Does your lasagne have a pasta sheet "floor"?

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Just that!

Saw a tip online saying "spread a thin layer of tomato sauce onto the bottom of the dish so the pasta doesn't stick".... 🫨

In 30 years of making lasagne I've never put a floor in & curious as to whether I've been missing out all this time 😅
(To the point I've just made the sauce and may experiment, but wondered if I've been committing a misdemeanour this whole time. Sorry Italians if I have!)

It goes like this..

Thin spread of the mince
Pasta
Cheese sauce
Grated cheese
Mince
Pasta
Cheese sauce
Grated Cheese

Repeat until I reach the top/run out of everything.

Top layer is always pasta, cheese sauce theb more grated cheese.

I do a less calorific one with turkey mince, ricotta, spinach and alternating pasta and aubergine. Not the same but less likely to give you a heart attack.

Yes, always, I oil the dish first. It helps it stay in shape when you serve it and never sticks. I do about 6 layers each of pasta, ragu and bechamel in mine.

I have made an absolutely fabulous recipe for a Moroccan style lasagna, it’s amazing I will get it for you now.

ALSO.....Americans put the bechamel sauce directly on top of the meat (ie without a layer of pasta...so meat, becahmel, pasta, meat, bechamel, pasta). I always thought it was meat, pasta, bechamel, pasta etc
What is the general consensus?

Here it is, the most amazing Moroccan lasagna, I have given this recipe to friends and they LOVE it too. It’s really good!

https://honestcooking.com/lamb-lasagna-moroccan-spices/

Im shocked to read that she also puts a layer of lasagna first on the floor! Ignore that bit obviously 😂

I always do a layer of tomato passata first.

Then pasta
meat sauce
Pasta
Bechemel
pasta
tomato sauce

and repeat.

Thin layer of mince first, because otherwise the pasta sticks to the bottom! I learnt this the 1st time I made lasagne and had to soak and scrape the dish for ages.

Yes I read it somewhere and have done it ever since

Honestly..... I feel in my bones that this topic will become as controversial on MN as 'Toilet brushes, yay or nay?'

Who puts a layer of pasta at the bottom of a lasagne

Oooh this looks yummy and I'm definitely going to try it.

This made it worth me reading this particular thread.

As to the order - I've always done meat ragu,>Pasta>béchamel>ragu>pasta>béchamel. repeat to top of dish and top with cheese. But having read this thread I may be a convert and try adding a pasta "bottom"

I always put pasta at the bottom and I've never realised that was odd! It rarely sticks either as it dials up plenty of liquid from above. Fit more pasta in my dish that way! Lasagne is one of the few meals I know I always get compliments on and my family ask me to cook, despite knowing I don't do it all 'correctly' or as the Italians do, eg cheddar cheese sauce! My cheese sauce then goes on top of a pasta layer, so essentially all the meat layers have pasta both above and below.

Oooh niiiiiice 👌🏽

It's starting to feel that way 😅 who knew there were so many variables?!
I also only ever put cheese on the top layer and now feel thoroughly foolish for not putting cheese after every layer of bechamel!! 😱

This needs requoting.

Well, it's a dollop of béchamel at the bottom, then pasta, then mince ragout. Pasta bottom makes it much nicer to cut/serve/freeze/portion/etc. Without the pasta layer it is all swimming around, like a shepherds pie.

Always a floor of pasta in this house, so I'm with you, OP. In my opinion it's then easier to get out of the dish because it's sitting on something. I've never tried it the other way though, I have to admit.

No, it is a lasagne not a pie.

Mince mixture goes in first.
Though I am fully on board with the idea of putting grated cheese into every level - why have I never done this ???

NOOOOOO! Pasta at the bottom is not a thing. You will make the nation of Italy cry!

It honestly never occurred to me to put the lasagne in first.

Pasta is dry, it wants some liquid to absorb from both sides.

(Mind you, I add cheddar to my white sauce and marmite and herbs and mushrooms and peppers and garlic to my red, so I'm a lost cause)

That's what I do too

Sauce at the bottom, then pasta, sauce, cheddar cheese, pasta, sauce, Parmesan cheese, meat (I use salami) or peppers, pasta, sauce, mozzarella. Unconventional I know but it is everyone's favourite pasta (who has tried it).

Oil the tray, then fresh lasagna sheets, ragu, lasagna sheets, cheesy bechamel, ragu, lasagna sheets and a final layer of cheesy bechamel with more cheese on top. The pasta never sticks.

Having the lasagna sheets on the bottom makes it easier to portion and wrap up the leftovers for the freezer.

Never tried a pasta floor but I might do having read this thread- I imagine it gives the whole thing more structural integrity?

As for the cheese/bechamel thing, my bechamel is already cheese-laden - I melt it in. Plus there is a additional cheese on top. This could be a grated hard cheese or it might be rings of goats cheese or slices of brie - whatever needs eating up.

(My partner and I have decided we need to lose weight. Can you see any clues above as to how this situation may have come about?)

White sauce/cheese in the middle???? What!!!!

Meat, pasta, meat, pasta, meat, pasta, white sauce, cheese.