The pasta party

May 1, 2020 12:12 PM

Samin Nosrat wants everyone to make lasagna on Sunday The wonderful Samin Nosrat suggests that we all make a Sunday lasagna and have an online party. She wrote about it at the NYTimes, but if that is paywalled you can hear about it on the corona-times podcast she does with Hrishikesh Hirway

The podcast is at episode three now, they give tips to callers, sort of, and chat with celebrity friends and Hrishi's dad, the food scientist.
The suggested lasagna is vegetarian and American style. You could also do Serious Eats' perfect classic lasagna. Or a vegan version. After all, there is no lasagna police checking out your recipe.

posted by mumimor (26 comments total)

After all, there is no lasagna police checking out your recipe.

That's just what the Organizzazione per la Vigi-lasagna wants you to think.
posted by jedicus at 12:16 PM on May 1, 2020 [2 favorites]

After all, there is no lasagna police checking out your recipe.

Or as Food Wishes Chef John might say, "After all, you play the starring role, in making your lasagna casserole."
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:30 PM on May 1, 2020 [6 favorites]

I'd love to get an accurate number of people that are into this idea that also:
- Have access to flour right now
- Have a pasta machine in their kitchen

Samin is great, but I'm'a use store-bought noodles.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:48 PM on May 1, 2020 [6 favorites]

My lasagna-making improved immeasurably when a friend persuaded me to try NOT boiling the boxed, dried noodles before assembling. Works great and cuts prep time in half.
posted by PhineasGage at 12:50 PM on May 1, 2020 [4 favorites]

As I understand it, the reason for boiling the dried noodles is not to cook them but to hydrate them, so they don't leech moisture out of the other ingredients while the lasagna is cooking.

I've had good luck the past few times I made lasagna by just soaking the noodles in lukewarm water for 5-10 minutes until they're soft. I can't tell any difference between that and boiling them in the finished result.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:57 PM on May 1, 2020 [3 favorites]

I love making lasagna and I think I'm pretty good at it, but it's an axiom of my life that no matter how big a casserole dish I use, my lasagna is too big and spills out over the sides.
posted by penduluum at 12:57 PM on May 1, 2020

no matter how big a casserole dish I use, my lasagna is too big and spills out over the sides.

an embarrassment of riches
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 1:07 PM on May 1, 2020

Samin Nosrat is amazing and generous and wonderful. If somehow you haven't seen Salt Fat Acid Heat yet, it's a real treat.

I'm not sure something this fancy is in keeping with the spirit of Sunday's event, but this photo of a woven lasagana has been staring at us from the cover of a magazine for weeks and I am hypnotized by its beauty. Then I read the recipe and realized that A: it was awfully complicated and B: no way would I extract a slice that looked that good.
posted by Nelson at 1:11 PM on May 1, 2020 [2 favorites]

I'd love to get an accurate number of people that are into this idea that also:
- Have access to flour right now
- Have a pasta machine in their kitchen

I fit all three criteria. I am totally magoatally gonna make my own lasagna noodles for this.
posted by aubilenon at 1:14 PM on May 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

haha, i just donated our boxed lasagna noodles that i bought on a whim pre-great pause. Little Purr hates tomato sauce, and big purr doesn't like all the cheese in lasagna. So my dream of lasagna was nixed. :(
Now i'm craving NY red sauce italian food.
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 1:39 PM on May 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

doesn't like all the cheese in lasagna

😲😲😱
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:57 PM on May 1, 2020 [3 favorites]

I'm not on US time, and I'm so isolated, I can't think of who I could donate leftovers to. Also, I'm not on social media. But I really love lasagna, so I'm thinking of how to participate in my own pace.
To me, the Serious Eats recipe I linked to is the best (Hermeowne Grangepurr, check it out, there is much less cheese and much less tomato than in the classic American version), but since my girls have been vegetarian for a while I often replace the meat with finely chopped eggplant, and I actually have eggplant, while I don't have meat. I can buy really good fresh pasta at my well-managed grocery store, so I don't imagine I'll be working that rolling pin.

