A homemade lasagne is easy to customise whether it be replacing the meat with vegetables or adding extra cheese.
That said, it’s not the most straightforward dish to whip up from scratch because it has so many components.
However, British chef Mary Berry has the ultimate cooking hack to ensure every lasagne comes out perfect every single time.
Sharing a recipe from her book The Complete Aga Cookbook, Mary explained that a little preparation doesn’t go a miss when it comes to this classic Italian meal.
The best part is that the chef’s tip requires absolutely no extra ingredients or unique cooking tools whatsoever.
She explained: “If using dried pasta, I make this ahead in the morning or even the day before – this gives time for the sauces to soften the pasta before cooking.”
Not only does this prevent those unpleasant hard, crunchy pasta sheets, but also allows the flavours to meld together before being cooked.
This makes the lasagne much easier to cook to perfection without the risk of the layers cooking at different rates.
When doing this, the lasagne can be made up to the point where it is fully assembled but not yet cooked, and will keep for just one day. Alternatively, Mary Berry recommended making the lasagne and freezing it for up to one month before cooking.
Method
Take a 1.8-litre capacity ovenproof dish, set aside, and heat the oil in a large frying pan on the hob or boiling plate if using an Aga.
Add the onion and fry for a couple of minutes, then follow with the mushrooms and garlic and stir while cooking for two minutes. Tip in the tinned tomatoes, thyme, vinegar, sugar, tomato paste and spinach and cook for five minutes until the greens have wilted and the sauce is bubbling. Season with plenty of salt and pepper.
To make the cheese sauce, melt the butter in a pan then add the flour and stir for one minute, whisk in the milk, add the mustard and half the cheese, then season and bring to a boil, whisking to thicken.
Put one-third of the vegetables in the base of the ovenproof dish then follow with a layer of the cheese sauce (one-third of it) spread over the top. Finish with half the lasagne sheets then repeat the layers until there are three layers of vegetables and cheese sauce and two layers of pasta.
Sprinkle with the remaining cheese then cook in a preheated oven at 200C/190C fan/ Gas 6 for 30-35 minutes, or cook in the roasting oven of the Aga until “golden brown, bubbling around the edges and the pasta is tender”, as put by Mary.
