Half Acre of Lasagne

[Rivet]

Mrs Rivet and I love lasagne. Works out well, 'cause I like the crispy edge parts and she prefers the gooey inside parts. Unfortunately, the standard pan isn't large enough to provide much of either, nor is it tall enough to prevent bubbling and spilling over when making a proper "tall" lasagne.

So, we use a turkey roaster that solves everything. High enough to hold it all in the proper Italian style, plus all that extra shape provides lots of crispy edge and the equivalent of a whole pan of gooey insides...

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Cutting up the lasagne into portions that go into ziploc tubs. This pic shows the ring of crispy lasagne for me, and the center parts, removed at this point, for her...

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Here we have a shot of the layers of deliciousness...

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The individual-servings in tubs freeze very well, and the lasagne reheats perfectly in the microwave. Great for work or late night dinners!

 

[TasunkaWitko]

good grief, that looks good! 8) an excellent solution for both of you!

 

[GOT14U]

:-\Holy lasagne rivet ! that is some good lookin food !

 

[BBQ Engineer]

Hey Rivet,

I'm with you...I love the crispy edges too. Lasagne looks great. What did you use for sauce? How about Cheese? I love cottage cheese in my lasagne, and if I can get a good hunk of Ricotta Salata (the dried, hard, salted ricotta, not the soft stuff that is in the milk section), that really makes it delicious.

I also love the chewy edges of brownies and have this brownie pan that makes every brownie an edge piece...it really delivers

It is also for lasagne, as the channels fit lasagna noodles. I have to admit I haven't used it for this purpose yet, but now have renewed interest in doing so.

They also have a pan specifically for Lasagne that is 50% larger than my brownie pan...check it out here: http://www.bakersedge.com/product_slp.html

Such a simple idea but a great product.

 

[Rivet]

Hey thanks for the pan idea, Dana, I've seen the brownie one before, but not the lasagne one. My wife uses store ricotta but I've used that nice salata one you mentioned before and prefer it, but can't find it here in town. I'll post the recipe here in a little while when I get done with Ikra and all......

 

[Beer-B-Q]

That looks great John...

 

[Rivet]

Hey thanks guys! I got the recipe from Mrs Rivet, different from mine but still dang good.

She browns 2 lbs lean burger with 2 lbs diced onion. Once done she mixes that with my state-secret spaghetti sauce (I sent Ron a couple quarts).

She mixed 1 LB store ricotta and 1 lb full fat cottage cheese together

2 (6 or 8 oz) bags shredded Mozz, 2 (6 or 8 oz) bags Kraft's Italian shredded mix and 1 (6 or 8 oz) bag shredded Parm.

2 lbs lasagne noodles, oregano and basil

Lightly oile the pan. Boil the noodles just until they can be partially folded, not soft. This is the KEY. Drain immediately. Put a layer of them at the bottom. The trick is to always put a layer of the meat sauce on the pasta, not cheese. That way, as it bakes, the undercooked pasta will absorb the liquid from the sauce, cook to perfection and you will never got that wet, runny lasagne that I know WE ALL hate!

She reserves half a bag of mozz and half a bag of parm on th side. The rest she mixes into the ricotta cottage cheese mixture and trowels this on over each layer of meat sauce. Over each of this she sprinkle oregano and basil.

The reserved parm/mozz she puts over the top layer of pasta and then bakes. The top layer under the cheese always has to be pasta. It helps maintain the lasagne's integrity with the bottom layer being pasta too. That's my technique, but she didn't use it this time. Her top layer was meat sauce.

Anyway, that's it!