One of the most famous and beloved cuisines in the world, which has presented many wonderful world famous dishes, is, of course, Italian. In all countries of the world there are restaurants dedicated exclusively to this cuisine. But even when you come to any restaurant, you can always find several Italian dishes on the menu, and one of the most popular is lasagna. Almost everyone knows its pleasant taste, many even cook it at home, but few people know the history of the origin of the lasagna dish... And the history goes back many years, the first mentions date back to the 14th century. And initially she had a completely different look than we are used to seeing her.

In its original form, it was a round flattened flatbread made from wheat flour. The authors of this cake were the Greeks, and later this culinary skill was adopted by the inhabitants of Rome, with the exception that they cut the cake into long strips, and called them "Lagani". But there is a second version of the history of the origin of the name of lasagna. According to this version, the name was derived from the Greek "Lasanon", which translates as a pot stove. That is, the name came from the vessel in which the dish was prepared and over time the Romans began to call it "Lasanum".

Everyone is used to the fact that lasagna is Italian cuisine and the homeland, respectively, Italy. But the British do not agree with this statement at all. Indeed, in the 14th century they also had a similar recipe called "Loseyns". Moreover, this recipe is even mentioned in one of the very first and oldest cookbooks in Britain. Therefore, the history of the origin of lasagna was called into question by the British, which caused a storm of indignation among the Italians. Despite the arguments of the British, the Italians stood their ground and said that no lasagna was described in the book.

But the first recipe for lasagna was mentioned in a manuscript that was found near Naples. And it had the following description: pre-cooked sheets of dough were laid with layers of cheese and spices.

Of course, in our time, many variations have appeared and the main products necessarily include meat or vegetables, as well as béchamel sauce. In addition, you can prepare a festive meat dish, or you can prepare a vegetarian one using only vegetables or mushrooms.

Step-by-step recipe for making bolognese lasagna at home

It should be noted right away that despite the multicomponent nature, the step-by-step recipe for making lasagna is quite simple; moreover, it involves the use of ready-made dough, which can be purchased in all large supermarkets. But those who are not looking for easy ways can cook it on their own.

Ingredients for making lasagna:

• Beef - 0.7 kg
• Onion - 1 piece
• Bell pepper - 1 small or half large
• Blanched tomato - 0.8 kg
• Tomato paste - 100 g
• Garlic - 2 cloves
• Flour - 50 g
• Butter - 50 g
• Milk - 0.6 l
• Nutmeg - 1/4 tsp or to taste
• Hard cheese - 0.5 kg
• Dough - 0.25 kg
• Oregano, basil to taste

All these products will allow you to prepare a classic lasagna recipe bolognese.

Its preparation begins with the fact that you need to make minced meat using a meat grinder. For the minced meat to be juicy, it is important to cook it yourself, and not buy it ready-made in the store, because you cannot be 100% sure of the quality of the store mince. The first component of the bolognese sauce is ready. Next, clean and chop the onion into small cubes, chop two cloves of garlic and the Bulgarian pepper mode, also into a cubes. We put a saucepan on the stove, heat it up and pour in one tablespoon of olive oil, throw vegetables to fry with frequent stirring. It is necessary to fry until the onion becomes transparent, then salt and pepper to taste. Now you can add ground beef to vegetables, mix everything well. While the minced meat is fried, knead the pre-blanched, peeled tomatoes in a bowl with a fork. When the minced meat turns gray, add the crushed tomatoes and tomato paste, season with dried oregano. Simmer to remove excess liquid.

Next stage - bechamel sauce... To begin with, we make "ru": put 50 g of butter into the pan, let it melt completely and pour 50 g of flour. Mix everything thoroughly and fry until the mixture acquires a slightly golden color. Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan, the milk should be slightly warmed up. With constant stirring, add milk to the "ru" (the fire should be minimal). So that the sauce mixes well and does not form lumps, it is best to use a whisk to stir, pour in the nutmeg and remove from heat.

Now you can start putting everything together in layers. Grease the bottom of the mold with a thin layer of béchamel, put a sheet of lasagna dough, pour the bolognese sauce on top and sprinkle with grated cheese, cover with a sheet of dough, grease the béchamel. There should be five similar layers. Grease the last sheet of dough with béchamel sauce and sprinkle with cheese (ideally, if it is parmesan, but you can replace it with mozzarella). We put the form in an oven preheated to 220 degrees for about half an hour, covered with a lid or foil, 10 minutes before being ready to remove, so that the top is browned. Bon Appetit!

