Pretty much every recipe I've seen printed calls for bechamel, but my grandmother certainly never used it. I don't think she could have even pronounced "bechamel" without a lot of help. Hers was easily the best I've ever had, so I wouldn't dream of changing it by adding bechamel.
Okay, as a general guideline I like the rules. I think that they would be very difficult to adhere to all the time, and perfectly, as they are written, but they're generally decent rules. There is one exception, and it's as much about the other comments as the rules. Everyone is very keen to help "The Poor" eat healthier - get more fresh foods, less processed foods, etc. In principle, I'm bang alongside that. In practice, that won't necessarily help. Having a refrigerator stocked to the brim, for free, with good things won't be all that useful to a lot of the working poor. If you're working two jobs, trying to get your kids to and from school, possibly caring for a sick relative, etc, food is just going to slip to the bottom of the priority list. (I have a very good friend going through all that right now). You're going to pick up convenience foods that probably taste like feet, but fill you up and get you out the door quickly. Given that there will always be a certain segment of the population that is dependent on convenience foods, perhaps there needs to be more focus on making those foods less harmful than on eliminating them from use.
I am SO tired of hearing people complain that eating healthy is expensive. Eating ORGANIC is expensive, but buying and eating lots of fresh produce and cooking at home is much cheaper and better for you than processed, fat&sodium laden crap that is turning the poor/middle class fat. Fast food is a convenience - if you take a *little* time to cook real food, you'll find that it doesn't break the bank and will do wonders for your health. Yes, this can be difficult for those working two jobs or just otherwise stretched to the max, but there are PLENTY of people who aren't so overburedened that they can't cook a simple meal.
I'd like to argue that cows that are grass-fed, grass-finished, as just as good tasting as corn finished. It's also better for the cows, because feeding them grain, such as corn, is stressful to their systems - it also diminishes the omega-3 content they gain while eating grass.
I've found a good brand recommended by Eating Well magazine, called La Cense Beef. They recently sent out an email to their customers letting them know about a giveaway their doing I thought I'd share the site:
www.winagrassfedcow.com
A couple of my favorite lasagna/lasagna roll recipes come from Emeril and Giada on the Food Network. Spinach and mushrooms are two of my favorite ingredients and the recipes included those and bechamel and I think all but one also had tomato sauce. Most also had ground beef, pork or pancetta. All had (or I added) ricotta, parm & mozzarella.
If you've never made lasagna rolls - they are great for freezing and having on hand for quick, easy meals.
Like Cassaendra's husband, I make Greek pastitisio and moussaka with bechamel. Haven't put it in lasagna. Yet. Though, I heard recently that most lasagna in Italy is made with bechamel. Guess it varies by region?
once in paris my friend got lasagna by mistake -- his waiter brought the wrong thing, but he decided to eat it anyway. he offered me a taste. it was made with a bechamel, the first time i'd ever eaten it that way. i thought it was one of the most delicious things i'd ever tasted. it was a lovely november day on the rue mouffetard, i was with two friends whom i adore and who live on the other side of the country, and it suddenly occurred to me that we were eating a magnificent lunch together in paris and that i'd rarely been so happy.
The description from Otabenga is how I learned to make lasagne when I worked in a food shop. My mom did the ricotta and mozzarella thing, and I was really surprised the first time I saw the bechamel version. But I now much prefer it. I am not a big fan of ricotta in hot preparations, generally. I think the bechamel is definitely better for lasagne made from fresh pasta.
I've encountered it in many sources since, and I am under the impression that it's the most traditional way.
I made "Lasagne Bolognese al Forno" from Molto Italiano in which Mario B uses both meat sauce and "besciamella" and no cheese other than sprinklings of parmagiano as you layer. Everyone seemed to like it, but I missed the mozzarella and ricotta myself. I'd like to find a good mushroom lasagne recipe using bechamel, as Liberal Lady mentions. Fresh pasta might also be in order!
I have always used a white cheese sauce in all my lasagnas. When I was little, I was in charge of making the cheese sauce with all the cheeses we had in the fridge - milk, cream cheese, american sliced cheese, gouda, mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan, you name it... so it's not technically a bechamel, but a white sauce nonetheless.
Now I am a fan of pink sauces in most pastas... mixing white cheese sauce with a bit of crushed tomatoes, like my Pink Mac & Cheese and Baked Pasta with 4 cheeses.
Madelyn.
KarmaFreeCooking
He actually said "great-grandmother," not grandmother. And he doesn't mean to exclude things like sushi--it's made of fish and rice, which is obviously food. What isn't "food" are basically the items referred to in #2--things that aren't whole foods.
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Location: Braintree, MA
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Favorite foods: my grandmother's gravy, Szechuan Spicy Dumplings from China Road in Mattydale NY, almonds, rosewater, pomegranates, olives, fish
Last bite on earth: My grandmother's gravy - which will be difficult as she's been dead for 10 years.