Lea & Perrins Lasagne

I was contacted by Lea & Perrins recently to see if I’d like to test out one of their recipes. Of course, I said yes as it sounded like a fantastic opportunity to have a go at something I think I’ve got down to a T … lasagne. I have a very simple but tasty version of this that I’ve developed over the years and it always works well, so I was interested to give a different version a try out, especially since it involved several ‘dashes’ of the Worcestershire Sauce itself.

The hamper of ingredients arrived and I was excited to get cracking, although once I’d turned out everything, never have I seen so many ingredients in rode to make one lasagne. My version sticks to the mains – beef, tomatoes, puree and a basic cheese sauce with added wholegrain mustard. The Lea & Perrins version is based more on a classic Italian Ragu with small chunks of carrot and celery running through it, added pancetta and a combination of Parmesan and Mozzarella. You can find the recipe, and many others using Lea & Perrins here.

Although I don’t usually stick to quantities, I followed this recipe exactly, despite the fact it left out the part where I actually had to add the diced carrot and celery to the pan…the cook in me thought this step might be needed though, so I threw them in anyway after dicing at Step 2.

Essentially you fry off pancetta, minced beef, onion, celery and carrot. Add tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, red wine, Worcestershire sauce, beef stock and leave to simmer. Meanwhile, make the white sauce. Now, this is something I might do again, as the addition of a clove studded onion really lifted the flavours of the sauce.

Once the ragu has been slowly simmering for at least an hour, layer up your lasagne beginning with the meat. Top each layer with lasagne sheets, white sauce, torn mozzarella, parmesan and basil leaves.

The recipe suggests leaving the top layer of lasagne free of white sauce and just using cheese, but I had a little leftover, so spread a thin layer on top and well as cheese instead.

It seemed to work as well. Bake in the oven until browned and bubbling.

Although taking longer to prep. than my usual lasagne, it was tasty and we particularly enjoyed the pancetta cubes and, as I said, flavour of the white sauce. What the Lea & Perrins did was sweeten up the usual bitterness of the tomatoes and whereas I normally add a small teaspoon of sugar, the Worcestershire sauce really did the trick and added another layer of flavour besides.

Would I be bothered with all the ingredients and quantities next time? Probably not, but I’d certainly use ideas from this, including the Lea & Perrins rather than the sugar and the cloved onion, in my own version.

Disclaimer: Although I was sent products to try for the purpose of this post, all views and opinions are entirely my own, truthful and honest.