For ultra-defined layers, bake this deep dish lasagne a day ahead. After chilling it will slice easily, and still hold its shape when reheated. Rich and cheesy, this is best served in small portions with a tomato, red onion and rocket salad, drizzled with sweet-sharp balsamic vinegar
Abi is our former Junior Food Editor. An obsessive foodie with a sweet tooth, she is happiest when baking and is a firm believer that there is always room for dessert (preferably following a big bowl of pasta)
See more of Abigail Spooner’s recipes
Abigail Spooner
Abi is our former Junior Food Editor. An obsessive foodie with a sweet tooth, she is happiest when baking and is a firm believer that there is always room for dessert (preferably following a big bowl of pasta)
See more of Abigail Spooner’s recipes
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Ingredients
125g butter, plus extra to grease
500g leeks, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
600g baby leaf spinach
generous grating of nutmeg (from a whole nutmeg)
100g plain flour
700ml milk
75g Parmesan, grated*
1 x 250g tub ricotta*
10 fresh egg lasagne sheets
250g feta*, crumbled
15g pine nuts
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Step by step
Get ahead
Best made the day before, cooled and chilled (or frozen in portions). See step 7 for reheating.
Preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6. Fully line a loose-based 20cm square cake tin with a double layer of foil and grease with a little butter. Cut 2 long strips of baking paper, 20cm wide, and lay them in the tin crossways, with the excess extending over the sides.
Melt 25g of the butter in your largest saucepan. Cook the leeks and garlic with a pinch of salt over a medium-low heat for 5 minutes until softened. Add the spinach (in batches if necessary), cover and leave to wilt for 5 minutes. Stir to combine, season with nutmeg and black pepper and tip into a colander over a large bowl to drain.
Melt the remaining 100g butter in a large pan. Add the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring. Remove from the heat and gradually add the milk. Cook on a medium heat, stirring continuously, until the sauce has thickened. Turn off the heat and whisk in two-thirds of the Parmesan, followed by the ricotta, until smooth. Season to taste and spoon out 2 ladlefuls of the sauce to reserve for the top of the lasagne. Stir the drained spinach and leek mixture into the sauce left in the pan.
Put the lasagne sheets in a heatproof dish, cover with boiling water from the kettle and leave to soften for 1 minute then lift out to a board. Cut the sheets to size so that they will fit neatly into the prepared tin.
Spread a thin layer of the spinach sauce (about one-eighth) in the base of the prepared tin. Scatter with a small handful of feta, followed by a layer of lasagne sheets. Repeat these three layers, seven more times, finishing with lasagne sheets. Spread over the reserved white sauce, then scatter with the remaining Parmesan and the pine nuts.
Sit the tin on an oven tray; bake for 40-45 minutes until golden brown and bubbling. Rest for 15 minutes and serve, or see our Get Ahead tip above.
To reheat, preheat the oven to 190°C, fan 170°C, gas 5. Push the lasagne out of the tin from the base and cut into 9 squares. Place the desired number of squares in a large ovenproof dish, cover with foil and bake for 35-40 minutes until piping hot. Uncover and bake for a further 5 minutes to crisp up the top. Any other squares can be frozen for another time, then defrosted before reheating.
*Use vegetarian cheese if required
Serve with
Courgette and radish ribbon salad with basil dressing Roasted squash, olive, avocado and rocket salad Balsamic courgette, pine nuts and Parmesan salad
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After the initial sauce layer, add a layer of pasta sheets, ricotta mixture (or bechamel), sauce, and cheese. Then repeat the layers. Top the last layer of your lasagna with sauce and cheese. You can also alternate layers of sauce and ricotta cheese.
Adding egg to ricotta cheese helps to bind the cheese for lasagna so that it doesn't ooze out of the casserole when you cut it. Basically, the egg helps all the cheesy goodness stay intact. So what happens if you don't put eggs in your lasagna? It'll just be a bit runnier, but omitting the egg won't affect the taste.
A good lasagna will have cheese on every layer. This is traditionally a ricotta, mozzarella blend. The top layer is usually a blend of mozzarella, Romano, and parmigiano .
Eggs help prevent the ricotta from drying out and serve to bind the ricotta so it doesn't become runny. One or more eggs are recommended whether you add the other ingredients mentioned here or not.
The key to creating the absolute best lasagna is to use a combination of ricotta and cottage cheese. Ricotta brings the rich creaminess while cottage cheese lightens things up and seasons the whole dish. For even more cheese, we recommend also using shredded Mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese (or Pecorino Romano).
A béchamel is rich, creamy, and better adheres the layers of pasta together. But some still firmly believe ricotta is the way to go. It's lighter in texture than a béchamel and can offset the richness of the meat sauce and mozzarella.
Sugar: Two tablespoons of white sugar add subtle sweetness and enhance the flavor of the sauce. Spices and seasonings: This lasagna recipe is flavored with fresh parsley, dried basil leaves, salt, Italian seasoning, fennel seeds, and black pepper. Lasagna noodles: Use store-bought or homemade lasagna noodles.
The biggest offender, though, is watery, thin pasta sauce. A helpful technique can prevent this pitfall from sabotaging your lasagna: Reduce your sauce to thicken it before pouring it into the casserole.
A good tomato paste helps to thicken but also adds a sweet and savory umami flavor. Lean Ground Beef: Lean beef adds a robust and hearty meatiness that's essential in a classic lasagna recipe.
To construct lasagna, in a lightly greased baking dish, layer meat sauce, cheese sauce and lasagna sheets, (making sure the lasagna sheets are totally covered). Repeat layers, finishing with cheese sauce. Scatter over mozzarella cheese. Cover loosely with foil, bake 20 minutes.
Betony Kitchen says you could make lasagna with as little as two layers for a quick lasagna that doesn't take long to bake. Many, however, would consider this skimping. Most recipes you'll find for lasagna call for a minimum of three layers, which seems to be the universal standard.
Once the lasagna is ready, cover the pan with a layer of aluminum foil. Place the pan in the oven and allow it to bake for 30 minutes, then remove the foil so the cheese can brown.
In the past I've had problems with the lasagna being too watery. I find that only happens when I used a combo of whole milk ricotta and whole milk mozzarella. If I use part-skim ricotta, it's always just right. The addition of cottage cheese may seem a bit odd, but it really does lighten up the texture of the ricotta.
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Prep time: 1 hr