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Lasagna is popular all over the world today.

Lazagna(ital. lasagne) is a popular traditional dish of Italian cuisine, made from several layers of dried and then boiled or baked dough, interspersed with various fillings and covered with béchamel sauce. The filling layers can be minced meat, meat stew, cheese, tomato, spinach, and other vegetables.

History

Lasagna pasta

Today, lasagna has, without a doubt, conquered the whole world. And the point is not only that it can be tasted in almost any country. Today, the pedigree of the dish is defended by several nations at once - Italians, British and Scandinavians. The most plausible and proven version is the Italian origin of the dish.

The "grandmother" of modern lasagna was a flat, round wheat cake. The Romans, who adopted Greek bread, began to cut it into strips and call it lagani, i.e. (plural - laganon). In some regions of Italy (for example, Calabria) wide flat pasta tagliatelle is called lagana.

Another etymological version says that the word "lasagna" comes from the Greek lasanon (translated as "pot oven"). The Romans borrowed this word and changed it to lasanum. So they called the dishes in which the distant "ancestors" of lasagna were cooked. Gradually, they began to call the dish itself - "lasagna" was born.

Lasagna takes pride of place in Italian cuisine

The first Italian recipe for lasagna was found in a 14th century manuscript by an unknown author, discovered in the vicinity of Naples. The manuscript was called Liber de coquina (Cookbook). In accordance with the recipe in the Middle Ages, lasagna was prepared as follows: sheets of dough were cooked in boiling water, spices and grated cheese were placed between the layers.

There are so many Italian restaurants all over the world nowadays that it is easy to run into a fake or imitation of a traditional dish. For real lasagna, go to Italy to some village restaurant. There you will surely taste real lasagna.

Preparation

Lasagne with asparagus and spinach

Lasagna is one of those dishes that you can constantly improvise when preparing. And, as you know, there is no limit to creativity. Lasagna fillings can range from mushroom or vegetable stew, minced meat to seafood. Lasagna consists of several layers of dough stuffed with fillers. The dish is poured with béchamel sauce and sprinkled with cheese. Lasagna is popular today not only in Italy but all over the world. And thanks to the abundance of recipes, each hostess can organize an “Italian menu” at home. There would be a desire!

Recipes

Lasagne with tomatoes and cheese

Vegetable lasagna

Ingredients: 8-9 sheets of lasagna, 1 eggplant, 1 zucchini, 1 carrot, 1 onion, 300 g. Mushrooms, 500 g. Tomatoes, 200 ml. 10% sour cream, 150 g. Grated cheese, 2 cloves of garlic, 3 tbsp. l. vegetable oil, salt and pepper to taste.

Grate or chop carrots, onions, eggplant and zucchini. Fry onions and carrots in oil, add zucchini and eggplant, fry for 5-7 minutes. Then add the mushrooms (preferably fresh, but canned will also work). Simmer for 5 minutes, add chopped tomatoes and sour cream. Mix everything, salt and pepper to taste.

Put the filling in a layer in a mold, put 3 sheets of lasagna on it, then again the filling, the sheets of lasagna and again the filling, press lightly. Sprinkle the top sheets with grated cheese. Put in a hot oven and bake at 180 * 20-25 minutes. Low in calories and tasty!

Lasagne with ham and cheese

Lasagna is one of the most famous dishes of the national cuisine of Italy, which is popular all over the world. Lasagna today is a wheat dough that is first dried and then boiled or baked. And then it is sandwiched with various fillings - minced meat, vegetables and mushrooms. Grated cheese must be added to the dish. And it is customary to bake it in the oven.

But this kind of lasagna has taken on relatively recently. At first, it was a round flat cake made from wheat dough. It was baked by the Greeks, and it was called laganon. The inhabitants of Ancient Rome adopted the method of making bread from the Greeks, they began to cut it into strips and called it lagani (this is the plural of laganon). And nowadays, in some regions of Italy, for example in Calabria, flat wide pasta, which is called tagliatelle all over the world, is called lagana here.

There is another version of the origin of the word lasagna. According to her, this word comes from the Greek word lasanon and literally means "pot oven". All the same Romans borrowed it to designate the dishes in which lasagna is made, and turned it into lasanum. And then the name passed to the dish itself.

Everyone knows that Italy is the birthplace of lasagna, although the British and even the Scandinavian countries have tried to challenge this. In England, they say that even during the time of King Richard II, in the 14th century, there was a dish similar to lasagna, and it was called "loseyns". The lasana recipe is said to be in one of the first cookbooks in the British Museum. When this statement of British researchers appeared, Italians were offended and declared that whatever the name of this old English dish, it was not lasagna at all.

