I’ve been living with Mr. R&R for two years now (eek!) but this is the first lasagne I’ve cooked him – I’m surprised we’ve lasted so long, to be honest. There must be some sort of law against such behaviour – malicious withholding of lasagne, or deprivation of basic culinary rights, perhaps. At least there ought to be because where have you been all my life, broccoli lasagne? I got the idea from this sauce I make to go with gnocchi, but adding bechamel sauce to the broccoli to make it lovely and unctuous inside. It’s then cooked with foil over it for the first 20 minutes, to get the flavours to combine and remain moist, and then without for the rest of the time to get a gorgeously brown, crispy topping. Heaven…. I’m in heaven…
I would also like to point out that I doubled down on lasagne yesterday, eating it for lunch and dinner – and dropped a pound overnight*. It’s a health food weight-loss miracle!** Go eat some now!
So notes on the recipe: the pancetta is nice (when is it not?) but if you wanted to leave it out, the lasagne would still be yummy and the texture would actually be improved, as the little bacon cubes do break up those soft layers a bit. Also, I have indicated in the recipe instructions how to limit washing up – all the different layers could add up to a dishwasher-stacking puzzle with difficulty Extreme, but I have tried to save you that.
P.S. sorry the photo is so crap, but again, I had to crop in close to avoid the hungry man with a fork and this time my manual focus went all blurry when he started growling at me.
P.P.S. I can now clear up the burning question, is it lasagne or lasagna? Plural or singular? Well, in Italian, it’s plural when you’re talking about the genre, as in “mi piacciono da matti le lasagne di Zoë”, and singular when you’re referring to what’s on your plate, as in “che buona questa lasagna!”. I think this is right anyway, Mr. R&R had his mouth full while he was explaining…
*YMMV
**May not actually be a miracle or cause weight-loss, but who cares, IT’S LASAGNE PEOPLE
Lasagne with broccoli
Serves 4-6
- 8 dried lasagne sheets, preferably De Cecco
- 1 head of broccoli
- A small handful chopped pancetta cubes
- 750ml milk
- 1 1/2 tbsps flour
- a matchbox sized pat of butter
- 1 bay leaf
- pinch of nutmeg
- lots of grated parmesan
Heat the oven to 180 Celcius. Butter an ovenproof dish – mine is one of those useful pyrex ones with a tupperware lid, 23x17cm or 9″x7″. (If yours is different, you might need more or less pasta obviously.)
Put on a large pan of water to boil and salt it well. While it heats up, cut a head of broccoli into florets. Cook them in the water until very tender. Fish the florets out with a slotted spoon and reserve.
In the same water (to avoid endless washing up) blanch the lasagne for four minutes, then drain and lay them separately on a damp tea towel.
Meanwhile, in another saucepan, make the béchamel: melt the butter and add the flour and cook for a few minutes. Off the heat, gradually whisk in about 650ml milk, return to the heat and keep stirring for about 6 minutes until nicely thickened.
Chop the broccoli quite finely. In the pan you used for the broccoli and pasta, heat a little olive oil and fry the bacon. When browned, stir in the broccoli and a couple of splashes of the milk left over to just make a slightly wet mixture, cooking for about five minutes to bring it all together.
Start to put the lasagne together: first a layer of pasta, then broccoli, then béchamel, then a good grating of Parmesan and repeat until the final layer of pasta which should just be covered with béchamel and an extra big grating of Parmesan. (I like to lay the pasta sheets in the dish so that they start to come up the sides a bit, which is better than overlapping them as the layers would get a bit thick. You can then cut the top layer to fit exactly with scissors.)
Put in the oven covered with foil for the first 15 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 15-25 minutes until browned on top. (You can help the browning along by using the fan or with the grill. Mmmmm crispy bits.)
Leave to cool for a good 20 minutes, nothing worse than scalding lasagne, and serve with yes more Parmesan. Good (some might say even better) the next day, just warmed through slightly to take the chill off.
