Lasagna Noodles

Here's the thing they never tell you about lasagna noodles: You never, ever have to boil them. Ever.

I remember my mom making lasagna, and wrestling with a pot full of squirmy, slippery noodles that were just dying to stick together before she got them into the lasagna pan. She is a champion noodle wrestler, and she managed to get most of them in the pan. It involved a lot of olive oil and two pairs of tongs. She did it, but it looked so annoying that to this day, I've never tried to boil a lasagna noodle. If getting the noodles in the pan isn't difficult enough. . . as you may know, one of the key parts in making lasagna is spreading a layer of ricotta (or cottage cheese, if you are a certain southern friend of mine) on top of the layer of noodles. Have you ever tried to spread anything on a cooked noodle? So while my mom does make a delicious lasagna, she does not make it very often.

Anyway, the point is that you never, ever have to do this. And you also do not have to buy whatever kind of "no-boil" fake-o noodles they try to sell you. Let me break down the math for you: It takes 8 to 10 minutes to boil a lasagna noodle to fully cooked. It takes around 45 minutes to bake a lasagna. When the lasagna comes out of the oven the sauce is so boiling hot, that you have to let it sit for at least another 10 minutes before you can even try to eat it. We can assume that the sauce is boiling hot for at least 10 minutes during the baking time. Therefore, the noodles will be boiled to fully cooked during the course of baking time. Yes!

So basically, all you have have to do is make sure you use plenty of sauce, and that the sauce is extra saucy. Assemble the lasagna with uncooked noodles, use plenty of sauce, and bake as usual.

Don't let them lie to you any more. And never try to spread anything on a cooked noodle.