There are tons of good uses for fresh lasagna sheets that you haven't used for lasagna. The most popular at our home is cannelloni with spinach and ricotta. But they are also delicious cut into diamonds and served with pesto and new potatoes. Or with any fresh seasonal sauce.
posted by mumimor at 2:09 PM on May 1, 2020

I'm not much of a cook, but I had the pleasure of shooting Samin last year for the cover of Money magazine and unsurprisingly she is just as wonderful and funny irl. The biggest issue was getting shots where she wasn't laughing. Such a fun shoot.
posted by chris24 at 3:16 PM on May 1, 2020 [12 favorites]

no matter how big a casserole dish I use, my lasagna is too big and spills out over the sides

In my experience, the solution to this is a second casserole dish and slightly (slightly) smaller layers. Or doubling the recipe and using four or five dishes.

You do need some freezer space, though.
posted by kristi at 3:55 PM on May 1, 2020

Hermeowne, this might be the answer for you; I've made it and it's great (but time-consuming).

That Samin Nasrat lasagna recipe is more work than I can muster. I use ricotta rather than béchamel sauce, and ruffle-y pasta sheets, because come on.
posted by acrasis at 4:07 PM on May 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

Oh god, I just got to the part of the video where she's cutting a piece out of the finished lasagna - by banging the point of a very expensive chef's knife into the bottom of the pan!! Yer killin' me, Samin!
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:17 PM on May 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

no matter how big a casserole dish I use, my lasagna is too big and spills out over the sides

I use a large foil roasting pan now, because of this. You can reuse it a few times if you're careful, though they're a pain to clean without denting them completely out of shape.
posted by Lyn Never at 4:47 PM on May 1, 2020

Alternatives to lasagne noodles: soda crackers or matzo. I've used soda crackers (because that's what we had at work for this competition). It worked out surprisingly well.
posted by ShooBoo at 6:16 PM on May 1, 2020

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone! Fear not, we are not lost for delicious comfort food- I made great bison & bean burritos earlier this week. We're just a regular family with a food tolerance continuum, so complex casseroles with nixxed items (red or cheese sauce, or too much ricotta & mozz) aren't in the space right now. Now an food-insecure person can join in the fun with my noodles. Anyway, Sunday is BBQ food truck day in the neighborhood, so we already have food plans :)
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 7:14 PM on May 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

I live alone; no way am I making a lasagna. Also I went to the grocery store on Wednesday, so I'm not going back for a while, and I have no lasagna noodles or tomato sauce or ricotta.
posted by suelac at 8:58 PM on May 1, 2020

Im concerned that this could cause a run on lasagna ingredients, crowding out those with a real chronic need for lasagna, like Garfield.
posted by condour75 at 9:29 PM on May 1, 2020 [6 favorites]

Ehhh, Garfield's been a zombie for years, I doubt it's lasagna he's craving these days.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:37 PM on May 1, 2020

Lasagna freezes well as long as you don't skimp on the sauce and cheese! Make sure each frozen serving has noodles fully coated in sauce, and reheat slowly and gently.

As we just finished our freezer lasagna recently, I'm not too into making another one soon. Also my recipe uses homemade meat sauce so it takes several hours and a lot of ingredients to make, and temps are in the 90s... so, no.
posted by Red Desk at 11:47 PM on May 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

I like the idea of a distributed cooking party. Our university has been doing it for students the last few weekends: they share a recipe by email to the students, send everyone $20 grocery store vouchers or deliver the ingredients to those who can't get to a store, and then the students are meant to face time or zoom, or share photos on social media with each other while cooking and eating. My grad students keep telling me about it and showing off their pictures and I am super jealous
posted by lollusc at 1:15 AM on May 2, 2020 [3 favorites]

I didn't feel quite like making lasagna this weekend. But this post finally inspired me to attempt Greasy Honky Pie from one of our upstanding site members. I think it technically fits the definition of a lasagna.

/burp
posted by mephisjo at 7:20 PM on May 3, 2020

The worst part is when I get full and have to stop eating lasagna.
posted by aubilenon at 3:46 PM on May 4, 2020