Lasagne is a dish that is different everywhere you go. Even in Italy every region has its’ own way of preparing this staple, so once you spread to the rest of the world, well, there’s lots of variations. The one I make is a mish-mash of the one my Mum used to make for us, along with adaptations from the recipe for lasagne in The Silver Spoon (the best Italian cookbook out there in my opinion). In addition to that, I don’t really write anything down for most of my savoury dishes, so it’s a little different every time I make it. Anyone who knows me can also tell you, I can’t make lasagne in small quantities, it seems to be impossible to me!

Lasagna (the singular of the word lasagne) is believed to be derived from the Greek lasanon meaning chamber pot, yes that’s right. Chamber pot. The Romans borrowed the word to name cooking pots of the same shape, it became lasanum. Eventually it came to refer to the broad sheets of pasta layered up in the pots, rather than the pots themselves, and somewhere along the line it became lasagna.

Durum wheat makes the best pasta, in fact, in Italy they make so much pasta that their production of Durum wheat can’t keep up and they have to import some! In Italy (and England) lasange sheets are flat, to make it easier to layer up, in America the edges of the sheets are ruffled, they say to help trap the sauces better, though I’ve seen no difference.. It makes them look fancier!

We start by making the ragu. This is a term that traditionally means beef stew, though currently it seems to mean beef in an Italian style/tomato sauce. Saute off the onions in olive oil, until they are becoming transparent, I added a few green bell peppers too since we had them. When they’re almost done add the garlic. Most people add the garlic in with the onions, this is no good, garlic cooks much quicker than onions so put it in near the end.

My favourite part, add wine! Now red wine is probably more suited to lasagne, but we had white on hand, so white it was. Add a good amount and reduce it down (if you want you can add the wine after the meat and stew the meat in the wine). Once it has been thoroughly reduced add the meat. I put the lid on the pot and leave it for a while, coming back now and again to stir. This is going to release a lot of juices and fat from the meat. While these are delicious you’re going to have more than you need, or your sauce will be all watery, so get a ladle and take some of those juices away, I probably ended up taking a good 16oz or so out of this one (I started with 6lb of meat).

Add the tomatoes, I used two large cans of crushed tomatoes, and stir them in well. Leave to simmer for a while, it’ll taste good if you do! Near the end, chop up your herbs (I used a mix from the garden, basil, parsley, oregano and chives) and add them, and add your chopped mushrooms. Let simmer for a short while then start tasting for seasoning. I  had filled, completely, a 6qt pot by this time.. This is going to take, a lot more salt and pepper than you think. Yes you don’t want too much salt, but by the time it’s spread out between 16 portions it really isn’t that much, and you do need some to help bring out the flavours. Add a little at a time, stirring and tasting after each addition.. You can always add more, but if you through too much in there’s not much that can be done, until you’re familiar with making this dish go slow.

Turn off the heat and put the ragu to one side. Next we’ll make the bechamel.

In a heavy bottom pan melt some butter, once it is melted stir in some flour to make a roux. Stir it until the flour has cooked out, your bechamel will taste floury if you don’t. A trick I was told once was when it’s smelling like baking cookies then the flour is cooked out enough and you can move on. Unlike most times I’m making a roux, this is the one instance where you want to keep it white.

Slowly add milk, a little at a time. At the start it will hit the hot pan and sizzle and steam, just keep going, keep stirring, it’ll come together and if you stop stirring it will stick and burn on your pan, and a burnt bechamel tastes horrible! It will go through a phase where it seems that it’s not getting any thinner, it looks like a large pot of mashed potatoes and that liquid is just vanishing and making it seem like more mashed potatoes. Be patient, it will get there, and if you go slow and keep stirring you’ll end up with a nice smooth bechamel that you don’t have to strain. I always add some ground black pepper to my bechamel, that’s just my preference.

Now you have all the components. Much as I love making fresh pasta I don’t have a roller and find it hard to roll out thin enough by hand, so we’ll be using dried. Start with a layer of the meat sauce in the dish, then a layer of pasta, then a thin layer of bechamel. Keep repeating those layers, in that order, until you fill up the dish you are using. The dishes we had are pretty shallow so only two layers of everything. Make sure you finish with a bechamel layer.

Finish it off with cheese, lots of cheese. We had attempted to make our own mozzarella to go on top… it kinda failed.. but we ended up with something that seemed to be a cross between mozzarella and ricotta. I am not really a ricotta fan, I’ll eat it now and again, it has it’s place, but I dislike the American idea of filling a lasagne with ricotta. But we had it, so each lasagne got a small smear on top. We added some bought mozzarella, grated on top, and a touch of grated parmesan.

Bake in the oven until the pasta is cooked and the cheese is golden. Usually 30-45 minutes at 350F. Leave to sit for a few minutes and then cut up and serve. Enjoy with a fresh salad or some crusty bread… garlic bread is the best!