This is a dish that is always very popular with our guests and friends. I never followed a recipe as such, so it is very difficult to give the secret away becuase all the measurements are done to taste and they depend a lot on the ingredients. But here I will try to make it as simple as possible. Please, feel free to ask questions and post comments!

Ingredients for a 20cmx30cm dish, enough for 6-8 people:
8 sheets of lasagne
basil - 4 handful
parmesan cheese - 10 tblsp (freshly grated)
salt
pine-nuts
olive oil - quite a bit
butter
besciamelle or white sauce
a clove of garlic
green french beans - a couple of handful
two potatoes

How To Prepare:
First of all you need to prepare the pesto sauce, i.e. the green sauce. Put the washed and dried leaves of basil in a blender with 4 tblsp of parmesan, a couple of pinches of salt, the clove of garlic, and a good sprinkle of olive oil (at least 4 tblsp). If you have them, add a few pine-nuts. If you use the sauce within a couple of days, add also 50g of butter at room temperature. If you intend to keep the sauce for a few days, leave this ingredient out. You may need to stir the mixture to get the blender going, but when it is creamy, taste for salt. You may also need to add a bit more oil and parmesan or butter if the basil is particularly strong. The sauce alone may taste a bit heavy to some, so do not be put off.
When you have the pesto ready, peal the two potatoes and finely chop them manually. Put them in salted boiling water with the green beans and leave for 10 minutes to cook. Drain, chop the beans roughly and mix them all with the pesto sauce and the white sauce in order to obtain a thick creamy light green sauce. Save some pesto and white sauce to mix for teh final layer (so no beans and potatoes and more white sauce than pesto).
At this point you are ready to put your lasagne together. I always boil the lasagne first. you don’t need to overcook the pasta, but it helps keeping the lasagne light - I also think they taste differently. So, use a wide pan and bring some water to boil, adding salt and a spoonful of olive oil. Boil the sheets of lasagne for about 4-5 minutes. This can be a bit tricky as they can stick together, so I always boil 3 or 4 at a time and keep turning them. I normally run some cold water on them again to avoid them sticking. Oil a rectangular deep dish and lay the base with the pasta sheets, overlapping them just slightly. Cover them with a thick layer of the sauce and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Repeat for a second layer. Add a third layer of pasta and cover with the sauce made of pesto and white sauce, but not beans and potatoes. Also this layer can be thinner. Sprinkle with parmesan chees and add some butter flakes especially in teh corners. Now, pierce the whole dish with a knife or a fork so that air can find its way out while cooking.
Cook in an oven, preheated at 180deg, for approximately 20 -25minutes or until the top is golden.

Serve not too hot. I do not add any side dish, like vegetable or salads, because this is a first course pasta dish and in Italy you eat it on its own. Enjoy your meal!

Here is my recipe for lentils, modified for this last New Year’s Eve:

Ingredients:
1 whole golden onion
300g lentils
1/4 yellow pepper
1 whole carrot
50g butter
3 spoonful of olive oil
200ml tomato sauce
a pinch of sugar
salt and pepper
a stock cube (knorr - original)

How to prepare:
Finely chopp the onion, carrot and pepper. Put in a frying pan with the oil and butter. Add the lentils almost straight away. Let the whole lot fry for a couple of minutes and then add the tomato sauce, the pinch of salt and the stock cube. When it starts simmering add the seasoning to taste. Cook for 30 min or as long as the lentils require (depending on the quality, so check the package).