"Baby" lasagna report.
First, let me say that I'm not sure how often I would do this, but I was curious to see how it would work. And there may be times when I have some bit of leftovers that I want to try in a lasagna sort of combination and this would be a good way to make that work.
I made 2 little pans of lasagna. I used some regular Ronzoni lasagna noodles that had been in my pantry for lord knows how long. Pan #1 was made with that tasty IP ragu from Serious Eats that I made last week, thinned down with a little strained tomato, some sautéed spinach, mushroom and onion (the bulk of which is destined for a quiche), ricotta, mozzarella and parm. Pan#2 was very loosely based on the lasagna al pesto recipe from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest cookbook (a version can be seen here). This recipe has a good bit of vegetables but no actual sauce so I figured it would be the acid test for getting the noodles cooked. Here you see them both ready for the oven Instant-Pot. I thought Pan#1 on the left might overflow and make a big mess but it did not.
I put the foil covered pans on the trivet with 2 cups of water and followed the same cooking parameters @ElsieD used, also described here. In the cooker:
Fresh out of the cooker:
I gave the ragu version on the left a quick run through the Cuisi-oven's broiler. Below, you can see the browned top of Pan#1 and a small serving of the veg/pesto version from Pan#2 on the right:
The top layer of noodle in that pesto version is a touch more al dente than I think anyone would want but it's edible. I'm pretty sure I've made that recipe without pre-cooking the noodles but I believe the Ronzoni noodles may be a bit thicker. If I made this again, I'd figure out a way to add some sauce or something over that top layer of noodle to help it hydrate better. There were a few spoonfuls of water on top of the foil when I opened the cooker so maybe trying it without the foil might work.
And in the interest of reporting all results, I also sampled a very small portion of the raga-based dish:
This one was all nicely cooked.
Again, I know making miniature lasagnas may not be of interest to most, but it could be a handy way to use up some leftovers or pilot different flavor combos.
I had the ricotta on hand because I wanted to try a version with roasted butternut squash, sautéed spinach or kale and and some blue cheese. I still want to try that.....