And according to the Scandinavian version, even in the Viking kitchen there was a dish that came to modern cuisine called "langkake". In its composition, it is really very similar to lasagna. Consists of bread cakes sandwiched with cheese and meat sauce.

The first lasagna recipe, documented in writing, is contained in a 14th century manuscript by an anonymous author that was found near Naples. This manuscript was called the "Cookbook" and according to the records in it, lasagna was made like this: they cooked layers of dough, and then lay grated cheese and ground spices in layers. The most likely spices used were salt, pepper and sugar. Although it may have been saffron, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves, as by the 14th century, Italians already knew these spices.

Russian-style lasagna is what you should try when ordering meals at the Moscow office. Our lunch delivery service also offers eggplant lasagna.

Many people know what lasagna is. But if you haven't tried this Italian dish yet, we highly recommend making it. Depending on the region of preparation, they may be different. Some make it with tomato sauce, others use bechamel. The filling can be not only minced meat, but also various sausages, seafood or even vegetables, fruits and berries. Lasagna is popular all over the world. Over time, it has undergone significant changes. What is lasagna today? Rather, it is a cooking method that involves baking a dish made from an interlayer of pasta sheets with various fillings. There is no specific recipe that must be strictly adhered to. However, some nuances and recommendations should be taken into account.

The correct dough is the key to a delicious dish

Lasagna paste is now sold in almost every supermarket. But preparing it yourself is not at all difficult. This does not require any specific skills. To cook you will need two types of flour - premium wheat and second (durum). In order not to be mistaken when choosing durum flour, look at the label. GOST 16439-70 should be indicated on it. Take flour (250 grams of each type), mix and pour it on the table in a slide. Make a depression in the center, pour in four large eggs. Season with salt and 1 tsp. olive oil. Now you need to knead the dough. When it's ready, you need to wrap it with cling film and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Then shape it into a sausage. Cut into equal pieces. Sprinkle each piece with a little flour. Using a special machine or a regular rolling pin, roll out the dough into thin sheets. However, do not get carried away too much - the dough should not be transparent, otherwise it may tear. The optimum thickness of finished sheets is 1.5-2 mm. Now cut the dough into even, long and wide strips. It is not recommended to store lasagna paste for a long time, so it is better to use everything in one go.

The main thing is the filling

To prepare a delicious filling for lasagna (stew), we need any kind of meat. Often, minced meat is fried with vegetables and onions, and then stewed with tomato sauce or finely chopped tomatoes. A very tender stew is obtained if pork, chicken and lean ground beef are mixed in equal proportions. Fry finely chopped onions in olive oil. When it acquires a light golden hue, add the minced meat and fry for 5-7 minutes, stirring continuously. The main thing is that the minced meat does not burn. Then add to it or chopped peeled tomatoes. Season with salt and spices - lavrushka leaves and black pepper. Simmer for 20 minutes over medium heat, remembering to stir constantly. Cool the finished filling and add the béchamel.

Lasagne sauce

What is lasagna without this ingredient? Of course, it's hard to imagine. After all, there are many different They are creamy, broth and, of course, tomato. But nevertheless, béchamel sauce has become a classic and beloved by many. It is prepared from butter (50 grams), flour (2 tablespoons) and cream (500 ml). Pour flour into the melted butter, fry for a couple of minutes. In another saucepan, bring the cream to a boil (but do not boil it), add some salt. The hotter the cream, the less chance of lumps in the sauce. Cream should be poured into toasted flour in small portions and thoroughly mixed constantly. The consistency of the finished sauce should be similar to sour cream.

Be sure to cook this dish so that you know firsthand what lasagna is. It's delicious and satisfying!

Lasagna is the best food ever!

