I’ve tried many recipes for lasagne, and I always have the same few problems:
** The pan is never deep enough to make as many layers as are called for.
** The amount of sauce is never adequate to cover the noodles or ricotta.
It never fails. Every time I end up leaving off one layer, yet I STILL have to hunt up another jar or can to stretch the sauce out. And I will also say that the cheese amounts are never adequate, but that’s a personal preference thing.
What gives? Any other persistent food/recipe problems that plague you?
I don’t really have any problems like that (helps that I don’t cook much! :D) But I may have a solution for your lasagna problem…
Make Crock-Pot Lasagna! It’s made basically the same way as in a pan, only make it in the crock-pot. I’ve found I don’t use as much sauce in the crock-pot as I do in the pan (because if I do, it turns the lasagna into lasagna soup!). I’ve been making it for a couple of years now, and I honestly prefer it to the pan variety.
One way of dealing with this conundrum is to not worry about it. Doesn’t seem like an option for you. In that case try this. Count how many layers your box of pasta will make, call that number P. Divide the jar of sauce equally into to P+1 containers. You’ll now have a quota of sauce for each layer. If it doesn’t seem like enough spread it out a little more thin. If that doesn’t work dispose of the extra dry pasta in an art project.
You’re using Ricotta Cheese. Never use ricotta cheese in lasagna. (Yes, I know this is forward thinking, but cast off these old grandmother taught traditions) Use only, and a lot of, different melting cheeses. Mozzerella, Provolone, Asagio and a generous grating of parmesean near the end. This shift in cheese choice will help your “too dry/not enough sauce” problem, and it helps the lasagna hold its form better. Also, not using ricotta will help in the final thickness of the dish. Ricotta lasagna is pretty tall, because that cheese doesn’t melt and settle much, and it contains alot of air. You don’t need as much pan this way.
Don’t use the “uncooked noodle” method. You might not be doing this, but if you are, quit it! This is a shortcut that really hampers the creating of the proper sauce/noodle matrix.
Make fresh pasta sauce. No canned/jarred stuff. Use your own blend of tomato sauce, paste, cannned tomatos, and whetever other ingediants you enjoy. This lets you extend complete control over the thickness and volume of the sauce.
My own personal food dillema.
Selecting the correct dry noodle volume. I always end up with too much or too little. You never know how much of that crap you’ll end up with.
I always have the opposite problem. I’m not fond of sauce and my results are always too soupy.
One problem I always have with recipes is on pancake batters being too thick to pour. Not that it’s a problem, since I just shift to a bigger bowl and add more water, but it does seem strange to me.
I use the recipe on the back of the dry Mueller’s noodles, BUT I use about twice as much meat, twice as much of all the cheeses except ricotta (I use the regular amount) and I use about 1 1/2 the amount of sauce (stretching it with tomato sauce).
I use MORE seasoning in the sauce, adding my own as I cook.
I use an Air Bake 9x13 pan (which comes with a nice lid, by the way) and never have any problems getting all that food to fit!
And I’ve been told by legions of fans that my lasagne is the best!
I haven’t got a recipe. I just go by taste, and I eyeball the amounts. I don’t use ricotta, I use cottage cheese with an egg stirred into it; and I use a mix of mozzarella and marbled cheddar.
I made 8 lasagnes last weekend and froze most of them. It turned out better this time than it ever has, and I of course I didn’t write down what went into it.
I use the dry noodle method all the time. But I add more liquid (usually tomato juice, but sometimes beef broth or just plain water) to the sauce. And it doesn’t take as much as you would think, only about 1/2 to 3/4 cup extra liquid for a 9x13 pan. It seems to make the whole dish more flavorful…the noodles are cooked in all kinds of saucy goodness, rather than just water. Adding the extra liquid ensures that it’s never too dry. And I use ricotta cheese. I like ricotta cheese, and it would seem like something’s missing if I made lasagna without it.
The dry noodle/extra liquid works for stuffed manacotti too. And man oh man are those things easier to stuff when they’re dry rather than when they’re cooked. (I use a pastry bag and large star tip to pipe the filling into the manacotti) I tried it for the first time Sunday, and Mr. Deej ate the last one for lunch today.
Y’know, I’ve only ever used the no-boil noodles, which turn out fine! The brand I use is Ronzoni, which is a big brand on the East Coast. I just follow the package directions, with a few very important changes:
I make my lasagne meatless. That means I use about twice as much sauce as the directions call for. I also avoid using marinara sauces, which tend to be a bit watery.
