Lasagne

Lasagne are a wide, flat pasta shape, and possibly one of the oldest types of pasta. The word also refers to a dish made with several layers of lasagne sheets alternated with sauces and various other ingredients.

Lasagne originated in Italy, in the region of Emilia-Romagna. Traditional lasagne is made by interleaving layers of pasta with layers of sauce, made with ragù, bechamel, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. In other regions and outside of Italy it is common to find lasagne made with ricotta or mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, various meats (e.g., ground beef, pork or chicken), miscellaneous vegetables (e.g., spinach, zucchini, mushrooms) and typically flavored with wine, garlic, onion, and oregano. In all cases the lasagne are oven-baked.

Traditionally, the dough was prepared in Southern Italy with semolina and water and in the northern regions, where semolina was not available, with flour and eggs. Today in Italy, since the only type of wheat allowed for commercially sold pasta is durum wheat, commercial lasagne are made of semolina (from durum wheat).

Source: http://www.donaldrussell.com

Some fun facts about Lasagne:

• Lasagna Could've Meant Something Much Grosser than Food. Originally, in Italy, the word "lasagna" did not refer to a food (in fact, today, the food is still spelled "lasagne" as the plural form). The word "lasagna" referred to the pot in which the food was cooked. It is thought that the word "lasagna" for the pot is derived from the Greek word for "chamber pot.
• Original Lasagna Did Not Use Tomatoes. The earliest lasagna recipes known are dated from the thirteenth century. At that time, tomatoes were not known to Europeans. This means that they couldn't have used them in the recipes. However, depending on the recipe, different cheeses are used.
• Boiling Is No Longer Required to Make Lasagna. Boiling noodles used to be a requirement for making lasagna. No-boil noodles now exist. These are great as they soften in the oven, but it is absolutely necessary to make sure that there is a great quantity of sauce so the noodles get wet and cook while they are in the oven.
• Lasagna Can Be Made in the Dishwasher. Do you not have an oven or do you not have a working oven? You can make lasagna in the dish washer! All you have to do is put the ingredients together in a dish (either boils noodles or use the no boil noodles), cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil, then use the heated dry and sanitize cycle on your dishwasher to cook the lasagna.
• Lasagna Is Prevalent in Pop Culture. The most well-known bit of lasagna lore is probably that the cat, Garfield, from the comic strip, has lasagna as his favorite food. It is also prevalent because the parody artist Weird Al Yankovic recorded a song called "Lasagna" that is a parody of "La Bamba" and that in an episode of Seinfeldcalled, "The Butter Shave," Elaine gave the passenger next to her the nickname "Vegetable Lasagna".

Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasagne

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Posted in: Culinary,Italy