Do you have a special lasagna pan?

Ruth n Jersey

Ruth n Jersey

Well-known Member
Location
Northern New Jersey
Growing up my mom never made lasagna,being German and Czech it just wasn't on the menu. After I was married and had kids everyone seemed to be making it so I decided to try it. The kids loved it and it was nice to put it together ahead of time for a big family gathering along side the German and Czech food of course. I don't make it much anymore but when I do I noticed the recipe calls for a 9"X 13" pan.Back in the 70's when I first made it they wanted a lasagna pan,10"X15". 2 pounds of ricotta cheese now is only 28 oz. and 1 lb of lasagna noodles is more than 16 pieces that the recipe calls for now. If I use the big pan I don't have enough cheese and if I use the smaller pan I have noodles left over. Today when I made it I used the smaller pan,added more mozzarella to compensate for the lesser amount of ricotta. I cut the remaining noodles with a scissor into a smaller length,covered them with water and refrigerated them. Shown in the photo. Tomorrow I will make chicken noodle soup,drain the noodles and add them to the soup. I hate waste. Do you use a special pan? Do you just buy extra ricotta? Some people use cottage cheese. I never tried that. noodles.jpg
 

I like the soup idea, especially at this time of year!

My lasagna pan went out the door in one of the downsizing purges.

These days I only make lasagna two or three times a year. I use a square 8" Pyrex dish and six dry lasagna noodles, approx. 1/2 package, to make three layers of noodles. I cook the noodles, trim 1/3 from each noodle and that gives me two good layers and one layer of trimmings. When the lasagna is baked you don't really notice the layer made with the shorter pieces.

I have a friend on another thread that makes a small batch of lasagna in a Pyrex loaf pan, it gives her just enough for two large servings.

I always use cottage cheese in my lasagna, I add the eggs, seasonings and a small amount of seasoned bread crumbs to absorb the liquid in the cottage cheese then I beat it with a hand held mixer or a stick blender to make it a little smoother. You could leave out the bread crumbs and drain it overnight in the refrigerator but I never think that far ahead.
 
I don't make lasagna at all. I'd rather make eggplant parm. But I used to make a quickie "lasagna" by layering cheese ravioli with the sauce and mozzarella, then baking.
 

It's been years since I made a homemade lasagna, I used a silver rectangular pan for smaller amounts, and a huge blue and white spotted rectangular pan for larger amount and leftovers. I never used an exact recipe, and never used cottage cheese. Used to slow cook the sauce with beef neck bones, make a ground beef mixture, Italian sausage, ricotta, mozzarella, etc.
 
I started making lasagna about 10 yrs ago. I used to use a rectangular glass Pyrex dish, and a few years ago it exploded in the oven. :eek:mg1: Scared me to death, and what a holy mess. I did some research and found out there were many reports of explosions of the newer Pyrex (the older ones are fine). So I bought a rectangular steel pan which works fine and holds lots of layers.
 
I've never made lasagna but my daughter-in-law does. She uses cottage cheese. Tastes really good. Once, she added pineapple chunks and it tasted great! Now when they have me over and it's lasagna night, or when she bakes one for me, she includes the pineapple.
 
The pans are so hard to clean so I'm thinking the next time I decide to make lasagna I will buy those disposable aluminum pans from Dollarama.

And this week. I left two pans on the stove to boil dry. That is such hard cleaning.

I wonder why someone doesn't invent something that will shut off the element after a certain time.

On one of the old stoves I had there was one element that was timed.

You set the temperature and you set the time. It was great. I never saw that feature again.

Tomorrow I am going to go and buy one of those small digital timers and stick it in my pocket.
 
Camper6 said:
The pans are so hard to clean so I'm thinking the next time I decide to make lasagna I will buy those disposable aluminum pans from Dollarama.

And this week. I left two pans on the stove to boil dry. That is such hard cleaning.

I wonder why someone doesn't invent something that will shut off the element after a certain time.

On one of the old stoves I had there was one element that was timed.

You set the temperature and you set the time. It was great. I never saw that feature again.

Tomorrow I am going to go and buy one of those small digital timers and stick it in my pocket.
Click to expand...
Agree, I'd love to have a stove with at least a burner or two like that. I use my cell phone timer now, but sometimes I forget to set that, or forget to push start after I set it. :shrug:
 
NancyNGA said:
Agree, I'd love to have a stove with at least a burner or two like that. I use my cell phone timer now, but sometimes I forget to set that, or forget to push start after I set it. :shrug:
Click to expand...
I have the other kitchen timers but they are not loud enough.

I have the cell phone timer as well but it's more of a pain to set than it's worth.
 
Yes, I do. It’s a 9x13 stainless steel pan, with handles on each end. For the pasta, I prefer fresh, but if not, will use the no cook ones. Never use the ones you boil.
Cheese, only ricotta mixed with egg, salt & fresh ground black pepper, and fresh parsley. Layers are made with noodles,ricotta,mozzarella and Parmesan Romano cheese.
Sometimes will add Italian sausage sliced.
 
I do have a lasagna pan but I am throwin` it away now! The other night I made this skillet lasagna and it was the best thing ever! I can`t seem to find the actual recipe I used but this is the same except that mine said to use the meatloaf mixture that most meat markets sell. It was really,really good using that,and you could really taste the difference from using plain beef. I had to drive two towns over to get it but I had the time and it was worth it. I doubled the recipe because I wanted to see how it was leftover and wow,it was even better the next day. If you like lasagna,give this one a try!

https://mooreorlesscooking.com/2017/09/09/easy-skillet-lasagna/#

Edited to add:I used our favorite jarred marinara sauce. Prego makes it-Merlot Marinara. Yummmm!
 
Camper I boiled dry a pan with eggs in it. They actually hit the ceiling. Mrs. Robinson that recipe sounds really good and easy to boot. I saved the recipe and will give it a try.
 

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