Lasagne help!!

DoubleK · February 7th, 2008, 05:35 PM

Hi everyone!

we cooked lasagne tonight (our 2nd go at it) and failed yet again! what are we doing wrong??

we both made our sauces (we have seperate because i like it plain, dp likes all kinds of things in his)

we followed the instructions - meat, lasagne sheets, cheese, meat, lasagne sheet cheese. covered in foil, and cooked... (sheet box said 50-60 mins)

over an hour and half later, the sheets were still hard

any advice is welcomed please!!

**sneakysparkle** · February 7th, 2008, 05:39 PM

Did you put white sauce with the cheese? (sorry if thats a stupid question!)

Also, you can soften the lasagne sheets in boiling water for a few minutes before you put it all together and they come out great!

Good luck darl

**Rouge** · February 7th, 2008, 05:41 PM

You should always have excess liquid when using dry sheets as they like to absorb the liquid. So don't have the sauce as thick as you would for regular pasta have it slightly runny.

**The[cookie]Doctor** · February 7th, 2008, 05:45 PM

I can't help i've never really had an issue, but i'd say Cai has hit the nail on the head with that one...?
Are you using instant? I always use the instant which i think say they'd take less than twenty minutes to cook...

And now that i think about it mines never particularly runny... so i don't know!

Fat lot of good i am :P

**Erin_25** · February 7th, 2008, 05:46 PM

I always hated using those sheets, so I cheat & buy the fresh ones in the fridge section. Then you should have no probs at all. Yummm, I'm hungry now.

DoubleK · February 7th, 2008, 06:17 PM

yeh dp thought maybe the sheets needed to be boiled first - but it didnt say to do it, so we thought it'd be ok!
and we did try to make the sauces a little more runny.. maybe not quite enough!

and no we didnt do a cheee sause, might try that next time!

thanks for the replies, i will have another go next week!!

**bushmanpat** · February 7th, 2008, 06:44 PM

If you want to be indulgent with the white sauce, try swapping cream for the milk and throw in ricotta and feta , about 1 part feta to 4 or 5 parts ricotta is a good cheese ratio to balance the sharpness of the feta with the blandness of the ricotta. The white sauce is what makes a lasagne (especially a vegie one!) so experiment and make it unreal.

**Danni** · February 7th, 2008, 06:59 PM

you MUST put a LOT of excess fluid. I add a lot fo water and extra tomatoes. You need to make sure that the lasagne sheet is totally covered by liquid or else it wont cook.

DoubleK · February 7th, 2008, 07:08 PM

*makes notes for next time*

**bellelass** · February 7th, 2008, 07:18 PM

If you want to be indulgent with the white sauce, try swapping cream for the milk and throw in ricotta and feta , about 1 part feta to 4 or 5 parts ricotta is a good cheese ratio to balance the sharpness of the feta with the blandness of the ricotta. The white sauce is what makes a lasagne (especially a vegie one!) so experiment and make it unreal.

I usually toss an egg into my cheese/white sauce mix. It just adds- something. Extra fat and calories, I guess.

**Daydream Believer** · February 8th, 2008, 02:06 PM

The receipe DF use is as follows:

1 Jar bechamel sauce (dolmios)
1 jar chunky onion & garlic pasta sauce (dolmios)
500g - 1kg mince
grated cheese/pkt of pre grated pizza cheese
Lasagne sheets

Put lasagne sheets in boiling water for a few mins to soften, in large sauce pan brown mince, add pasta sauce & simmer till piping hot.
In large baking dish layer meat, white sauce,cheese, pasta - 2-3 times
Finish with white sauce & cheese cover with foil bake 45 min @ 180 degrees
Remove foil & bake further 10 -15 min or until cheese is golden brown

DF is lazy though, I prefer to make it from scratch

**Indadhanu** · February 8th, 2008, 02:10 PM

Krystal... I had EXACTLY the same problem when I was first starting to make lasagne. I tried using excess liquid, but it ended up bubbling over the sides, and the lasagne sheets were still hard (hopefully it works for you)! Even instant sheets didn't work for me.

BUT the best thing I tried was using FRESH lasagne sheets, in the cold section of the supermarket (theres a latino brand, they've got a whole range of fresh pasta near the cheese section). They are PERFECT! Absolutely FANTASTIC.

I haven't tried boiling the dry lasagne sheets, but I guess that would work as well. But fresh sheets are so much easier

HTH!

ETA: If you use the fresh sheets don't make the sauces too runny and don't add extra fluid as the whole lasagne will be runny and it will be absolutely murder, with lots of swearing (and then giggling) when the slice of lasagne slides off the spatula and falls (and falls apart!) back into the lasagne dish when you are trying to serve it!

**Stars69** · February 8th, 2008, 02:17 PM

If you put the first layers as the meat sauce, then the lasagne sheet, then the sauce, cheese, sheet etc it always works fine for me. I give it about 40-50 mins in the oven taking the foil off in the last 15.

You need to make sure that tehre is plenty of fluid in your sauce (not watery just not all meat etc)

I make my own meat sauce (ex's mum is Italian and it's just the best!). I'll post it here if you would like it.

**BeautifulMadness** · February 8th, 2008, 05:16 PM

are you using freash sheets?

**Danni** · February 10th, 2008, 07:13 AM

Yep i definitely do sheet, sauce, cheese! And definitely take the foil off for the last 15 mins.

And then allow to rest on the bench with the foil back on top for around 15 mins before serving otherwise it will flop

**satya** · February 10th, 2008, 07:45 AM

Cheese sauce on some layers will improve it for sure. Different brands of sheets can make a difference too. We used you'll love coles ones recently and they have to be cooked longer than what the pack says (in my opinion).