Easy lasagne

Easy and tasty lasagne where I cheat by not making a real béchamel sauce. Instead, I just mix cheese, creme fraiche and milk and pour it over the lasagna before it goes into the oven. In addition to being a little cheat that is quicker than making real béchamel sauce, it is also a gluten-free alternative. Now this lasagna contains regular lasagne plates so the dish is NOT gluten-free, but there are gluten-free pasta plates to buy and then you can just change them straight off. However, the gluten-free lasagne plates I used have all required a little more liquid as they absorb more than usual.

In this particular recipe, I also use a real bolognese as I think it will be very good in a lasagne, but of course you can make a simpler sauce if you wish. I always cook a much larger amount of bolognese than I need so I can freeze a few portions and then e.g. pick out and heat quickly if you want a lasagna like this. The amount of bolognese is calculated on the raw ingredients in my bolognese recipe so cooked it is more around 650 grams as a lot of liquid disappears during cooking. Basically, its half a batch of my bolognese recipe that I intend to need in this lasagne.

With both a little cheat for béchamel sauce and a little cheat to use previously prepared bolognese, this becomes a quick and easy dish to prepare. It still needs some time in the oven, but the amount of work needed for the preparation is minimal as you have already done the biggest job.

Lasagne is said to have originated in Italy in the 14th century, where the first written recipe could be found in Liber de Coquina (The Book of Cooking). There was certainly only a slight resemblance to todays lasagna as it consisted of fermented dough that was rolled out into thin plates that were boiled, covered with cheese and spices and then eaten with a stick. Later recipes recommended that you cook the pasta in chicken broth.

The most common version of lasagne outside Italy is lasagne al forno which is made from layers of pasta, ragu and béchamel sauce. Other versions are e.g. lasagne di carnevale from Naples consisting of layers of sausages, meatballs, hard-boiled eggs, mozzarella and Neapolitan stew.

• Replace the bolognese meat with a vegetarian alternative. A recipe for vegetarian lasagna made with red lentils and mushrooms can be found in this recipe collection.
• Make gluten-free by replacing regular lasagna plates with gluten-free ones. If necessary, compensate with more water as some gluten-free pastas absorb a lot of liquid.
• Use fresh lasagne plates instead of dried ones. This shortens the cooking time a bit.
• You can prepare everything until the lasagna goes into the oven and put it in the fridge or even freeze it to only cook it at a later time.
• Add some bacon to the bolognese.
• Use thin slices of zucchini instead of the pasta plates.