I haven't made pasta much, nor in a dry climate, but I have masses of experience with filo under the worst of circumstances. I'd skip drying unless the dough was really wet. If two eggs and a spritz is all the moisture, i.e., if it's pliable and nit gooshy, and if you’re not preserving for later—which I don’t expect with egg pasta, there's no need. I'd make some parchment paper sheets, to go between the sheets of pasta, and stack them flat, with a damp tea towel on top of the parchment on top of the stack. I’m thinking a short time in the sun would disinfect the paper enough to reuse. Or you could go old school, and dust tea towels with flour, and use those for the stack, still with a damp one on top. They'd help dry the pasta a little, and can be laundered easily, but that would use half a cup of flour.

Hi Lars! That's smart, shaping your lasagne pasta to your pan : )

To dry your pasta, lay it flat on a cookie or baking sheet. To prep your baking sheet(s), either use one of those sugar dispensers with the little holes and lightly dust with flour, or lay parchment down. Lay your lasagne noodles flat. Allow to dry. You should check the pasta every so often at first... just try to gently move it on the cookie sheet to make sure it's not sticking. When dry, stack between parchment paper, put in a ziplock bag, and use within a couple days or freeze.

Yes, fresh pasta dries pretty fast - into the shape it's drying, so unless you intend to bake your lasagne right after you roll out your dough (i.e. have the lasagna layer ingredients ready and lay your pasta out as you make it), you'll need to dry it flat. I wouldn't put a wet or damp towel on pasta (sorry, plllog!), as that will make your pasta too wet, and alter the integrity - it'll be gummy.

As you said, when making noodles such as fettuccini, or spaghetti, laying it over dowels or whatever really doesn't hurt as they tend to break up a bit anyway, either when adding to the pot of water, or when putting in a bag to freeze.

If you make ravioli, do the same as with lasagne pasta. Again, moving it every so often to make sure it's not sticking to the cookie sheet.

I don't have the upper body strength to roll mine out thin anymore... thankful I have the hand crank machine!

No apologies! It works for filo, which bakes up crisp. :) I've never made gummy pasta, but don't have nearly enough experience to contradict yours.

I have two of those sugar dusters, and they are both in Los Angeles - I forgot to bring one with me. One has flour in it, and one is empty, waiting possibly for powdered sugar. I tend to use a sieve for dusting powdered sugar, and so I can use both of these for flour. I don't have parchment paper here either, but I do like the idea of drying them on a cookie sheet, but I only have one of those here. I have seven pizza screens in L.A., and I intend to bring one or two back - those would probably be good for drying the pasta.

My concern was having the pasta stick to itself if I stack it, but I think if I dust it with flour, it will not stick. It got dry very quickly here.

I should have made the filling while I was waiting for the dough to rest/hydrate before rolling it out. That would have made sense because it is really not necessary to let the dough dry at all, especially since I made it to the shape of the pan. This was a time-saver also. I know that is not traditional, but I will continue to do it.

The ball-bearing rolling pin does not require upper body strength - less than a hand-cranked pasta machine.

If the pasta were wet and stuck together, I would just roll it out again.

I love my ball bearing rolling pin, too!

Lars, if you have a fine sieve there, couldn't you use it to dust flour? Maybe just spoon in a little flour at a time? Or do the pinch and spray like Emeril? That is, hold a pinch high and kind of cast as you release.

I think your pan shaped pasta is brilliant! As well as the word "squircle". I love making lasagna with fresh sheets rather than dry noodles. It's not untraditional! I'm sure many an Italian mama must have figured out the right size and shape for her pan.

I do have a fine sieve I can use to dust flour, but in L.A. I've always been using the shaker, since that is what I bought it for. In the meantime, I can definitely use the sieve. The shaker is very convenient, however, and I'll put it on my list of things to bring back. Another thing I forgot to bring was the apples that I had dehydrated, but they'll keep.

"Squircle" is a mathematical term, and I've designed tables in this shape. They are not all that common to find, however.

Rolling out the pasta dough to fit the pan is sort of like rolling out pie dough to fit the pan, and so it's not a new concept, although I've not seen it applied to lasagna before🥘, but it seems logical to me.