Plan on using a bit more ricotta, too - but what’s realy important is to add way more seasoning than the box says. IMHO, ricotta is the world’s greatest flavor-neutralizer, far outstripping tofu. Just keep adding basil, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper and whatever else you like, until the stuff actually tastes like something. Then and only then start spreading it on the noodles.
The mozzarella amount (4 cups, IIRC, or two packages of pre-shredded) is about right. I also add parmesan or romano with every layer - not just on top.
Make absolutely certain that the foil is sealed all around before setting the pan to bake.
Once you’ve taken the foil off, it doesn’t hurt to let it brown a bit longer than the recipe says. Just keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn.
When it’s done baking, let it rest for a good ten minutes, which helps solidify everything.
I may have told you this one Cranky - it’s embarassing, but rice is my personal downfall. I don’t care how many times I’ve made it, how carefully I measure, don’t measure, watch, don’t watch, I either end up with rice soup, or crackly and crunchy. So, when I’ve done the 4 course Oriental meal (with soup, home made eggrols, and 2 to 3 main courses), I’ll have Snookie stop by the local Chinese Restaurant and buy a big thing or two of plain white rice.
Wow, do you think there could be some weird magnetic field that arcs from my house to your house? Because I have the same problem. I’ve tried different rice varieties, I’ve tried different brands, I’ve followed different directions, I’ve tried various appliances… my rice always, always sucks. Even when I did what Zenster or someone swore to god was a foolproof rice-cooking method.
My grandmother is from Sicily - and with all due respect to your cooking expertise - you’ll forgive me if I continue to follow a time-honored family cooking tradition.
I, too, am caught in the rice-failure vortex. I’m a pretty good cook but I cannot cook rice. I also can’t stand instant rice (bad combination there). I yearned for what I called “yummy Korean restaurant rice.” Luckily, someone else invented the rice cooker. I just got one. Heaven!!! I ate a 4 lb bag of asian short-grain rice in about 2 weeks. Add rice, add water, flip switch, mmmmmmmm, rice. Thank you, Rice Cooker Inventor Man!
Back to the subject – I usually make baked ziti because its so much simpler. Method: cook ziti. Layer ziti on bottom of pan. Cover thinly with sauce. Mix 1 egg into ricotta. Drop ricotta on top of sauce, smoothing slightly but don’t worry about it too much. cover thickly with shredded mozarella. Another layer of noodles, more sauce, more mozarella cheese. Bake till it looks done. I usually use 1 large jar sauce/9x13 Pyrex pan. What size pan are you using?
For rice: I could never make it right until I tried the recipe in a Chinese cookbook by Barbara Tropp and now I can’t screw it up. 1 cup rice to 1 3/4 cup water. Put the rice and water in a pot, uncovered, and bring to a boil. Cover, turn down the heat as low as possible and let it sit for 15 minutes. Then turn it off and let it sit for 15 more minutes. Then fluff with a fork. The trickiest step is the low heat one–it has to be practically off, but not.
I’ve never had a bad pot of rice since.
As for my lasagna, I just buy a large (26 oz) jar of sauce, as recommended by the recipe I use, plus a smaller jar (around 10 oz) to make up for the fact that I will run out of sauce before I finish the top layer. I always go over, my lasagna is always really saucy, but I’ve just learned to like it that way. I use a 9x13 pan, 4 layers of 4 noodles for a total of 16 noodles, which gives me 3 layers of yummy filling. I use sauce, sausage, mozzarella, ricotta and parmesan. The last layer is sauce with lots of parmesan. I just froze some a couple of weeks ago.
Try boil-in-bag rice. No, it’s NOT instant rice. Yes, the food snobs will look down upon you. But trust me, I’m a food snob, and you will NOT know the difference between boil-in-bag rice and plain ol’ long grain white rice. Yes, it’s more expensive, but it’s foolproof. Take a bag out. Throw it in boiling water. Boil for ten minutes. Eat.
Not as good as Basmati or Jasmine rice, but I didn’t hear anyone asking about Basmati or Jasmine rice.
Alternatively, you can just throw rice in boiling water, just like pasta. Boil until the grains are done to your taste. Drain. Eat. It works. Trust me.
This is a shortcut that really hampers the creating of the proper sauce/noodle matrix.
