Cooking question

zsazsa-stl

H's last (at least it had better be the last) dinner party is tonight.  We actually have two couples confirmed and I like all of them (thank you, Lord).  H is back at school now (again, that you, Lord) so he actually HAD to plan ahead this time.  And he listened to my logic about making something that could be put together mostly last night and just popped in the oven today (instead of his grand plan to get home from work at 5 and have grilled chicken, corn pudding, roasted potatoes and a salad on the table by 6).  So there is a lasagna waiting in the fridge that I can pop in the oven before he gets home.

His recipe says to bake it only for 35 minutes, but that is assuming that you have a pan full of noodles covered in hot meat sauce.  <----sooo, dirty!

I was planning on pulling it out and letting it get close to room temp before baking and then maybe baking an extra 10 minutes to make up for the starting temperature discrepancy.  Is that okay?  Or does Chef WW suggest something else?

6fsn

I'm a little leery of setting things out to room temp so I'd go straight to the oven for an hour.  35 mins doesn't sound very long to begin with, but if you do bring to room temp 10 extra mins should be fine.  Do you know about sticking a knife in the center and pulling it out?  If the knife comes out hot the lasagna is done.

Have fun tonight. 

dharmabunny

I've never seen any lasagna recipe that baked for less than 45 minutes, unless it was just to warm it up only (already baked once).

If you are concerned about burning cheese, you can cover it with tinfoil for about 2/3 of the time and let it bake uncovered for the rest.

hmonkey

i'm with dharma on this one, although i am sure kuus has a lasagna recipe that calls for three hours at 120 degrees or something.

zsazsa-stl

I agree that 30 minutes sounds way too short.  And only at 350. 

The recipe that I like to make is an hour covered and 15 minutes uncovered at 375.

6fsn

Split the difference- 45 mins covered at 350 and 15 mins uncovered at 375!

zsazsa-stl

And now that I think about it, my recipe is a vegetarian lasagna that uses all cold and room temp ingredients and it comes out perfect, so maybe I'll just follow that baking instruction. 

*Barbie*

are the noodles pre-cooked?

I've never cooked lasagna for less than 60-75 minutes, but i make mine with uncooked noodles.

i wouldn't set it out  ahead, i'd just cook it a little longer.

Wzz

another ditto for dharma.

i'd proabably cook it for at least an hour covered, because i would rather the edges be crispy (i like overcooked baked pasta) over risking a lukewarm center.

**O-Face**

ded@kuus cooking (the lasagna)for hourssssss