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Who doesn’t love Lasagna?  It’s one of those dishes that’s delicious from beginning to end.

Now, to have this dish prepared for cooking in ten minutes you’ll have to read my previous post Spaghetti Bolognese – where I suggest doubling the quantities so there’s enough sauce left over to make lasagna.

The sauce is very similar for both, so to make life easier (and quicker) make spaghetti bolognese one day and lasagna the next.

Two delicious meals for the effort of one!  Now that’s my kind of cooking.

..and don’t forget to check out Vegetable Lasagna too.

Lasagna

Most of my points under ‘method’ are for making that yummy white sauce that goes on top.  It’s proper name is Bechamel Sauce.

I’ve included a lot of information just in case you’ve never made this white sauce before.

Here goes:-

Lasagna – Ingredients

  • Left over bolognese sauce
  • Ready to cook Lasagna sheets
  • 2 Tablespoons butter or usual spread
  • 2 Tablespoons plain flour
  • 250 ml / 8 fl oz milk (I use soy)
  • Good handful grated Parmesan cheese
  • Extra Parmesan

Lasagna – Method

  1. Spread a little bolognese sauce on the bottom of a large oven proof dish
  2. Top with lasagna sheets
  3. Top with spoonfuls of bolognese sauce
  4. Top with lasagna sheets
  5. Continue in this way a few more times, finishing with lasagna sheets
  6. Gently melt the butter in a saucepan
  7. Add the flour and using a wooden spoon stir to form a thick paste
  8. Take off the heat and add a little of the milk
  9. Stir to combine
  10. Add a bit more milk and return to a moderate heat stove top – keep stirring
  11. Slowly pour in the rest the milk with one hand and continually stir with the other
  12. Eventually you’ll end up with a nice thick white sauce
  13. Add a good handful of Parmesan cheese and stir until melted
  14. Pour this liquid on top of the last layer of lasagne sheets and smooth over
  15. Sprinkle with extra Parmesan cheese
  16. Bake in a moderate over for 30-40 minutes, until golden brown on top
  17. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving

Serving Suggestions

  • I like to serve at the table – you want to show off your creation to all concerned!
  • Serve with mixed green salad
  • Also nice with Garlic Bread served on the side

Variations

  • You might like to try adding a spinach layer.  You can use frozen – just thaw and squeeze out the water
  • If time permits, roast some pumpkin, sprayed with oil and sprinkled with chilli flakes, and use for one of the layers – yummy!
  • Use a combination of milk and plain yoghurt for the white sauce

Handy Hints

  • Don’t panic if your white sauce goes lumpy.  A hand whisk will usually get rid of them.  Just remember to keep stirring and don’t have the heat too high.
  • It’s best to make the lasagna with cold bolognese sauce – that way the lasagna sheets don’t start turning up at the edges as you prepare each layer
  • If you’re going to cook the Lasagna straight away, you can add the white sauce while it is still hot.  Otherwise, wait for the sauce to cool a bit
  • If the white sauce is too thick, add more milk
  • If the white sauce is too thin, it’s too late to add more butter and flour, so just add more Parmesan cheese
  • As I suggested above, it is best to allow the Lasagna to cool for about 5 minutes before serving.  It makes it much easier to slice and serve

Let me know if you made both the Spaghetti Bolognese and this lasagna – and did the family enjoy them?

Thanks for visiting my website.

Jan Littlehales

10 Responses to “Lasagna – in Ten Minutes”

  1. Lina Nguyen says:

    Hi Jan
    Love the efficiency and smart cooking of 2 in 1 meals! Also love the spinach and vegetable options (making a possible vegetarian lasagna).
    In your experience, for how long can you freeze a lasagne in the freezer, to be eaten at a later date?
    Lina

  2. Great to hear you’re enjoying my recipes Lina. With regards to freezing food, I believe the general view is that you can store foods indefinitely, but the quality of the food will deteriorate after time. I probably wouldn’t store a cooked lasagna for more than 3 months (not that it would ever last that long in our freezer). To be safe, check the recommendations for your particular freezer.

  3. I love lasagna but the time it takes to make it usually turns me off, but this 10 minute lasagna sounds delicious. Thanks for the recipe

  4. Harry Lynn says:

    My kind of cooking too ! I made a huge soup last weekend and we got 2 meals each from it + one more meal in the frrrrrrrreezer !
    { Cool }
    Will definitely follow this recipe.
    Dugg, Stumbled Pinged and Hellotxt-ed
    Yummy
    Harry

  5. Lisa wood says:

    Love the idea of dinner in 10 minutes!! With our hungry boys its a good thing to have a quick easy dinner that will fill them up 🙂 I love vegatarian Lasagna, or chicken Lasagna.

    Cheers
    Lisa

  6. Thanks for your comments Lisa, Harry and Jackie.
    I too love vege lasagna Lisa, but alas the boys complain ‘where’s the meat’!!!
    Harry – good planning with the soup – and thanks for the digg and other stuff 🙂
    Let me know how you go Jackie if you make this lasagna.

  7. I’m a fan of the spinach layer. It adds a nice kick. I’m also a fan of going easy on the cheese. It’s like a cardiologist is sitting on my shoulder saying ‘easy does it’. Lasagna is one of those dishes that can feed 3 – 10, with only a minimum change in preparation time. Now that’s a great feature.

  8. Hi David – that’s a great point you make about preparation time – and it’s relevant to many of my dinner in ten minute recipes.
    Definitely worth mentioning in future posts I think. Thanks for taking the time to mention it here. 🙂

  9. I love lasagne. I’ve often made it just this way so it’s great to see the recipe available for everyone to see. This is a yummy recipe and has inspired me to make some this week.

    Some hints I have for making lasagne.

    You can thicken a thin white sauce by mixing some cornflour with a bit of milk and adding it gradually to the sauce. This saves adding the extra parmesan cheese.

    I also always make my white sauce in the microwave using exactly your method but using a glass container to make.

    After making it, IF you have any left overs, you can cut it up when cold to freeze it into single portions to take to work.

  10. Hilary says:

    Great, easy to follow lasagna recipe Jan. My family love it! I will often throw in spinach to add some greens to it. Sometimes I will mix the spinach with some ricotta as well.

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