The Lasagne.

A Lasagne usually doesn't look much but doesn't it taste ever so nice?  I tried my hand on many sort of Lasagne, just using different ingredients that is all. Garfield preferred Food is very liked in my home.

Garfield Dance for a Lasagna Clip

Call it Lasagne or Lasagna, it is simply layers of goodness pile on top of one another. The Lasagne Pasta Sheets are giving the entire dish structure. I do like it soft so I do part boil my sheets of Pasta before using them but some do prefer it Al Dente and some do not. I think it is a matter of preference.

Lasagne Sheets, Dry Pasta Ones on the left and Butternut Squash Ones.

The layering is important as it is the back bone as per say of a Lasagne. Apart from the Pasta Sheets, an essential ingredient is a good Tomato Sauce Home Made or Shop bought. As I grow my own Tomatoes, I tend to prepare Tomato Sauce Jars for us to use at Home. They can be experimental: Put Shallots and Sweet Peppers as addition within the Sauce for example. There was a Tomato Sauce done with our Garden Chillies as a little addition which had a real kick to it that was not unwelcomed. Another one which I made and liked a lot was a Tomato and Mushroom Sauce.

 Beef Heart Tomatoes from our Garden: Nice to make a Tomato Sauce and to also stuff.

Then of course there is the quintessential White Sauce or the Béchamel. This one gives the unctuousness and the smooth texture to the Lasagne. With a little bit of Nutmeg it also impart it with warmth of Spice. You can prepare it yourself or skip that step and buy a Dolmio one. 

Spread gently to coat evenly all the pasta sheets with the Béchamel Sauce. Make sure the sheets overlaps to prevent any holes.

The choice of other ingredients is entirely yours. A good Beef Mince Ragu is usually customary but nothing is stopping you to try different things. I did make a Spinach and Mushroom Lasagne which turned out to be delicious. It was upon a recommendation of the Doctor that I needed more Iron in my diet hence I needed to include within it more Spinach (like Popeye) and more Parsley.

The building up is slightly different for the Lasagne of course but not overwhelmingly so.

After the Home Made Tomato Sauce which did contain chopped Shallots and minced Garlic but also chopped Parsley, I cooked the Spinach and formed little balls which I can evenly placed upon the layer of Tomato Sauce. Then I can add in the interspaces the Sautéed Wild Mushrooms. Chanterelle, Portobello and Girolle Mushrooms were used.

Chanterelle Mushrooms, they are just darker than the Girolle ones who are Yellow.

Girolle Mushrooms. The stem of a Girolle is slightly thicker than the one of a Chanterelle.