Lars, looks great.

A few things:

when you say sugar duster, do you mean the muslin like sack or the metal shaker can? Isn’t there a cloth sack that will allow a light dusting? (Is my stay-home mind failing? Maybe I’m confusing it with something used in technical drawing, boat repair or gymnastics.)

To increase the humidity, get about 5 large dogs and lock them in your kitchen.

If your pasta is brittle, maybe it can be used like no-boil pasta.

photo of your finished dish?

And, Plllog, you make your own filo? I bow to you.

This is what my flour shaker looks like.

My finished lasagna is not all that photogenic IMO, but I will see if the leftovers can be photographed. As they are now, I will say that they taste much better than they look.

I never boil fresh lasagna pasta before assembly, but if it is very dry, I sometimes mist it with water, or else add fresh spinach to the filling, which is what I did this time.

Ugh oh! I meant I use the damp tea towel on top of a paper cover when working with filo which I've cut and stacked! I know how to make it from scratch, but my knees won't let me do it, even if I were skilled enough to do the pulling.

Here's the recipe:

Boil and hang dry in a sheltered clean place a king sized white flat bedsheet.

Combine and knead flour and water until it becomes a dense, glutenous ball the size of a large grapefruit. Rest it.

Get your minions to move the furniture out of the way and clean a swath of floor the size of your sheet. Wait for an auspicious day that's not too dry or humid.

Put your ball of dough in the center and start pulling, gently. When you have one, even, sheet of dough the size of the bedsheet, with no mars or holes, (I'd dust with a little flour, but I don't think that's authentic) start folding from one edge so that there's a usable size width folded over, evenly down the length of the sheet and slide a very sharp, long knife through the fold edge. Repeat across. Repeat the other direction. If you're sturdy ya-ya stock, make dinner. If you're of a weaker generation, put your dough in a storage box in the fridge and melt into a pool of sweaty exhaustion, leaving the minions to feed themselves.

OTOH, I've worked with commercially available filo of all kinds, good and bad, and the quality available from The Fillo Factory is superior. The guy there grew up in the filo biz, became an industrial engineer or something like that, and designed a fillo making machine. It's not as good as our old Long Beach brand (ingredients listed on the box: "flour, water and skill"), but it's really really good, and I've yet to have a bad batch.

===============

Lars, do you think you'll move to the desert permanently? There's a lot of rumbling about people continuing to work remotely after this ends. I remember a time when I was young when I had underwear and other essentials in five cities and it was very confusing. :) Too bad the lasagna wasn't pretty, but it's all about the eating. :)

TMD, thanks for posting the photo. Ditto to Lars. A few years ago, I bought one of these. Forgot what I was making, but I put powder sugar 10X in it. I think it was marillenkuchen.

https://www.ichkoche.at/marillenkuchen-rezept-230876

Lars, that’s awful about the dog disaster. I love dogs and cats but pet stains, accidents, doggy odors are tough.

Plllog — amazing. I’ll have to watch it on YouTube because I won’t be making any this week. However, one thing I would like to make (so that I can partake) is real strudel. The Joy of Cooking has a detailed recipe and vignette. Years ago there was a deli in Back Bay Boston that served slices of the genuine article. No short cuts, real strudel dough, thin, delicious, real apples and a few raisins and perhaps a few walnut pieces. That deli was very busy and served the best coffee — fragrant, with all the right volatiles and notes. This was just regular coffee, no Starbuck’s. So, sure it was late 1960s. ☕️

I’d be happy if I could “just” buy some of that apple strudel because I’d have to get new extremities to make it myself.

Lars, I once has a very interesting lasagna in an Italian restaurant in So. America. As soon as I got back home, I reproduced it. It goes about like this: thin lasagne, (pasta, sauce, cheese layered as usual, with delicate thin noodles, not store bought tough stuff) and on top (I forgot the sequence for the moment) was a layer of delicate pesto and a layer of béchamel sauce. Not too much of either. “Finely” made, not clunky diner. Served fresh from the oven. So absolutely fragrant. The pesto was (to get even more pedantic and judgmental, for a moment) fine, thin, fresh. No thick stuff that I see some people make. It had quite a bit of good EVOO in it. Smooth. Okay, so what if Weight watchers is going to list it as a serving to last a week. It was lovely to view. Again, thin layers of pesto and béchamel.

