Lasagna...in a Crock Pot??

In keeping with the slow cooking theme this week, I decided to try out something I've been seeing a lot of on Pinterest: Crock Pot Lasagna.  I've not done a lot of pasta dishes in the crock because I've always figured it would end up overcooked.

This, my friends, was no exception.  :-\

I began first by comparing various recipes online.  The sauce recipes are pretty standard fare, nothing exotic, so I decided to go with my sauce of preference, i.e. the one I usually fix for lasagna or spaghetti.

Brown the beef and onions, drain, add seasonings and frozen spinach.

I use a low-sugar tomato-basil sauce.  In it goes!

My ricotta, egg, granulated garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and cheeses combine in a separate bowl.  (The cheeses haven't been added yet in this photo.)

I love, love, LOVE these crock pot liners.  If you haven't tried these yet, you really should.  Line the crock and spray lightly with cooking spray.

 

I started with a ladle or two of sauce, then added regular lasagna noodles on top.  Break them up a bit so they fit.

Then I added about a third of my cheese mixture, followed by a generous covering of sauce.  The sauce was wetter than usual (I added about 2/3 cup water) in order to help cook the lasagna noodles.

At this point, you will repeat the layers until you use everything up, ending with the sauce on top.  A lot of recipes say to cook on low for 4-6 hours.  So, being the night owl that I am, I started the crock at about 11:30 p.m. (don't frown...I said I was a night owl!) and let it do its thing until I got up at 5 a.m. (there you go frowning again...), at which point I shut it off and sprinkled the mozzarella I'd reserved on top and covered it up.  Sorry, no picture of the finished product--I wasn't toting my camera around with me at 5 a.m.  LOL!

Sooooooo....?  The verdict?

Yes, about that.  While it tasted fine, there was something lacking in texture with this slow cooker lasagna that you get from the oven-baked variety.  There was no crunch!  If you're like me, you appreciate those dry, crunchy corners you get on the top of your oven-baked lasagnas, and this didn't have that at all.  (Of course not, I didn't expect it to!)  The noodles themselves were also way too soft, basically overdone, for my liking.  I'm a big believer in al dente pasta, and this wasn't it by a long shot.

On top of that, it turns out my slow cooker has a couple of hot spots, so there were some scorched portions at the bottom that weren't very pleasant.  Ground beef needn't be cooked to that extent, if you know what I mean.

Next time?  Probably going back to the oven for this one.  I love the convenience and the fact that we weren't heating up the house, but if I'm going to go through the trouble to make a layered casserole, I want the final result to be spectacular.  I suppose I could try a little less water, maybe 1/2 a cup instead of 2/3 cup, and reduce the cooking time by an hour, but I still won't see those crunchy corners I do so adore.

And for that, there simply is no compromise.  :)