LASAGNE... pasta sheet on the bottom or the meat?

Question

is it best to start the lasagne layer process with the pasta sheet or the meat... please tell me your layer process including the white sauce and any extras you include (and maybe how many layers your include?>

Answer 1

Put the meat on the bottom, then put the noodles on top then add the white ricotta cheese mixture then add the mozz cheese and start again with the meat. depending on the size of the pan you can put as many layers as you would like, normally it is about 3.

Answer 2

I put two layers of pasta on the bottom, running them opposite ways. Layering:
a mix of meat and sauce(not runny)
pasta
ricotta cheese
pasta
meat and sauce again
pasta
sauce
mozzarella
parmesan

I would never use a white sauce. What I think you are referring to when you say white sauce is a parmesan cheese sauce. I have eaten this and it pales in flavor to using ricotta. It is also much heavier on the palette and the stomach than ricotta.

This dish should be baked covered until some of the oils come to the top, then you remove the foil and let the top brown just a bit.

If your pasta is drying on the bottom, then you are not using enough sauce, or your dish is too shallow, or your oven temp is too high. The bottom noodles should firm up to support the servings that are cut.

I recommend serving lasagna restaurant style for guests. Make the dish one day ahead, chill, then portion. Reheat topped with sauce and mozzarella. The servings do not fall apart this way.

Answer 3

1. thin layer of red sauce on the bottom (with or without meat, they both work)

2. A layer of cooked lasagna noodle

3. Cheeses: grated Italian cheese combo, sprinkle it on by the handful. I add the ricotta in dollops with a teaspoon every couple of inches.

Repeat that process more for deep dish (like 12 layers), fewer times for a shallow dish (6 layers). Just add layers until the dish looks 95% filled, when it bakes it gets flatter.

I have added sliced black olives, sliced plum tomatoes, or sundried tomatoes packed in olive oil to the top before baking to make it look pretty. Presentation is important! Be sure you cover it with foil for almost the entire cooking time, then take off the foil for the last 20 minutes or so.

Bake on a cookie sheet in case it bubbles over, it'll save the oven.

Answer 4

Start with the meat on the bottom bc the noodles will stick to the bottom of the pan and be no good. They will dry up. So do meat, pasta, your ricotta cheese mix or cottage cheese mix whichever you are using, then your shredded cheese and repeat up to 3 layers, finish with meat, and top off with cheese and bake. Hope this helps.

Answer 5

I start mine with a layer of pasta. I use a fairly deep pan when I make lasagne so there are a ton of layers. =)

I go in this order:

pasta
ricotta
home made marinara sauce
ground beef
pepperoni and/or italian sausage
mozerella
parmesan

and repeat until the pan is full!

Answer 6

put the pasta on the bottom. It will hold the next layer of meat/cheese in place when you go to eat it... I also top mine with a little cheese to keep the pasta top layer from getting hard...

Answer 7

When I make a meat Lasagna I put some sauce and meat first, then layer the noodles you can either use noodles that you need to boil first or use the kind you do not have to boil.
I layer my Lasagne in this order my family loves it cheesey, sauce , noodles, dry cottage cheese mozzeralla sauce noodles and keep going till the dish is full. then bake till all cheese is melted.

Answer 8

The white sauce should be last over then some grated cheese on top but if you are running out of lasagne sheets try a layer of roasted vegetables such as tomatoes, eggplant, capsicum etc instead.

Answer 9

I put a thin layer of sauce at the very bottom to prevent it from sticking, then pasta then meat & so on.

good Luck!!!

Answer 10

Start with the meat layer first. The pasta will stick to the pan if you start with it first. this is my layer process: meat ( not very thick, just enough to cover bottom of pan), pasta,meat, cheese, pasta, meat, cheese.