Smaller Size Lasagne Of Love

Our answer

Nigella's Lasagne Of Love (from COOK, EAT, REPEAT) is a perfect dish for catering for larger gatherings (or a few hungry teenagers) as it can be assembled up to 2 days in advance and then just baked in the oven when needed. Nigella's version is large as it is so popular and also yields some leftovers.

We suspect that it is possible to make a half quantity of the sauces and assemble a smaller lasagne and we estimate that a half quantity would be enough for a 23 x 23 cm (9 x 9-inch) square dish that is at least 6cm (2½ inches) deep. Most of the ingredients are easy to halve. The most difficult is the ball of fresh mozzarella, as these don't keep too well once removed from their watery packaging. You could either refrigerate the left over half ball and use within 24 hours for another recipe or a salad or use the whole ball, but have a thicker, slightly chewier cheese crust. For the lasagne sheets you may need slightly more or slightly less than a half quantity, it will depend on the size of the sheets. When baking this smaller size you can probably bake the lasagne for 30 minutes covered (40-45 minutes if straight from the fridge) and 30 minutes uncovered. Make sure that the lasagne is piping hot all of the way through before removing it from the oven and letting it stand. However, we would mention that as we have not tested the changes for the smaller-sized lasagne, we are unable to guarantee the results.