Lasagna

Lasagna

Lasagne is a dish that is made using a special kind of noodle called lasagne (singular: lasagna) that is usually made from durum wheat. These noodles are layered on top of one another with a variety of ingredients in between the layers. These ingredients include cheese, any kind of meat, and vegetables. The noodle can be described as long, wide, flat and soft. Lasagna is served in a variety of ways and versions. In America, the pasta used to make lasagne is rippled on the edges while in Italy, they are simply flat.

History

There are numerous theories to the history of lasagna. Some stated that Lasagna was the Greek word for pasta dish. Around that time, the Romans also had a similar dish that matches the description of lasanum. The dish was layers of pasta with mixtures of ingredients in between the pasta layers. Lasanum became popular all around Europe through the Romans as they were the ones introducing lasanum. Lasanum’s recipe was listed in the first cookbook that was published in Britain.

Another theory states that ‘laganon’ was the Greek word for lasagne. Lasagne are simply flat pasta strips. The popularity of laganon later reaches Italy and the term ‘lasagna’ was adopted. ‘Lasagna’ is the term used worldwide and the term mostly used today.

The last theory is that lasagna was discovered in the 14th century. It was taken from an English recipe called ‘Loseyn’.

There were many debates concerning the origin of lasagna. Certain sources would say that Italy was the origin of lasagna while some would say that the British came up with the recipe of lasagna

Ingredients

The basic ingredients needed to make lasagna are a pound of sausage, two cans of tomato sauce, three quarters of ground beef, chopped onions, a can of twenty eights ounce mashed tomatoes, chopped onions, a pair of cloves garlic, two cans of tomato paste, 12 lasagna noodles, an egg, some water, parsley, salt, black pepper, Italian seasoning, sugar, fennel seeds and dried basil leaves.

Lasagna is special for its cheese. It’s the mixture of ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese. The amount of cheese needed would be six ounce of ricotta cheese, three quarters of sliced mozzarella cheese, and three quarters of grated parmesan cheese.

The Making of Lasagna

The lasagna and the sauce itself are usually made separately. To make the sauce, start by heating the oil in a large saucepan. Put in chopped onions, garlic and fry them until they are softened after about 12 minutes. Mix in ground beef, fry it for about 5 minutes. Include the rest of the ingredients into the saucepan. Cover the saucepan and stir for the next 15 minutes.

While preparing the lasagna sauce, preheat oven to 350⁰F. Boil water in a pot and add in salt. Drown lasagna noodles in the salty water for about 7 minutes. Drain the salt water and replace it with cold water.

Mix ricotta cheese with three quarters of parmesan cheese. Also, add spinach, eggs, salt, and pepper to the mix.

Drain the cold water from the lasagna dry. Use the sauce that has already been made and spread half of the sauce onto a baking dish. Put 5 noodles over the sauce and spread the ricotta - spinach mixture over pasta. Add mozzarella cheese onto that mixture. Repeat the same thing the second time or the third time if there’s more leftover from the sauce, ricotta - spinach, mozzarella cheese, or pasta. Wrap the baking dish with aluminium foil. Bake the lasagna in the oven for 40 minutes and leave it for 15 minutes after it’s baked.

References

1. Sammy, Milla (2015). “The History of Lasagna”. The Vegetarian Challenge. Retrieved from http://multimediajp.co.uk/veggie/?page_id=96
2. Bond, Amy (1997). “Three Cheese Lasagna with Italian Sausage”. epicurious. Retrieved from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/three-cheese-lasagna-with-italian-sausage-3152
3. “What is lasagne?” wiseGEEK. Retrieved (2015) http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-lasagne.htm
4. Chandler, John (2015). “World’s Best Lasagna”. abc News. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/recipe/worlds-best-lasagna-allrecipes-20463587

Food Portal — All articles about food, chefs, restaurants, cookbooks and more