Bechamel sauce v creme fraiche

Dear Cowardy Custard of Devon

Too late now I've bought gallons of creme fraiche. I'm working on the principle that it's only a little bitty ingredient of the recipe and I'm sticking to tried and tested with the rest of the lasagne and I'll bung in a bit of extra Parmesan. Also i found four bottles of Chianti in those wicker baskets that I remember from the 60s so will ply guest liberally with that.

So between that and the garlic I'm chopping for the garlic bread all should go with a bang.

Yours

Wicked and Woosey of Warwick

shysal I love the idea of something other than pelvic floor/abdominal muscles and bosoms being "slackened"

I have never thought of slackening anything while cooking! (Apart from my rules on wine drinking!)

Primula have bought out a range of sauces! I'm going to try one this week. A garlic and herb one

Philadelphia cheese slackened with milk is very tangy.

Personally, I would be very reluctant to try a new method/ingredient for the first time when doing it for others (close family excepted!) so would stick to tried and tested.

Yours,
Cowardy Custard of Devon

I've used all sorts, even greek yoghourt with some cheese added. If you beat in a little cornflour so that it doesn't separate it works really well.

To cut hassle, time and calories- I make bechamel for lasagna with milk and cornflour (like custard) + herbs, salt and pepper. Easy peasy- nobody ever knows and it all tastes great- especially if you use a tasty cheese for topping.

aka a teeny tiny bit of milk ...

I recently made a sauce using creme fraiche and cheese and thought it was just ok but didn't use the JO recipe I have used countless JO recipes and never had one fail yet. However I would never use a new recipe if catering for a large party of people if I hadn't tried it out before. Just saying.

I've seen a recipe which uses mascarpone mixed with some hot water and I've used that in some other pasta bakes but not lasagne! It works well!

Thanks GN I use fresh pasta sheets anyway and my ragu sauce is very tasty. Thanks for the tip with the milk. I think I'll give it a go as I'm going to be very busy as some of the guests are staying over the weekend and we'll have 2 children plus tiny baby and four dogs, one of them a 9 week old pup, staying too.

Knew I'd get an answer here!

hilda the tanginess is slight by the time all the other ingredients are in, and actually very tasty.

I've often done that as a shortcut, it worked fine. I use creme fraiche with grated cheese instead of the bechamel sauce. Beat the creme fraiche lightly, so the consistency is thinner (or add a little bit of milk).

I'd probably not make the whole thing up in advance though - assembly takes minutes with the creme fraiche short cut. And if you're not using fresh lasagne sheets, then you need to reheat the meat anyway - to saturate/penetrate the lasagne sheets. When I'm cheating as per above, I also buy fresh lasagne sheets

Hope all this makes sense.

I'm with tiggy on this one . I would do it that way. Bechamel sauce is much nicer than cream fraishe (spelling). Wouldn't it be a little tangy with lasagne?

Why don't you infuse the milk and then let it go cold. Strain it into another pan, add the flour and butter and whisk while bringing to the boil - an all-in-one sauce. Add some grated cheese, pour over the lasagne, more cheese on top and put in the fridge until tomorrow.
Alternatively make the sauce and keep seperate, layer up the lasagne but don't put on the final layer of lasagne sheets (they will curl up) and put it all in the fridge. Tomorrow put on the last layer of lasagne, cover with the sauce (may have to thin it down a bit) cover with cheese and throw it in the oven. BINGO !
Have a good day whatever !

Well I can see what you mean about all the work, but bechamel will have a lot more flavour I guess

Not tried it but it sounds lovely and less heavy. Why not make up the whole thing when the meat is cold and then just put it in the oven when needed? That is what I always do but maybe it wouldn't work so well with CF?