Mary Berry’s lasagne recipe
When Mary Berry first cooked this recipe on television in the 1970s, she used dripping to fry the meat and vegetables. Seek this out for a really meaty flavour, but olive oil is generally preferable now. You can also stretch this recipe out into two smaller lasagne, one for the freezer and one for now. Do you cook pasta sheets before making lasagne? Fresh pasta never needs to be precooked, but if you like a lot of pasta in your lasagne and are using dried pasta sheets you should consider it. It’s not necessary when making the recipe above, as the ratio of sauce to pasta, plus letting it stand for hours before cooking, means the pasta will be thoroughly cooked. If you are using a lower ratio of sauce to pasta and don’t have time to let it sit for hours before cooking, you might find the pasta is still chewy. What order do you put lasagne layers in? It depends how you like it. Recipes normally start with a layer of Bolognese, then white sauce and then pasta sheets – which is what Mary Berry has done in this recipe. Others add pasta between every layer (so Bolognese, pasta, white sauce, pasta, Bolognese etc). If you like a saucy lasagne, following the recipe above, but if you prefer yours with a bit more structure feel free to add extra layers of pasta. However you like it, finish with a layer of bechamel (white sauce) before adding a final layer of cheese. How many layers should a lasagne have? However many you like! However, we think three is the minimum, with four to five optimal. Do you put cheese on each layer of lasagne? You can, but it’s not essential. If using, add a little cheese on top of each layer of white sauce (as Gennaro Contaldo does in his classic lasagne recipe). Is it better to bake lasagne covered or uncovered? It really depends how you like your lasagne. Covering the top with foil will keep moisture in, which helps the pasta to cook through and results in a soft, saucy lasagne. But if crispy edges are your thing then you are best leaving off the foil. Often the best way is to do a bit of both – cover with foil at first, then remove for the final 15 minutes to allow the top to crisp up. How long should lasagne sit before slicing? It’s best left to cool a little as this helps it firm up. Serving lasagne straight from the oven is a messy business! Letting it sit for half an hour will help keep the layers together so you can serve it in neat slices. How far in advance can you make lasagne before cooking it? You can assemble a lasagne up to 2 days in advance and keep it in the fridge until ready to cook. Alternatively, freeze your uncooked lasagne for up to 3 months. If you don’t want your baking dish in the freezer for weeks on end, line your dish with baking paper or kitchen foil with enough overhang to cover the top before assembling the lasagne. Once the lasagne is assembled, cover the top with the overhang and freeze. Once it is frozen solid it will easily slip out of the dish. Wrap it again with cling film or foil and return to the freezer. When you are ready to cook it, remove the outer wrapping and pop it straight back into the dish. Frozen lasagne takes much longer to cook (around double the time), so cover the top with kitchen foil to prevent it frying out.