Lasagne with asparagus

Pour the milk into a small saucepan and heat without letting it come to the boil. In the meantime, melt the butter in another saucepan. 

When the butter has melted, add the flour all in one go. Stir well and return the pan to the heat. After a few minutes, a spongy mixture will have formed, with a tendency to stick to the sides of the pan. This is what the French call a roux and its purpose is to thicken bechamel sauce. 

At this point, add the milk gradually in a slow trickle as you continue to mix with a whisk to prevent lumps from forming. Add salt to taste and, when the bechamel has become creamy in texture, remove the saucepan from the heat. 

Trim and wash the asparagus, removing the more fibrous parts close to the roots with a potato peeler. Cut into rounds. Set aside 5 whole asparagus spears for use as a garnish and leave all the tips intact. Place the asparagus in a frying pan with a trickle of oil and a pinch of salt. Toss them for 5 minutes. They need to be cooked but still quite crisp. 

Dice the mozzarella. Spread a layer of bechamel sauce on the bottom of the oven dish and cover with a sheet of pasta. 

Now start to assemble the layers of your lasagne with asparagus. One layer of bechamel, followed by one of asparagus together with diced mozzarella. 

Finally, add a sprinkling of grated cheese and repeat the process from the start, with a layer of pasta. Continue in this way until the oven dish is full. On top of the final layer, add the asparagus spears you have left whole. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes at 180°C.  

Useful tips and interesting facts

As everyone knows, traditional lasagne come from the Italian region of Emilia and are made from fresh egg pasta, bechamel sauce, Parmigiano Reggiano and Bolognese meat sauce. This recipe for asparagus lasagne is a simple and tasty vegetarian alternative. You may also prepare lasagne using other vegetables such as spinach, squash or courgettes.   

If you have a notion to try your hand at making fresh egg pasta, you need to add one egg to each 100 g of flour.  Once you have a nice even and springy pasta dough, leave it to rest in the fridge for one hour, wrapped in clingfilm. Then, remove the clingfilm and roll out the dough to a thickness of a couple of millimetres. Cut the dough into rectangles of 10 cm x 15 cm and cook in boiling salted water for no more than a couple of minutes. Strain the pasta and leave it to dry on a clean cotton tea towel.