A Lasagna to Die For

Even this little critter wants to check out my lasagna.

In "Nigella Express", Nigella Lawson shares a nifty cooking tip in getting large potatoes baked thoroughly more quickly: she skewers each potato before chucking these root vegetables, skewers and all, into the oven. Then as the skewers heat up, the heart of each potato draws this heat from her metal rods. Thus their hearts get cooked at the same time as the potatoes' surface.

Just like her tip of micro-waving the cooking chocolate to melt it super quick, her tip with the skewers offers a cooking tip. Well, I have a great tip to offer too (I hope) and it's a tip that will turn you off from ever ordering lasagna when ever you choose to dine out as I have yet to come across a restaurant that offers a tastier serve in comparison to the one I personally whip up in my own kitchen.

You see the secret to my success doesn't lie in relying solely on an abundance of good quality tomato passata or paste. Oh no, as neither will do more than render the lasagna with added tomato flavour. You see, my secret ingredient is in upending a bottle of Ragu's mushroom enhanced tomato-based pasta sauce. The more the merrier.

Then you can do away with adding chicken liver as contrast to the mince beef. The mushroomy pasta sauce will do that instead. And does it so well that you needn't throw out the bechamel sauce once a film forms over this rapidly cooling milk-based gravy. The full bodied taste of Ragu's sauce successfully transforms that imperfection into a harmonious perfection with all the ingredients that goes into making the lasagna enter into a league of its own.

And the inclusion of this little secret ingredient can be replicated when you whip up a vegetarian lasagna or a lamb moussaka. Then you've under your belt more than just a beef lasagna to die for.