Cook Marco’s Italian family recipes
“Christmas Eve is a non-meat day in Italy, so we’d have fish dishes like spaghetti alle vongole or broccoli pasta. My uncle, a part-time fisherman, always brought the catch, which he’d frozen and saved for the big night. Meanwhile, my aunty’s broccoli pasta takes me back to my family gathering around the table before midnight mass, with open doors, visitors, warmth and laughter filling the house.”
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You can easily make this recipe vegan by swapping the parmesan for your favourite dairy-free cheese.
Most parmesan cheeses contain rennet, which isn’t suitable for vegetarians either, so choose a different cheese, such as cheddar, to make it vegetarian.
If you don’t like heat, you can add fewer chilli flakes (or more if you do!). You could also substitute them with paprika or mild red pepper flakes for a similar flavour without the heat.
Cook Marco’s Italian family recipes
“Boxing Day was all about Mum’s lasagne. After the chaos of Christmas Day, it was the one dish waiting in the oven – rich, comforting and completely her. She learned to cook in Rome before marrying my dad, mastering the art of Italian home cooking. I still remember the tea towels on the table and sheets of lasagne drying; it was the heart of our family Christmas.”
Tick off as you go!
For the white sauce
To assemble
Mum recommends softening the lasagne sheets in a pan of boiling water, if you can. She would cook for about 1 min then lay them out on clean tea towels before assembly. If you’re using uncooked lasagne sheets, make sure your bolognese sauce is a little less thick as they absorb more moisture.
This meal is a labour of love, but it’s great for getting the whole family involved, and brilliant for creating leftovers to make the days between Christmas and New Year even easier!
You can cook the bolognese sauce in a slow cooker, if you prefer. Just brown off the meat and veg first, then cook everything in the slow cooker on low for 8 hrs.
If you don’t eat pork, simply remove the bacon and add 750g beef mince.
To make the lasagne vegetarian, you can swap out the mince with your favourite meat alternative and use a vegetarian hard cheese instead of parmesan.