☀️Preparing for those summer picnics☀️

Fiona from Henderson

We all have ideas as to what to pack (or not) for those picnics.
Here is are a few hints as to how to perfect your lasagna (straight from Italy)
Raise your hand if you don’t like lasagna.
Ok, no one?
That’s because lasagna is a real crowd-pleaser and a wonderful Italian comfort food. A nice, generous portion makes everyone feel good all year round.
Preparing lasagna at home is a gesture of true love, involving many long, laborious steps, plus a hefty dose of patience, especially if making the pasta yourself.
Mistakes are allowed as the dish is actually quite complex and perfection is never easy to achieve.

The most common lasagna mistakes:
1. Should you want to make the pasta at home, spread the pasta rather thin and boil it in water with a drizzle of oil to prevent the sheets from sticking to the each other, or boil one sheet at a time and once drained place it in cold water.
2. If you buy fresh egg pasta, the process is the same as for homemade pasta. If you buy packaged dried sheets then you absolutely must cover them well with the filling, without leaving a single corner exposed.
3. There shouldn’t be too much or too little filling. Too much between one layer and another will keep you from ever getting a perfect slice. Too little and all you’ll taste is pasta.
4. Do not put large pieces of vegetables or meat in lasagna for the same reason as above. To get a perfect lasagna, the filling should be finely sliced or even creamy.
5. If using parchment paper, remember to remove it once the lasagna is cooked. Otherwise, it will get wet and ruin the base. It’s better to grease an oven dish or to streak it with béchamel sauce.
6. Don’t overdo it with the béchamel, a necessary ingredient in many recipes, particularly for the consistency it lends to the taste, but one which can ruin the dish if there’s too much of it.
7. Lasagna should be cooked for at least 45 minutes in a hot oven at 350°F, though it really depends on the number of layers. To prevent an overcooked surface and an undercooked center, cover with aluminum foil halfway through the cooking process.
8. Particularly when using store-bought dry pasta, be careful when cooking the corners. Cover them well with the filling and add a drizzle of water or milk to soften them once in the oven.
9. Though it may seem obvious, any meat or vegetables in the filling must be cooked first. Vegetables can even be simply blanched, but putting them raw into the filling is highly risky.

and last but by no means least ....

10. Don’t eat it now. Like a good eggplant parmigiana, baked pasta should always be left to rest. Forget about eating it fresh out of the oven ... it’s actually better the next day!