Lasagna Tip

I've had a nice holiday weekend to catch up on all my shows, including Good Eats with Alton Brown. Sometimes he irritates me with all the science and stuff he talks about, but when he gives a good tip, I usually follow it.

I got a Rachael Ray lasagna pan for Christmas- THANKS CONRAD- and wanted to use it, so this weekend I watched the Good Eats show called "Use Your Noodle" - all about lasagna. I had to watch it in a hurry too, cause this is Bowl Game week/weekend and it's hard for me to watch what I want in between ALL of these games. UGH! :)

Alton says it is not necessary to boil your noodles. You can get them wet by soaking them in hot water - he used tap- and letting them sit until flexible. I actually boiled a small pot of water tonight and poured it over my noodles - and let them sit. I was REALLY worried about it - but it was TONS easier to build my lasagna without using slippery noddles falling apart every time I touch them AND when you boil them, they are screaming hot and hard to handle. So I tried it Alton's way today. It was MUCH easier to build the lasagna, as I said, but I also covered it with foil to hopefully build up some steam and soften those bad boys while cooking. About 10 minutes before it was ready, I took the foil off and let the cheese get bubbly.

All in all, I would say success. The lasagna came out GREAT - it was a little hard on the end pieces - so maybe soaking a little longer? But in the grand scheme of things, a tasty lasagna - no burned fingers - and a much more enjoyable building process!

Kah