Is it necessary to dry the pasta? Looking at a handful of recipes online, some have no drying but boiling, others drying no boiling, and some drying and boiling. It’s been years since I made lasagna with homemade pasta, can’t swear to it but I don’t recall doing either.

FOAS, even with dry box lasagne, I just do a little soak in hot tap water. I only boil them if I want to line the sides of the dish.

Petalique, I had a great-aunt who was known for her fabulous strudel. Alas, I never met her nor tasted it myself... I'm far more likely to make my own lasagna (did so once already) or strudel than filo, though I still plan to master puff...

It is not necessary to dry the pasta, but it will dry on its own if made a couple of hours before assembly, which is what happened in my case. I never boil fresh lasagna noodles before assembling the dish - that really destroys the texture of the pasta.

I've not made lasagna with a bechamel sauce, as I tend to avoid bechamel because of the milk - it tends to upset my stomach. For some reason, the ricotta cheese does not, but the milk does. This is the problem I have with moussaka, which I love, but it does not love me. I do like the idea of pesto with lasagna, however.

I've also made strudel but not filo.

Petalique, just saw your joke about the large dogs creating humidity, I laughed so hard! Had a 200 lbs Saint Bernard who got in my first tiny kitchen once, so I can easily imagine, ha! I too like the idea of pesto on lasagna, thank you for sharing. I think a light basil pesto would be lovely.

FOAS, you're right, homemade pasta can be used fresh immediately after rolling, or dried and used later. If frozen, it's best to use while still frozen as any moisture accumulated in the freezing process might make it gummy and it might stick together, but I've accidentally allowed it to thaw and it's been OK. Smaller pasta though.

Here's a photo of the leftover lasagna

Looks delicious!!!

Looks good to me! Do you put eggs in? They can make it puff up the deflate under the weight as it cools.

Lars, your lasagna looks delicious. I like putting spinach in a lot of things. Did you chop it up or just lay leaves over the pasta?

Lars, we all know what lasagne looks like after it's sliced, and so I totally agree with everyone, it looks really good. Your sauce looks good, too. What's the green? I'm thinking basil, but it looks like spinach too?

Off topic, last year I looked for ice cream recipes, and found your cuisinart strawberry recipe. I am required to make it regularly by hubs! And Friday I thought of you several times as I used the wireless thermometer, and my nicely sharpened knives. I appreciate your helpfulness, and spreading your cooking wisdom!

I did put two eggs in the filling, which also had ricotta, Parmesan, Mozzarella, Asiago, red pepper flakes, and chopped raw spinach. I did chop the spinach so that it would be easier to eat, but I did not cook it before adding it - I think it has more flavor that way, and I needed the moisture from it to help with hydrating the pasta.!

Several people like the strawberry ice cream recipe, and so I also make it on a regular basis - when strawberries are in season. It's nice to be appreciated - I think everyone likes to hear that❤️! Thanks!

Your lasagna looks yummy, Lars. Thanks for taking the time to share. I like that you thought to make the pasta sheets to fit your casserole dish. Extra points fot the variety of cheeses and texture.

I’ll have to search your strawberry ice cream recipe. As soon an I lose my Covid-15.

Here's the ice cream recipe I use, which is based on the Cuisinart recipe:

Strawberry Ice Cream

3 cups fresh ripe strawberries, stemmed and sliced
4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1-1/2 cup sugar, divided
1-1/4 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon Cointreau or Grand Marnier

Ina small bowl, combine the strawberries with the lemon juice and 1/2 cup of the sugar. Stir gently and allow the strawberries to maceratein the juices for 2 hours. Strain the berries, reserving juices. Mash or purée half the berries.

