese post. 

2) Béchamel Sauce

Ingredients
1 x litre full cream milk
100 grams unsalted butter
2 tablespoons plain flour
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

In one pot pour in the milk and bring it to the boil. Remove from the heat just as the milk starts to rise up the sides of the saucepan. Watch it carefully to prevent bubbling over and burning. 

In another small pot, melt the butter, then add the nutmeg and flour all the while stirring to prevent burning, until the mixture thickens into a soft, golden ball. This takes about 2 minutes.This is called a “Roux”.  

Whisk the roux into the milk over a medium heat. You must keep whisking to smooth out any lumps and to evenly combine the milk and roux into a silky, thickened sauce. This takes about 4 minutes.

3) Assembly

Ingredients
meat sauce
béchamel sauce
500 grams of instant lasagne sheets
400 – 500 grams of sliced bocconcini or mature mozzarella cheese
This part is very quick. It’s up to you what sort of layering order you use but this is the one I prefer.  In a large rectangular dish (I used a Le Creuset baking dish measuring 24 cm x 35 cm), spread a layer of meat sauce over the base. Top with pasta sheets, followed by the béchamel sauce, another layer of pasta sheets, then back to the meat sauce, now the béchamel, pasta sheets etc. until the baking dish is full. Lay slices of cheese, either bocconcini, or the more mature yellow-toned mozzarella over the top. 

Cover with a sheet of baking paper and then aluminium foil. My wise  and reliable friend Maria  passed on this useful tip to me. The baking paper prevents the cheese sticking to the foil. Into a preheated fan forced oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove the paper and foil and leave in for an extra 10 minutes until the top is bubbling and brown.  

Serve with a crisp, zesty salad. I tossed together baby cos lettuce, Sicilian olives, feta cheese (preferable one made with Sheep’s milk for depth of flavour), cucumbers with extra virgin olive oil, vino cotto, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.