lasagne....pasta didn't cook properly. where did I go wrong?

[EdwiniasRevenge]

Whenever I make bolgnese I always cook a bit extra and freeze. When I have 3-4 batches of leftovers I defrost. Combine. Add a bit of oregano and layer into a lasagne.

I did this today and the pasta was distinctly undercooked. Ive done it like this a feq times and don't think the fact the meat sauce is cold has caused problems before but that is the only thing I can think of. Dish was piping hot throughout when served.

The other thing was that quite a lot of water came out of the sauce when defrosting which I drained most of off. Would the lack of moisture stop the pasta cooking...even though it didn't taste at all dry...it just wasn't moist and creamy like it would be if I had cooked and layered it fresh.

What did I do wrong???

Hmm not sure. Was it a different type of pasta that needed pre cooking (the one I buy says "no pre cooking required" so I assume some types must do). I usually assemble mine in the morning and cook in the evening so perhaps it softens the pasta if it if soaking in for a few hours

Did you use dried lasagne sheets or fresh. If dried, did you pre-cook them?

I find that the dry lasagne sheets which say you do not need to pre-cook are LYING. They need a quick 3 or 4 minutes in boiling water, which is a pita because another saucepan to wash up, but there you go.

you probably needed more moisture to cook the pasta properly. We tend to use fresh pasta sheets for lasagne and then you dont get undercooked areas

You're right - it would be the lack of moisture. When I freeze bol it sort of separates but combines again if I leave it. It just looks a bit weird. Also I would defrost and heat the meat before combining with the lasagne sheets, but I think the undercooked thing is def the moisture.

It was dried. But it was the same stuff I always use...

I usually cook them for a minute before adding them. Takes longer but I always had the same problem otherwise.

You definitely don't need to pre-cook the lasagne sheets. I think not heating the meat up is where you went wrong. Most of the oven time would have been heating through rather than cooking the pasta. Heating it would make it easier to judge the liquid aswell.

Sorry Minty - just read your post

I always add a big extra water to my bolognaise before making lasagne and never precook. I found if I make it up too far in advance the pasta 'warps' and sticks out the top, so wouldn't do that myself!

Bit not big!

As others have said it's the lack of fluid that's the problem. Sauce too dry. When cooking pasta you always need plenty of water.... you can't steam it. For the no pre-cook sheets you have to make your meat sauce more liquid than normal so that the pasta can soften up and cook through.