Lasagne

The Lovely Muffin

When making Lasagne, how to I prepare/cook the sheets before I start putting them into the dish and the sauce on them etc?

I tried it once before and put the sheets straight into the dish from the packet, put the sauce on etc and put it into the oven, when it was cooked, the sheets were all hard and burnt.

Thanks.

Sparks

I never cook the sheets first.

Ladle of meat sauce (which is cooked, obviously) into the lasagne dish, and spread out like you were putting tomato sauce on pizza. Then a layer of lasagne sheets, and a heavy sprinkling of grated cheese and maybe a ladle of the bechemal sauce, then another ladle of meat sauce and another layer of lasagne and another heavy sprinkle of cheese and more bechemal, and you keep going until the dish is almost full (leave at least 5mm from the top of the dish unless you enjoy cleaning lasagne drippings off the oven floor) and top with more cheese and bechemal and freshly grated nutmeg. Don't leave any of the sheets exposed, cover the whole surface with bechemal and cheese.

The 30-odd minutes in the oven at 180 will be enough to cook the lasagne.

And keep the layers thin. You don't want inch-thick layers of meat sauce, you want one or two ladles at the most so you get lots of layers of lasagne.

The Lovely Muffin

Thanks Sparks, much appreciated!

the beer revolu

Just ensure that the lasagne sheets you buy are pre cooked - most are but I think it is still possible to get lasagne that you need to boil before constructing your dish.

Brendog

you cook your mince seperatly. throw in your vegetables and what not, then your dolmio sauce or whatever you use.

boil the pasta sheets and when they are done make your lasagne

A bit of wirchester sause makes the mince taste soooooo much nicer if you add it when you are cooking them

antoniosicily

You should pre-cook cook them (for one or two minutes, not more) only if they are freshly made, just to remove the strong egg flavour, otherwise you shouldn't cook it, they are supposed to cook in the oven, as someone has already said.

Dizzyblonde

I cook my lasagne for 45 minutes - 30 minutes covered with tinfoil, then I take it off for the last 15 minutes and the sheets are always well cooked.

bubblicious

I always soften my lasagne sheets before putting them into the dish. Just soak them for maybe 5 mins in a tray of hot water (not boiling) with a little drizzle of oil to keep them from sticking to each other. I find alternating the sheets (i.e. one horizontal, the next diagonal, etc.) makes it easier to lift them out of the tray when you're putting them into the lasagne dish.

casio4

bubblicious wrote: »

I always soften my lasagne sheets before putting them into the dish. Just soak them for maybe 5 mins in a tray of hot water (not boiling) with a little drizzle of oil to keep them from sticking to each other. I find alternating the sheets (i.e. one horizontal, the next diagonal, etc.) makes it easier to lift them out of the tray when you're putting them into the lasagne dish.

I agree with everything you said there, to the op I did the same as you once and put the sheets in straight from the packet and they didn't cook,they were hard so now I always boil them for a couple of minutes.

The Lovely Muffin

Thanks for the replies/tips everyone.

The last time I made Lasagne, the sheets were well covered with meat/sauce etc and they still came out hard, so I will boil/soak them this time.

I'll let you know how get on.

Sparks

How long did you cook them for last time purple, and how wet was your meat sauce?

The Lovely Muffin

Sparks wrote: »

How long did you cook them for last time purple, and how wet was your meat sauce?

Cooked them for 20-25mins @ 150 (we have a fan oven).

I can't remember how wet the meat sauce was, now you mention it.:o

Sparks

If it's very dry, there wouldn't be enough liquid to rehydrate the pasta. It shouldn't be too liquid - it's sauce, not soup - but if the overall thickness is about that of salsa, you're in the right area.

And 20-25 minutes at 150 might not quite be enough. If it's a large lasagne (and I rarely make small ones because it makes no sense to do that unless you're showing off), I'll have mine in at 160 for 30 minutes covered in tin foil, then another 15-20 at 200 without the tin foil to bubble and brown the cheese on top.

The Lovely Muffin

Thanks everyone.

I found two photos of the Lasagne I made before, they will give you a better idea of how it turned out.

casio4

looks lovely, can I have a slice?
I can never get mine to go like that on top.

The Lovely Muffin

casio4 wrote: »

looks lovely, can I have a slice?
I can never get mine to go like that on top.

Thanks lol.

For the top to look like that, I had the foil off it for about 10mins.

I put some low-low cheese on top and two slices of tomato.

casio4

Purple_Bobbin wrote: »

Thanks lol.

For the top to look like that, I had the foil off it for about 10mins.

I put some low-low cheese on top and two slices of tomato.

Thanks for the tip I will try that

Sparks

It does look very dry bobbin.

kerash

I boil the kettle and fill a long tray with a couple of inches of off the boil water and dip the sheets as I layer the filling I wouldn't leave them in the the water for longer than 2mins.

candysapple

Purple_Bobbin just reading through your post and I've had this problem before. I found our fan oven dried out the top of the lasagne so I now keep foil over it until it's cooked then use a low grill to brown the cheese on top. Also I was trying to fit lasagne sheets into a rounded dish and while I put enough sauce on initially, as the sheet absorbed liquid they curled around the edge of the dish so they were exposed and dried out. Fixed this by leaving the top layer 1cm away from the edge.
Is it just the top layer of lasagne that is dry or every layer?

The Lovely Muffin

Thanks for the replies everyone.

candysapple wrote: »

Purple_Bobbin just reading through your post and I've had this problem before. I found our fan oven dried out the top of the lasagne so I now keep foil over it until it's cooked then use a low grill to brown the cheese on top. Also I was trying to fit lasagne sheets into a rounded dish and while I put enough sauce on initially, as the sheet absorbed liquid they curled around the edge of the dish so they were exposed and dried out. Fixed this by leaving the top layer 1cm away from the edge.
Is it just the top layer of lasagne that is dry or every layer?

It's every layer, not just the top layer.

Also, is it possible to make yeast-free lasagne? I found out a few days ago that I am allergic to yeast (and garlic and peppers).:(

Sparks

I wouldn't have thought that pasta would have yeast in it, it's meant to be just '00' flour and fresh eggs (and that's it, nothing else unless you're adding something for colour like squid ink or spinach or tomato puree or whatever).

niall_belfast

I've never cooked the lasange sheets first.

I think it all comes down to how long you leave the assembled lasange in the oven to brown, and the few minutes of rest once it comes out.

Here's our recipe - it's never let me down!

http://www.chilliandchocolate.com/recipe-lasange-al-forno/