Dinner Party Lasagnas - Help!

[bingobrian]

Hi Everyone,

I'm throwing an informal dinner party for 15-20 people, which is a lot for my tiny NYC apartment. I was planning on doing 3 or 4 lasagnas, two meat, one or two vegetarian which I can assemble ahead of time and then pop in the oven.

The important question is, can I cook four lasagnas in the oven (full-sized) at once? Or am I going to ruin all of them if I try and do that?

HELP!

 

[mommysews]

I would guess that you can, but you will need to rotate them so the ones on the bottom don't get burned. Also some ovens have hot spots so roatating will help with that too. Also keep in mind that part of what cooks the food is the circulation of the heat and air around the item. If you have 4 inthe oven you are cutting down that circulation so it will take longer than if you were just baking one as to how much longe, sorry, I don't know.

 

[Andy M.]

If they'll all fit in the oven, they should be OK. It's better if there is an inch or so of space between the pans and between the pan and wall of the oven for better heat circulation.

Rotating the pans as mommy says is important too.

Another option is to cook one of each together and take them out to rest (30-60 minutes) then put the other two in to cook.

 

[quicksilver]

I would agree with the above.
If you can fit 2 on a rack, then your set. But do not use your lowest rack setting.
Place the 2 lowest ones at least on the second rung up from the bottom....and rotate.
Lasagna really doesn't take that long to cook.
And make sure you let it set alittle before serving, so the guts don't fall out when picking up individual servings.

 

[anni]

The first thing that occurred to me was if it is possible to do two of the four as "skillet" lasagnas or a slow cooker pasta dish?

I've done this layered type of pasta dish in a Nesco for a large group and it worked out quite well when there was only one oven.

 

[cara]

I think I would pre-cook them one after the other and then just reheat...

 

[Maverick2272]

Even if they all fit, I would probably only do two at a time. This way there is plenty of space around them to help the heat circulate. I have a smaller stove, non convection so if it was a large pan of lasagna I could only do one, if it was a smaller pan of lasagna I could do two at a time. Technically I could fit two on each rack and therefore get all for in at once, but I personally think it would be too crowded and they would not cook evenly without me constantly switching them around. And of course, if you have to switch them around throughout the cooking process, well that lowers the temp of the oven each time you open the door.

 

[Glorie]

What I did was have a lasagne "throwdown". I had 3 other people volunteer and we ended up with 4 different recipes for lasagne! It was great fun! Maybe that could help with your oven situation.....??