I was 12 or 13 when my Dad called me into the kitchen to teach me how to make lasagne. Mum had taught me her Bolognese when I was 10 and I was already fairly proficient at it by the time Dad suggested lasagne. At that age, I already loved food and was enjoying learning to cook, but it was a new concept for me to turn one dish into another one. I’d always loved lasagne so learning to cook it was always going to happen.
Fast forward almost 20 years, to when I met my now ex-partner. When I first met him and we started talking about food it became apparent that I had a lot of work to do in broadening the horizons of his palate and persuading him to try new things. Upon declaring he liked lasagne I had my chance to show him proper food. While Italians would probably turn their noses up at what I call lasagne, I have never served it to anyone who didn’t absolutely love it! The Bolognese element is not a traditional Italian Bolognese. I make a fairly rich cheese sauce instead of a traditional Béchamel style sauce and I have NEVER made it with fresh lasagne sheets or even par-boiled dried lasagne sheets, but what I make is tasty.
It may surprise you now to hear, I have not made a lasagne in over 5 years. Actually, I did make a turkey and spinach one as a healthy eating experiment a couple of years back but that’s another story! My ex was so in love with my lasagne that he insisted we had it AT LEAST once a week… I very quickly not only got sick of cooking it but also of eating it! It got to the point where just the thought of lasagne made me feel physically sick. My ex and I split in February 2012 and apart from the aforementioned experiment, I have not made a lasagne again since. Until this week.
I was watching something the other day and they were eating lasagne… and for the first time in how long I got a real craving for lasagne. I made a HUGE pot of Bolognese (some for lasagne and some for the freezer, which I’ll explain another time), and the smell of that cooking almost made me give up on lasagne and just cook some spaghetti to go with it!! Next step was the cheese sauce… I had forgotten how much hard work was involved in whisking a cheese sauce. My arms have had a good workout, but I can’t complain, it’s cheaper (and tastier) than going to the gym! Just the layering left and by this point my belly was growling like a monster.
So, over 5 years without eating lasagne… it’s true what they say about absence making the heart grow fonder, because WOW!! I didn’t realise just how much I missed it. Ok so I didn’t have as much cheese as I thought I had, so the cheese sauce wasn’t as cheesy as I’d have liked. And my impatience got the better of me, making me take it out of the oven a little sooner than I’d intended so the pasta was still quite al dente (which I personally don’t like much), but for the first time in ages my children produced 3 clean plates and, more importantly, I have once again fallen in love with lasagne! DELICIOUS