- Garfield the Cat

The name "lasagna" (Italian lasagna) refers to one of the earliest types of Italian pasta. According to one version, it comes from the Latin word lasanum, which means "kitchen pot"; according to another assumption, it goes back to the Latin word laganum, which translates as "a thin sheet of dough."
Modern lasagna is possibly the successor to a similar dish from Roman times, two recipes for which are contained in the treatise of Apicius, written before the 4th century AD. NS. However, the ancient Roman "lasagna" was boiled, not baked.
The first mention of "lasagna" is recorded in the document "Memoriali bolognesi" - the official register of legal transactions in Bologna from 1265 to 1436. The notaries used the blank space of the pages to write Latin aphorisms, excerpts from prose, folk poetry, and culinary recipes. One such note in 1282 mentions lasagna. The word is found in other medieval texts, for example, in the poems of the Franciscan monk Jacopone de Toddy (1236-1306).
There is no exact information about the shape of this pasta during the Middle Ages. It probably comes from the shape of early dumplings, which then became thin cakes that were boiled, fried in oil, or cooked on a hot stone. An important indication of the shape of the lasagna is the Liber de coquina, a 14th century cookbook (see recipe in the column on the right).
In the 16th century principality of Trent, a dish of wide and flat noodles with scalloped edges, fried in oil, was known as lasagna. This dish with various fillings and sauces, consisted of several layers, was served on holidays.
From place to place and over time in Italy, the form of lasagna and the composition of its dough have changed. In some regions, eggs were abandoned. Elsewhere, for reasons of economy, water was added to the eggs. If today lasagna is made from wheat flour, then earlier they used spelled, rye, chestnut flour and, at the end of the 18th century, corn flour. For color, saffron, spinach, and chard were sometimes added to the dough.
Since the 1800s, baked lasagna began to appear in the dinners of the nobility, especially in southern Italy, where the dish spread very quickly. A wide variety of pasta, including lasagna, was delivered to the court of Naples during the reign of Joachim Murat (Napoleonic Marshal). The custom continued on the tables of the Bourbons when they reclaimed the capital. Father Francesco II, the last king of Naples, was nicknamed Laza (from "lasagna") for his passion for this type of pasta.
Today, baked lasagna is common in many parts of Italy, with varying fillings and shapes. Lasagna can also be prepared in different ways, such as homemade or factory lasagna. Recently, thinly rolled rectangular sheets of dough have become common, although square ones are also used in some recipes.

Ingredients

Lasagna is made from the same dough as other pasta. The dough can be tinted with spinach or saffron. Each Italian region has its own recipe for this dish. Its fillings usually include: cheeses (ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, pecorino), béchamel sauce and other traditional sauces (bolognese, pesto, tomato salsa). The most famous in the world is the lasagna from the Emilia-Romagna region.

How to cook?

The dough sheets are boiled until cooked or half cooked (ready-made dough bought in a store may not boil at all), transferred with the filling, and then baked in the oven. Usually six layers are made in climbing.

RECIPES

Lasagne with Bolognese sauce
(from the book "Traditional cuisine of Bologna" by Barbara Bertuzzi)

Ingredients

For green dough: 3 eggs; 300 g flour; 20 g spinach; nutmeg (as needed).
For the sauce: 150 g grated Parmesan cheese; 800 g of Bolognese meat sauce.
For béchamel sauce: 1 liter of milk; 90 g butter; 60 g flour; salt; nutmeg (as needed).

Bolognese sauce

You will need: 150 g onions; 70 g carrots; 50 g of celery; 50 g lard; 600 g beef (use a neck or shank); 1-2 glasses of red wine; about 750 ml of tomato puree or tomato paste; salt; pepper.
Peel the onions, carrots and celery stalks (remove the leaves). Chop up the peeled vegetables. Take the fat and melt it, put the vegetables in a skillet and fry them over medium heat until the liquid evaporates and the vegetables change color (turn reddish brown). Reduce heat and simmer until tender. Add minced meat to vegetables and increase heat. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until the meat is the same color as the vegetables. Add wine, gently stir the sauce until you no longer smell the wine and meat separately. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours, adding broth or water as needed.

Cooking casserole:

1. Knead into a dough of 3 eggs, 300 g flour, 20 g spinach and a pinch of nutmeg. The lasagna dough should be rolled out fairly thick. Cut the dough according to the shape and size of the dish you are going to use. Cook the green dough in salted boiling water, remove half-cooked and place in a bowl of cold salted water for a few seconds to stop cooking.
2. Make béchamel sauce. To do this, put milk with salt and nutmeg on the fire. Melt butter in a separate skillet, add flour, stirring occasionally, cook until flour begins to foam. Pour the butter and flour mixture into the boiling milk.
3. Take 800 g of pre-cooked Bolognese sauce and 150 g of grated Parmesan cheese.
4. Take the dough out of the water without drying it out. Spread the Bolognese sauce over the bottom of the saucepan (it is better to use the fatter portion). Spread out the dough without pressing it, pour over the béchamel sauce, then add the bolognese sauce again. Lay out with care, over the entire surface of the dough. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese on top. Make at least five layers in total. Bake at 180 ° C for about 40 minutes.

