Question about ricotta filling for lasagna

[viaChgo]

Due to an allergy, I'd like to alter a recipe for lasagna by omitting the eggs in the ricotta mixture. I'm wondering how that would affect the end product? Will it just be more crumbly without the binding properties of the egg? Thanks!

[slkinsey]

I've never used egg in the ricotta.

Of course, you could always omit the ricotta entirely and do the classic using fresh pasta and just meat sauce, bechamel and a little parmigiano. I vastly prefer this version, and every time I have made it for others they have found it a revalation.

[Shaya]

I've never used egg in the ricotta.

Of course, you could always omit the ricotta entirely and do the classic using fresh pasta and just meat sauce, bechamel and a little parmigiano.  I vastly prefer this version, and every time I have made it for others they have found it a revalation.

←

I agree completely on both counts. I love the bechamel and meat sauce version - would not want to try it any other way.

That said, I do use a ricotta mixture for canelloni and ravioli and I omit the egg with no adverse results.

[petite tête de chou]

Due to an allergy, I'd like to alter a recipe for lasagna by omitting the eggs in the ricotta mixture. I'm wondering how that would affect the end product? Will it just be more crumbly without the binding properties of the egg? Thanks!

←

I left out the egg in my last batch of lasagna and it was fine. The ricotta was a bit looser but that wasn't a drawback at all. When I first started making lasagna I didn't add eggs to the ricotta then I saw quite a few recipes calling for them. So I tried it and while they didn't add any flavor they seemed to make it easier to cut the lasagna without the sauce running everywhere (I let the dish cool for about 20 minutes). In short, I could take 'em or leave 'em.

[DTBarton]

I like the texture and structure the eggs give the ricotta, but I've made lasagna many times without it and it's not a big, noticeable difference sans egg.

[ray goud]

Pour mois, no eggs.

Ray

[deltadoc]

I wouldn't make lasagna without the ricotta and I wouldn't use the ricotta without the egg. Eggs just make everything taste better! How was it that Julia said "Give me plenty of eggs, cream and butter, then I can eat it!"

doc

[alligande]

I have a question, slkinsey mentioned the classic version using bechamel and not riccotta, before I came to the states all the lasagna I had was made this way (but I have never had lasagne in Italy), then I came here no bechamel but riccotta, so I use both! (but no eggs) So is riccotta an american addition? or a regional variation I have been very curious about this for years

[Paulette at Alimentum]

Due to an allergy, I'd like to alter a recipe for lasagna by omitting the eggs in the ricotta mixture. I'm wondering how that would affect the end product? Will it just be more crumbly without the binding properties of the egg? Thanks!

←

You don't really need the eggs in the ricotta filling. I've never used them really. I usually soften the ricotta with a little milk to help it spread more easily and that works fine. Everything stays together and it comes out creamy. Almost like you've added a thickened bechamel sauce.

[Pontormo]

I have a question, slkinsey mentioned the classic version using bechamel and not riccotta, before I came to the states all the lasagna I had was made this way (but I have never had lasagne in Italy), then I came here no bechamel but riccotta, so I use both! (but no eggs) So is riccotta an american addition? or a regional variation I have been very curious about this for years

←

Perhaps someone who's studied the matter knows how the tradition came about, but in the US, ricotta and dried, packaged noodles with ridged edges are often used, frequently with shredded mozzarella in addition the traditional Parmesan. It seems to be an Italian-American thing, adapted and transformed by folk who have as much Italian blood in them as I do. Canadians out there, is it a Italian-Canadian thing, too?

In New England, where I grew up, most Italian-Americans emigrated from Southern Italy and Sicily. Perhaps there are some timbales that this variation on lasagna evokes. However, the party line on much Italian-American cooking of the 50s & 60s is that it became "Baroque" in celebration of the financial security and success found in the New World. Thus, lots and lots of extra meat--sometimes even meatballs if not layers of browned ground beef and sausage and prosciutto--extra sauce, extra layers, extra cheese....

Stuffed pastas such as cheese ravioli and penne coated with ricotta and spinach, aparagus or other vegetables also may be sources of inspiration. Who knows, maybe even moussaka, since ricotta or cottage cheese are suggested substitutes in cookbooks addressing Americans back when feta was not commonly found in supermarkets.

I also prefer a simple lasagna that sticks to Bolognese roots, made first with homemade spinach pasta. Marcella Hazan also publishes a recipe that layers tender artichoke hearts with bechamel and Parmigiana Reggiano between fresh noodles which I made long, long ago when artichokes were not $3 a pop. There's a Piemontese version with anchovies and no sauce. Just these two suggest why home cooks felt free to develop lots of different types of baked pasta dishes with broad, flat noodles, even if it doesn't explain how the American type became standard.

Edited April 18, 2006 by Pontormo (log)