Are you tired of life’s conventions? I know I am! Life is way too short to waste it being conventional! That’s why I decided to start cooking my lasagna in the dishwasher. What makes the oven think he’s so special that we have to use him for food preparation night after night? With the oven’s monopoly on our cooking, he’s probably got the biggest head of any appliance in the kitche! Well, Move over oven! There’s a new guy in town, and it’s the dishwasher! Here is how to cook your lasagna in the underdog of the kitchen appliances, the dishwasher.
To get this lasagna dishwasher cooking party started, the first thing you are going to need to do is choose one of our recipes and prepare the lasagna of your choice accordingly. One thing to keep in mind, however, is the structural integrity of your lasagna. Check out our article on Techniques for a Solid Lasagna before deciding what lasagna you are going to make
Once you’ve chosen which of our great Lasagna Recipes you are going to prepare, have all your ingredients ready the way you would if you were going to make your dish in the boring old oven. Next, instead of using a typical and predictable casserole dish. take some tinfoil, and measure out three pieces that are no less than 24 inches long and 12 inches wide. These will serve as your dishwasher baking pans so you may want to double or triple layer the foil.
You’re cooking your lasagna in the dishwasher, so tonight is the night to do away with the convention that governs typical lasagna creation. Tonight, you are free to do as you please, so tonight you are going to make three smaller lasagnas instead of one big one! Tonight is all about changing it up! As you are preparing your lasagna, divide you ingredients up between the three piece of tinfoil that you have cut. Layer them as you normally would have back in the days when you still thought the oven was the king of cooking appliances. Make sure that you create each of your smaller lasagnas at the center of your tinfoil baking sheets.
Once you have built the ingredients for your dishwasher lasagna on each piece of tinfoil, take the ends of each of the longer sides of the tinfoil and bring them together over top of your delectable creation. Fold the tinfoil in such a way that one end wraps around the other end ensuring that your lasagna is completely covered. Next, cinch the shorter sides of the tinfoil together around the lasagna. Think of it as if you are wrapping the lasagna like a present – you really want to surprise your guests with your delicious lasagna creation, so make sure the tinfoil completely covers the lasagna.
Before you go ahead and put your lasagna in the dishwasher, test out the structural integrity of your tinfoil baking pan. Gently lift the tinfoil lasagna pocket off of the counter and make sure you’re not going to have an unfortunate mistakes with the tinfoil getting punctured or breaking. If you feel like the tinfoil won’t hold up to the power of the dishwasher, layer on some more.
When it comes time to cook your casseroles, place your three lasagna pouches in the bottom rack of your dishwasher. Make sure to keep your creations as flat as possible. You can load up the top rack with your dirty dishes if you want to kill two birds with one wash cycle.
Set your dishwasher to run through its normal cycle. Make sure you have selected the “heated dry” and the “sanitize” settings so that you get the maximum amount of heat for cooking your dish thoroughly. Once your dishwasher has finished, remove your lasagna, uncover it, and let it stand for a few minutes to cool and firm up a bit more.
Next, take a minute to stand back and look at what you have created. Not only do you now have three small delicious lasagnas to consume, but you’ve defied the conventional laws that govern your kitchen and have broken free of the oven’s reign of tyranny. More options are available to you now, and your horizons have been broadened! Think of the possibilities!
Finally, grab a plate (or not, this is the night for taking a break from the norm) and enjoy your delicious lasagna!