If the lasagna is going to be stored in the refrigerator or freezer, reheat it in the oven by first covering with a lid and removing it towards the end of cooking.

Baked lasagna
(from the book by S. Braimbridge and J. Glyn "Italian cuisine")

Ingredients (for 6 persons)

For meat sauce: 30 g butter; 1 onion, finely chopped; 1 small carrot, finely chopped; 1/2 celery stalk, finely chopped 1 garlic clove, minced 120g chopped brisket; 500 g ground beef; 1/4 tsp dried oregano; a pinch of nutmeg; 90 g chicken liver, finely chopped; 80 ml dry vermouth or dry white wine; 330 ml (1 and 1/3 cup) beef stock 1 tablespoon tomato paste (tomato puree) 2 tablespoons heavy cream; 1 egg.

For the béchamel sauce(for cooking about 810 ml): 65 g butter; 40 g flour; a pinch of nutmeg, 1 bay leaf; 610 ml of milk.

You will also need: 125 ml heavy cream; 100 g fresh spinach lasagne (green lasagne) or 6 dry sheets; 150 g (1 cup) grated mozzarella 65 g grated Parmesan.

Baked lasagna is usually made with spinach dough (see green lasagna dough ingredients in the previous recipe), but you can also make uncolored dough.

For 300 g of dough you will need: 2 eggs; 250 g flour (double grinding or all-purpose); cold water.
Sprinkle flour onto a work surface or into a large bowl. Make a depression in the center and break the eggs into it and beat them with a fork, gradually grabbing the flour. You may need to add some chilled water (a quarter teaspoon at a time) to freely knead the dough. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, it should be soft, pliable and dry to the touch. Knead for 6-8 minutes, or until firm and smooth (glossy) appearance. Cover with a towel and let sit for 30 minutes.

Cooking process:

1. Make meat sauce. To do this, heat oil in a skillet and add chopped vegetables, garlic and brisket. Cook over medium heat for 5-6 minutes, or until soft and golden brown. Add minced meat, increase heat slightly and cook for 8 more minutes, or until colored, but do not brown, stir to break up lumps. Add oregano and nutmeg. Add chicken liver and cook until discolored. Pour in vermouth (or wine), turn up the heat and cook until it evaporates. Add broth, tomato paste and simmer for about 2 hours. During this time, add a little hot water if necessary to keep the mixture moist, but by the end of cooking, the liquid should be absorbed. Then add the cream, remove from heat and let cool for 15 minutes. Then stir in the egg.
2. Cook the béchamel sauce. First, melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add flour and nutmeg, stirring occasionally, cook for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat, pour the mixture into the milk little by little. Add the bay leaf and cook over low heat again, stirring frequently until the sauce thickens. Remove sauce from heat, cover (otherwise crust will form), refrigerate. Remember to remove the bay leaf.
Place the béchamel sauce in a saucepan, heat and gently pour in the cream. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
3. Prepare dough sheets for baking. If using fresh dough, cut into sheets and cook in batches in a large saucepan in salted water until half cooked. Remove the sheets from the water and place them in cold water. Then spread them in one layer on a towel and pat dry on each side. Cut off the torn edges.
4. Collect the lasagne. Preheat oven to 180 ° C and grease a 22 cm x 15 cm x 7 cm refractory dish. Spread half of the meat sauce on the platter. Place half of the mozzarella on top, then cover with lasagna sheets (the sheets should overlap slightly). Spread half the béchamel sauce on top and sprinkle half of the Parmesan on top. Repeat the same steps from the beginning, ending with a layer of béchamel sauce and parmesan. Bake for 40 minutes (or until golden brown), leave for 10 minutes before serving.

Ligurian lasagna with pesto sauce, ricotta and pine nuts
(from Laura Ginatempo's book "Ligurian Cuisine: Recipes and Stories from the Italian Riviera")

Ingredients

For the test: 1 and 2/3 cups of first grade flour (general purpose, unbleached) 2 large eggs; 1 tsp olive oil; 1/2 tsp salt; 2-3 st. l. cold water.
For the béchamel sauce 1/4 cup butter 1/4 cup first grade flour (general purpose, unbleached) 2 cups of hot milk salt; ground black pepper; nutmeg.
For filling: 1 tbsp. l. olive oil; 1 and 1/2 cups pesto sauce about 700 g of ricotta (fresh curd cheese); 2 cups grated Parmesan cheese ground black pepper; salt; 1 tbsp. l. roasted pine nuts.

