thousand layer lasagne

the starter for my meal with friends was these individual thousand layer lasagne’s which i made using my wild garlic, walnut and asparagus pesto.

the original recipe is one which i book-marked years ago and involves making wafer-thin sheets of lasagne (i made my own but heidi’s recipe gives a cheat option) and layering this with a sauce (i used the pesto mixed with some ricotta cheese) and sprinklings of mozzarella.

having created a lasagne with ten layers of pasta i topped each one with a tablespoon of crème fraiche and a slice of mozzarella before baking until brown and bubbling.

the resulting dish was not what i expected – the lasagne sheets were unidentifiable as distinct elements of the dish and it was very like eating a garlicky cheese soufflé (this was a very cheesy dish – i used 250g of ricotta and three balls of mozzarella between the six of us!).it was delicious but i remain curious about the original dish and will have to try a tomato version with less cheese, i think.

we ate the lasagnes (which turned out of their dishes easily as i’d rubbed them with oil before assembling) with a balsamic-dressed salad of mixed leaves. i made the lasagnes in advance and froze them, defrosting and bringing back to room temperature before cooking.

i'm sharing this recipe with ruth at once upon a feast who is hosting this week's presto pasta nights!