Lasagne

Unbelievably messy to prepare, but oh so delicious and worth it.   Serve with a simple green salad and chunks of crusty garlicky bread, and a "big" red wine, or just cold water.

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

Method:

Make up the quantities of Classic Ragu and Cheese Sauces according to recipes.

Fill large pot three-quarters full of water, add a pinch of salt and a little olive oil, and bring to the boil.

Put three or four lasagne sheets into the boiling water; allow to swirl about for a couple of minutes until softened (okay okay, I know it says "instant" on the pack but ... its just better this way, okay?).

Lightly grease the base and sides of the lasagne dish. Place the first few lasagne sheets to cover the bottom of the dish, cutting and pasting if necessary. 

Spoon a few tablespoons of the meat sauce over the pasta, spreading right to the edges.

Spoon a few tablespoons of the cheese sauce over the meat sauce.

Soften a few more lasagne sheets in the boiling water whilst doing this; then remove the sheets and drain them off , before layering over the cheese layer.

Keep layering; you should get three layers of pasta-meat-cheese. Finish with a layer of cheese sauce. Sprinkle the grated parmesan evenly over the top.

Put in moderate oven (175C or so) to bake for 40 minutes. The top should be golden brown and bubbly with a nice crust; check halfway through cooking and if the top is getting over-brown too soon into the cooking time, cover loosely with aluminium foil for the remainder of the cooking time (remove foil for last ten minutes or so).