I love lasagna - cooking and eating. The one thing that is irritating is boiling the annoyingly-shaped lasagna noodles.
I noticed that some recipes call for not boiling the lasagna noodles, and just let them cook inside the lasagna inside the oven.
So, when do you have to boil lasagna noodles, and when can you get away with not doing it?
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Moving thread from General Questions to Cafe Society.
For me, it depends on what kind of sauce I’m using. With a more liquid sauce (marinara and the like) , I don’t boil the noodles. The less liquid ones (alfredo and other cream based ones), I’ll cook them very al dente.
They make noodles that don’t require pre-cooking. I’ve used them and not had any problems.
I don’t know if I’ve used the boil vs no boil noodles, but when making noodles from scratch or just using standard lasagna noodles, the difference I notice is that if you don’t boil them before layering, the end result is a bit more gummy and chewy, for lack of a better descriptor. If you preboil them, you get a better separation between the layers. This may or may not matter to you.
I’ve never pre-cooked lasagne noodles; just layered them with meat, tomatoes, sauce and whatever else and then into the oven to bake.
Like this basic lasagne recipe.
I also use the no boil ones because I have no patience and I hate to cook, so carefully fishing the noodles out to dry on a kitchen towel is more than my lazy self wants to do.
Plus, I don’t have the palate of a gourmand, so it all tastes the same to me.
I use the ones that do not require pre cooking and have great results. They are not gummy at all and keep the layers very well. I do make the lasagna earlier in the day to give the pasta some time to absorb moisture from the ingredients. I also let it sit about 20 minutes after baking so it has time to set a bit which helps retain the layering.
Already said, but I agree, no-boil noodles are a brilliant invention. Saves so much time and effort, and I have never once heard anyone make any comment about the ‘new’ noodles - except “could I have a little more, please?”
I never boil noodles any more (and I don’t seek out no-boil noodles specifically) and the result is just fine. As long as your sauce is reasonably … uhh… saucy, the end product turns out great.
Try layering cheese ravioli with sauce – it’s a lazybones version of lasagne that works pretty well.
See, the problem I’ve had with using regular noodles is that the layers kind of meld into each other too much. I’ll have to try the no-boil and see if there’s a difference. The end product is still good and always gets gobbled up, but I’ve found the pasta layers become a bit mushy. (Perhaps I could try cooking it less and see what happens.) That’s especially true if you use fresh noodles. I hate the extra step of boiling the pasta before layering it, but I’ve done both versions, and there is a clear difference.
When I cook the noodles (like with cream sauce) , I usually drop them into boiling water, put on the lid and turn off the burner (electric stove, so it doesn’t go immediately off). I leave them in for about five minutes so it’s more like blanching them. I’ve never worked with fresh.
Yes, that’s what I do, too. I meant that when I do it with regular noodles and don’t parcook them first, it all kind of melds together.
I prefer fresh pasta for lasagna, but dried works fine also. In either case I pour boiling water in the lasagna pan and soak the noodles in that for a while. Just a couple of minutes for fresh pasta, 5 minutes or so for dried, depending on the type. The noodles stay firm enough to maintain the structure of the lasagna and still keep their flavor.
I’ve never cooked lasagne noodles. Don’t think I’ve ever used special noodles - if the store-bought noodles are no-cook, then all lasagne noodles sold in South Africa are no-cook, I guess. And I especially wouldn’t pre-cook fresh noodles I make myself.