Why You Should Pre-Cook The Veggies In Vegetable Lasagna

While the simplest lasagnas involve nothing more than noodles, cheese, and sauce (or ravioli, if you want to make lazy lasagna), the very best ones always involve some sort of embellishment. If you're opting for vegetables instead of (or in addition to) meat, you should always pre-cook them. The reason, according to INK Entertainment corporate chef Patrick Och, is because "pre-cook[ing] or roast[ing] ... remove[s] excess moisture." As anyone who's ever sauteed a pan of mushrooms knows full well, some vegetables release a lot of liquid as they cook, and you want them to do so before they go into your lasagna to prevent waterlogged noodles.

While Och insists that pre-cooking the vegetables is the key to making non-soggy lasagna, there are a few other steps you can take to ensure that the dish doesn't get too wet. One tip from Ina Garten is to make your lasagna with uncooked noodles. The noodles only need a 20-minute soak in hot tap water to soften them up, and they'll absorb the rest of the moisture they need as the lasagna bakes. (Oven-ready lasagna noodles are also a thing, and these don't need any soaking.) Another idea is to strain the ricotta cheese to remove some of the whey.

To reduce any potential sogginess in vegetable lasagna, Patrick Och recommends using hearty vegetables such as eggplant, mushrooms, spinach, and even zucchini. (Hey, it's one way to use up that summertime surplus.) These vegetables, he tells us, "hold their texture well and won't release too much water." Carrots, peppers, and squash also make great lasagna additions, while onions can be added to the marinara sauce.

The best way to prepare the vegetables is to chop them small or slice them thin. Not only does this ensure better distribution, but may even allow you to sneak them by anyone who's not such a fan. After you've cut up the vegetables, you may either saute them in a pan or roast them in the oven. Spinach can also be steamed or boiled, but after you cook it, be sure to wrap it in a towel and squeeze out the excess moisture.

Once the vegetables and sauce are cooked and the noodles are soaked (or not, if you're using the no-cook kind), you'll need to layer the lasagna. Och does so by spreading some sauce over the bottom of the pan, then covering it with noodles and adding the vegetables before following these up with cheese and sauce. As long as you've pre-cooked the vegetables and assembled the lasagna correctly, it should come out of the oven looking like a dream. If it does turn out a bit lopsided, though, that's no big deal since it'll still taste fantastic and that's what really counts.