This particular piece of our test cook’s Spinach Lasagna has been out of the oven for hours and has spent some time in the refrigerator, so it is no longer ‘soupy.’ And even when it’s soupy, it is delicious.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
(Somewhere amid the soupiness)
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“It’s the best lasagna I ever ate,” said my brother-in-law Ray.
“I’m asking for seconds,” said my brother-in-law Joe.
“I can taste the love,” my husband, Mark, said somewhat teasingly.
“It’s one of my favorites,” said our neighbor Roger, who has sampled my “famous spinach lasagna” several times over the past few years.
“I’ve never been disappointed,” he added.
Everyone who tries my spinach lasagna, based on an old recipe from the PARADE magazine, seems to enjoy the flavors. But one thing that disappoints me a little is how soupy and sloppy it is when I first cut into it.
I wrote about this lasagna once before, in 2020, and back then I followed a suggestion from a reader in Forty Fort who is a very experienced cook. She told me to cut a “chimney,” or little hole, into the foil that covers the lasagna during most of the cooking time so moisture can escape in the form of steam.
I’m sure that has helped, but my lasagna still tends to be soupy when I first serve it. Over the years I have stopped parboiling the noodles and just put them into the pan dry so they’d soak up some moisture.
Recently, I hit upon the idea of adding a third layer of noodles to the two layers I’d previously used. That seemed to soak up quite a bit of extra moisture, and I was eager to present this story with that extra layer of noodles as my workable solution.
But then, when I made the lasagna last Saturday, it was still pretty soupy, even with three layers of noodles.
“I’ll take that piece myself,” I said apologetically as a particularly soupy segment flopped apart on the plate.
Mark came to my rescue with a wooden spatula in one hand and a knife in the other, and we did manage to present our guests with pieces of lasagna that were reasonably rectangular.
Since then, I have read other tips online about preventing lasagna soupiness — everything from using cornstarch, to trying to drain moisture from the ricotta in advance, to putting the final product in the refrigerator and eating it the next day.
I’m not saying anything is wrong with the original recipe. After all, it calls for frozen spinach, drained, and I’ve been using fresh spinach, which has more moisture. Even though I’ve cut down on the total ounces of spinach, that fresh veggie probably is the source of the soupiness.
I think I’ll just let the cooked lasagna set longer before I cut into it.
Or else I’ll just serve it with a big smile and say, “As long as it tastes good, let’s just enjoy it.”
Here is the original recipe. You’ll notice it says to parboil the noodles, which I no longer do.
SPINACH LASAGNA
1/2 pound lasagna noodles
2 (26 ounces each) jars pasta sauce
16 ounces ricotta cheese
10 ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 pound shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 eggs, beaten
chopped parsley for garnish
1. Parboil noodles, drain.
2. In medium bowl combine ricotta, 1/2 cup mozzarella, all the Parmesan, eggs and spinach. Mix well.
3. In 15 x 9-inch dish, layer 2 cups sauce, then half the noodles, then half remaining sauce, then all the spinach mixture, then half remaining mozzarella, remaining noodles and remaining sauce
4. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees F until bubbly (about 45 minutes)
5. After 45 minutes baking time, uncover. Top with remaining mozzarella and parsley.
6. Bake 15 more minutes.
7. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