In a medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer on low speed to combine the milk and remaining granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream, reserved strawberry juice, mashed strawberries, and Cointreau. Turn the machine on; pour the mixture into freezer bowl, and let mix until thickened, about 20
to 25 minutes. Five minutes before mixing is completed, add the reserved sliced strawberries and let mix in completely. The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture. If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer about 10 minutes before serving.

*Note: You can increase the Cointreau to 2 tablespoons to make a softer ice cream.

I need to remember the Cointreau, as it wasn't listed in the one I found, and that sounds very good! Plus, I like a softer ice cream. Thank you for posting that Lars!!

The original Cuisinart recipe had vanilla extract instead of Cointreau, but for me the vanilla competes with the strawberry flavor whereas the Cointreau enhances it. I have always omitted vanilla when making strawberry ice cream.

Squircle!! I laughed because I still use my old Corning Ware with the blue cornflowers on the sides! My daughter keeps saying that I should get rid of them because they are so old. I tell her, "I am old too. Do you want to get rid of me?" I should give all my kitchen stuff to charity when I die, because she will get rid of it anyway. I will roll over in my grave when she throws my Ankarsrum mixer or my Breville Peel and Dice out. Maybe, I should be buried with them....

I love my stainless steel rolling pin that my father-in-law made for his mother-in-law. (My husband's grandmother) But, my husband loaded the dishwasher one night, and he put the rolling pin in the dishwasher. No more shiny! He did the same thing to my meat mallet. Biscuit and doughnut cutters are still shiny though.

Used a Corning Ware dish tonight to make 4 rolls.

Lars, your lasagna looks better than the one I made the other day. Mine was really flat and green. Not pretty at all, but it is probably one of the best recipes I have ever made.

Lars, thank you for posting your ice cream recipe again. I must have missed it the first time.

I'm not a big fan of Lasagna, but you all are inspiring me to try making some.... from scratch.

Has anyone made chicken lasagna? I might try adding chicken and more bechamel sauce to my asparagus lasagna recipe. It might work...

I haven't made chicken lasagna, but I was going to add Italian sausage to mine but forgot.

I think you can put anything in lasagna that you would consider putting into ravioli, which I have not made in a while.

Peke, your lasagna looks great, and I like the idea of asparagus lasagna. Lasagna is so much easier to make than ravioli, and so I only make ravioli for special occasions. It's not really difficult - just more time consuming.

Yeah, ravioli is time intensive. My Italian grandmother-in-law made tons of them, Italian sausage, and gnocchis, etc. Unfortunately, she never had a written recipe to pass down. My German grandmother gave me her Dill and her Bread and Butter pickle recipes, but I can't make them like she did. I don't know what the difference is. She used to can the pickles in gallon jars. The gallon was eaten pretty quickly. When we visited, we went through 1 or 2 jars.

I've often made the sauce for traditional lasagna with ground turkey and/or Italian turkey sausage. Always some beef for the flavor. Turkey stands up to being cooked in the sauce better than chicken.

When I want to use chicken meat in lasagna rather than in the sauce, however, I make barbecue chicken lasagna. That's shredded (pulled or picked) cooked chicken, a loose, homemade, tomato-y, not too sweet or over spicy, barbecue sauce, smoked mozzarella, grilled veg with a little char, and work out the other ingredients depending on what I have. I don't usually add anything to the ricotta (other than the eggs) because one needs a pause point from strong flavors, but one can also do bbq with plain tomato sauce, and barbecue spices in the ricotta.

Lars, I haven't ever made lasagna without cooking the pasta first. Where does the liquid come from to cook the unboiled pasta you used in your lasagna in your original post? The pasta actually gets cooked? Do you do something different while assembling the lasagna? I've read about this before but doesn't make sense to me.

Fresh pasta does not require much moisture when baking. I do spray the top of the dish with some extra water, and that seems to be enough, but in this case, I used raw spinach, which has enough water for cooking the pasta.

If I were using dry lasagna noodles from a box, then I would boil them before assembly. I tried the "no boil" box lasagna noodles once and did not like them. Besides, it is very easy to make fresh lasagna noodles.

Thank you, Lars. I'm going to try this!

Pillog, Pulled Chicken BBQ Lasagna...sounds really good.