Seasoned Advice Asked by PLL on December 30, 2020
I’ve just assembled a vegetable lasagna, and the filling and sauce have both come out erring a bit on the watery side — not dreadfully so, but noticeably wetter than when I’ve previously made this recipe.
Usually I cook it 35–40mins at about 180ºC (in a fan oven). How should I adjust the cooking temperature and time to correct for the extra wetness — i.e. to cook off a bit more water, without affecting other aspects too much? Slightly higher temperature? Slightly longer time?
Edit: To be clear, I’m not asking “how do I avoid this problem next time?” (which I know well enough), I’m asking “when this sort of mistake happens, how should one adjust to compensate as far as possible?”
Mushrooms can throw off excess moisture. I would suggest cooking them down a bit further and draining on paper towel before adding them to your lasagna. You didn't mention how you baked your lasagna, but my process is to bake (and your temp is fine) covered for 40 to 50 minutes. Then to uncover and return to the oven for about 10 to 15 minutes more. I'll take a look, and often run it under the broiler to brown the top and crisp the edges.
Correct answer by moscafj on December 30, 2020
Cooking a casserole like this for longer isn’t a great way to reduce moisture. Unlike a stew, there’s not much circulation. The top dries out, and then further reduction requires a lot of heat to be conducted to the inner areas. Even up at temperature it’ll take a long time.
If you’ve got significant liquid, instead just spoon it out or remove with a turkey baster.
Answered by Sneftel on December 30, 2020
In addition to moscafj's advice on pre-cooking your vegetable ingredients, I would also recommend that you consider using uncooked noodles of some kind, either no-boil dried noodles, or fresh-rolled handmade pasta.
Boiled noodles are wet, and can actually give off some of their moisture while baking. Whereas dried or fresh noodles absorb moisture from the other ingredients, ensuring that you don't get a "soupy" lasagna even if some of your veggies or your sauces are too wet.
Answered by FuzzyChef on December 30, 2020
Get help from others!
Recent Questions
Recent Answers
© 2024 TransWikia.com. All rights reserved. Sites we Love: PCI Database, UKBizDB, Menu Kuliner, Sharing RPP