Day 1 & 2 - Gino D'Acampo's Lasagne di Mamma

I love Italian food and pasta is always a family favourite so I decided to start with a recipe from a book I purchased recently "Gino's Italian Escape" by Gino D'Acampo.

                                  

Even though I come from a family where we always had a traditional roast on Sundays (and I do love roast dinners) we don't follow by that rule in our house so I decided to try the Lasagne di Mamma recipe.

Now I have a habit of not reading the whole recipe before I get started (must work on that!) so half way through I was so glad it was a Sunday and my husband was there to mind the kids as this Lasagne takes quiet a bit of time to make. But it is soooooo worth it......

The meat sauce is made first and I don't know if it was the simmering for an hour or the addition of the red wine but mama mia this sauce is so good. 

I have never made bechamel sauce before and it was surprisingly easy. The only thing I did different from the recipe was turn the heat up as my sauce didn't seem to be thickening on the low heat even after the recommend 10 minutes or more. 

It was then time to construct the lasagne, I highly recommend using fresh lasagne sheets as they really do cook and taste better, also I never knew (after making loads of lasagnes) that you should start with a layer of bechamel sauce and this was my first time adding cubed butter on top with the parmesan cheese but it all came together into a beautiful lasagne and I have to say I was very proud of myself.

Sorry about this photo but it had been in the oven about 5 minutes when I realised I never took a picture so the butter has already melted...but you get the idea.

40 minutes later and voila......

I have to say it was the best lasagne I have ever made and I'd say it was definitely up there with any I have tried in a restaurant. But who cares what I think, it's all down to the rest of the family........well they gave it a huge thumbs up.

The added bonus with this dish is there is enough for two nights (for our family, 2 adults 2 children). It is always great if you can get two nights out of a dinner and to be honest I think it was even better the 2nd day.

So even though this is not one for a week night it is a fab dish to make on a lazy Sunday with a glass of red wine in hand, and Mondays dinner is taken care of also.