Can anyone give me advice on the best way to utilize the pre-cooked lasagna sheets, i.e. is it better to go with more sauce or with soaking? I have never used pre-cooked pasta before; I am accustomed to using dried pasta sheets which need to be boiled prior to assembly of the lasagna.

As this is the first time I have tried to prepare lasagna since I have arrived in Switzerland, I am also wondering if the pre-cooked sheets are the only ones widely available, or if dried lasagna noodles are common as well?

Thanks in advance to my fellow EF foodies!

You can get the regular dried lasagne sheets from Migros, and probably Coop and Manor. As far as cooking precooked I'd add a tiny bit more sauce, as they're already just about done anyway. If you need crunchy on top just grill it.

I use the pre-cooked sheets (always have, even back in the states) with great success by soaking them in very warm water for ~5 mins just before assembling the lasagna, using a less watery sauce and by covering the pan with foil for the first 20 minutes of baking then removing it for the rest of the baking time until it's brown on top.

I agree with PopTart.

I find it interesting the growth of "fresh" pasta as a premium product with a premium price. "Authentic" pasta (I know authentic can be a widely debated topic in food) is dried - pasta was created as a way of turning perishable wheat into food that can could be stored through the winter. It was never meant to be eaten or produced as a fresh product and in my experience it is rare for Italian meals to be served with fresh pasta

Be interested to know if any of the Italians here have a perspective on fresh vs dried?

I've just whack 'em in as normal and end up with a delicious lasagne. Never had any problem.

mmm... lasagne... mmm

I always make lasagne with the dried sheets and never have an issue with it. No need to pre soak. I always layer it with meat and sauce and then sauce covering the top and bake for about 30 mins. Lasagne sheets always cooked through

I don't have any problems either. The only difference is that the bolognese shouldn't be be too thick.
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Prepering the same way as Nickers. Never tried to soak.

Agree with Nickers - I've never soaked the pre-cooked ones, just made the lasagna as usual, perhaps a bit more liquid in the sauce, Parmesan on top, slammed it together, popped it in the oven for about 35 minutes, and voilà - absolutely no problems and yummy - I'm getting hungry.....

Depends, home-made pasta is generally used fresh, and not dried, as are filled pasta (even store-bought).

Tom

Do you make your own Tom?

Do you want an Italian opinion?
It depends what you are looking for.
For an OK dish I would say use the dry (you are better off with egg pasta though than with plain one, read carefully the box label) and proceed as the other posts just said. I would suggest that you sprinkle the sheeds with water and then cook the first 15-20 min with foil on top. Preparing the lasagne the night before and then topping up with sauce before cooking would improve the result.
For an excellent dish prepare your own pasta. The traditional recipe is 100g of flour and one teaspoon of olive oil per 1 egg (calculate 1 egg per person roughly). Mix everything and leave in the fridge in a tight container for 30min -1h before rolling it. Cook the pasta before building your lasagne.
Fancy a veg lasagne dish. Replace the meat sauce with pesto. Really yummy!

You need to make fresh pasta to make ravioli and tortellini

My wife's grandmother always made it fresh and never used dried - ever.
That was south of Rome.

Perishable wheat is turned into flour which can be stored better than dried pasta.

There are two types of pasta. Water-based (durum wheat semolina, water, salt) is best made industrially, using massive machines for mixing throughly a thick, dense dough, and bronze extruders. These pastas are typically all the spaghetti, maccheroni, penne, fettuccine, eliche and other fancy shapes. Look for best makers, such as De Cecco (i find Barilla a poor substitute, the tast is so-so and it doesn't hold the cooking as well, which speaks of a use of sub-par ingredients).
All egg-based pasta, including lasagne, tortellini, ravioli, tagliatelle e tagliolini, are in fact usually a fresh product. They are made with a ratio of 100 gr of flour to 1 egg (and for special occasions, there is even a preparation with only egg yolks, delicious but very delicate to make, using 28 yolks to 1 kg of flour). The plain tagliatelle and lasagne can be made ahead and dried. The stuff u buy in supermarkets is made usually with 4 to 6 eggs per kilo (so adding water in the mix) and are mostly ok.

For home made lasagne, look out also for the fresh lasagna sheets... I've seen them available here and there, or buy them in Italy and freeze them. No pre-cooking nor soaking, and a better firmness.

Otherwise, soaking just 2-3 min works well, while increasing a bit the sauce. It is not an exact science, but it is hard to mess up!

I'm having lasagne tonight. Just cooking now...

Sometimes.

For ravioli and other filled pasta, yes (will be making pumpkin ravioli in the next days), but generally not for spaghetti and such.

My wife hold the opposite view, much preferring Barilla over De Cecco.

Tom

Good to know my heathen Yankee tastes are supported by a gen-u-ine Italian.

I've made my own fresh sheets for lasagna but, honestly, the amount of work involved is just too much for the payoff since I can tell a slight difference in texture, but not so much in taste. I mean, it's flour and eggs, it's hard to really go astray with that unless they're stale.

I tend to put most of my effort into the bolognese sauce that I cook for a day beforehand, which has plenty of wine, milk and meat along with veg, cooking it down into a fairly thick sauce. This is why I soak the Barilla sheets since, if I don't, they tend to soak up all the available moisture which isn't what I want...I want tender pasta but also a sauce that still has some juice to it. I also add a béchamel on top.. The foil keeps all the moisture in the pan so as to really cook those sheets without drying the dish out.

I'll be happy to share the recipe if anyone wants it.

Pop!
Well anyway i've never seen lasagna sheet by DeCecco nor Voiello... So of course then it is Barilla. Your lasagna sounds yummy, would happily drop by for a taste...

Thanks to each of you for the input! I utilized a (probably crappy) brand of pasta called Panzani, the only lasagna sheets I found at the store on Friday for a dinner party on Saturday (lesson learnt: shop early in order to give oneself time to search for other options if the right ingredients are not initially found ). I pre-soaked the sheets in hot water for a few minutes and found that the worst part of that was how the sheets stuck together in the pot. Result was good; no discernible difference in taste compared to dried sheets, but then again, I am not a pasta purist and have never used fresh.

Next time I will search for the fresh sheets at the grocery as several recommended. Making fresh pasta myself at home will go on the list of future cooking endeavors that I should someday try; along with things like baking homemade yeast bread and making homemade sausage (cue Tom to tell me how incredible they are when you make them yourself!) .

why do you need fresh sheets? so many people have replied they make great lasagne with dried lasagne sheets that they don't pre soak