The Cream Fraiche Experiment

Recently I've been experimenting with Lasagne. Not in a kinky way. Just trying to get it right!

I was taught by my mother to layer it pasta; bechemel; bolognaise, ending with bechemel topped with Parmesan. It looks great in the dish, and tastes good, but the texture is all wrong and it collapses on the plate into a sloppy mess.

Having had fantastic lasagne in Italian restaurants, I was curious how they did it. Theirs always stood perfectly on the plate, perfect layers with a good balance of flavour.

Doing some research I found it is the bechemel that's the problem. I should have guessed that a French sauce had no place in an Italian dish! The restaurant ones layered just pasta and bolognaise, topping with a cheese layer made of a combination of ricotta and Parmesan. The bolognaise layers were much thinner than mine, preventing the pasta from 'slipping' when served.

I had prepared the base layers, and allowed them to cool completely. I popped to our local co-op to get some ricotta but they didn't have any, so I bought cream fraiche instead. I mixed this with grated mature cheddar and black pepper, and topped the lasagne with it, finishing it with a generous amount of grated Parmesan. It then baked in the oven till bubbling and hot.

The results were slightly odd, the consistency was perfect, and it had a nice creamy taste. The problem was it had a sweetness to it which was just not lasagne.

So lesson learnt, and the great lasagne experiment continues. Ricotta and cream fraiche are not interchangeable!