Genoese pesto

Ingredients: 2 cups fresh basil leaves (no stems) 1-2 cloves of garlic, cut in half lengthwise; 1/4 tsp salt; 1/3 or 1/2 cup olive oil 2 tbsp. l. pine nuts; 2 tbsp. l. grated pecorino cheese, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese.
Preparation: Grind the basil leaves. In a mortar and pestle, combine the garlic, salt, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and grind. Add pine nuts and grind until smooth. Combine the garlic and basil in a food processor. Stir in the olive oil a little at a time until the mixture is smooth.

Cooking casserole:

1. Cut the dough in two, cover one part with plastic wrap. Pass the remainder through the widest opening of the pasta machine. You should have a thick, flat dough sheet. Wrap the dough three layers and run it through the machine again. Repeat this process at least three times. Then start rolling out the dough, with the hole decreasing in the machine, until you reach the narrowest one. Always sprinkle flour on both sides of the dough before passing it through the machine. Place the rolled sheet on a floured surface, cover it with a towel to prevent moisture from evaporating. Repeat all steps with the second part of the test. (If you don't have a typewriter, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough in the same sequence.)
Cut the pasta sheets into rectangles to match the baking dish. Here the proportions are for 7 sheets for a 20 x 25 cm mold. Keep in mind that when cooking the pasta dough increases in size, so cut the rectangles smaller than the size of your mold. You should make six or seven rectangles. One rectangle is sufficient for each layer of lasagna, but you may need to cover the torn sheets. Place the sheets in a stack on a lightly floured surface and cover with a large tea towel. (If you have any leftovers, you can freeze them by transferring the dough with parchment.)
2. Make a béchamel. To do this, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and gradually add the flour, whisking constantly. Cook the mixture for 2 or 3 minutes, whisking constantly, then slowly pour into the hot milk. Cook, stirring vigorously, for another 8-10 minutes, or until the bechamel sauce thickens. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. Leave it warm, stirring occasionally to remove any film that forms on the surface. Add some hot milk and stir vigorously if the bechamel thickens too much.
3. Take a large pot of salted water and bring the water to a boil. Add lasagna sheets. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the lasagna leaves are lighter in color, creamy and very tender. Rinse them with cold water in a colander and dry very carefully (it is better to take them out with a large slotted spoon, one sheet at a time). When they have cooled slightly, place them with your hands, flat on a rack to cool. (If the sheets overlap during cooling, brush the touching areas with olive oil.)
4. Oil the bottom of a baking dish with olive oil. Lay in the first sheet of lasagna, trimming it if it is larger than necessary. Spread the pesto sauce on the sheet with a thin layer, add the ricotta, sprinkle with Parmesan on top and add a little béchamel sauce. Season with a little pepper and salt. Repeat until you get to the last - fourth layer, in which change the order of the béchamel sauce and parmesan - the parmesan should be on top. Bake for 30-40 minutes, serve immediately, sprinkle the lasagna with toasted pine nuts on top.

Neapolitan lasagna with tomato sauce and mozzarella
(from the book by F. Bertoli, Fr. Maurillo "Recipes from the Pastor")

Ingredients(for 6-8 people):
egg lasagna dough or two packs of lasagna sheets; neapolitan sauce; 1 kg and 300 g of ricotta cheese; 450 g shredded mozzarella cheese; 2 cups grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese three beaten eggs; 2 tbsp. l. chopped parsley.

Neapolitan tomato sauce

Ingredients 1/4 cup olive oil 1 clove of garlic; 1/4 cup diced onion 3 tbsp. l. diced carrots; 1 tbsp. l. chopped Italian parsley; 2 tbsp. l. chopped celery; 1/4 cup red wine 1 kg and 150 g of tomatoes; 2 basil leaves; salt; pepper.
Preparation: Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat and saute garlic until brown, remove garlic, add onions, carrots, parsley, celery. Fry for 5 minutes. Add wine and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook for 30 minutes. Add basil, salt and pepper to taste. cook for another 10 minutes. Pass through a sieve or use a blender to puree the mixture.

Egg dough for lasagna

Ingredients: 4 cups unbleached flour; 6 large eggs; 2 tbsp. l. olive oil; 3 tbsp. l. warm water; a pinch of salt.
Preparation: Place flour in a large bowl or on a clean surface. Make a depression in the center and add eggs, oil, water and salt. Beat the eggs with a fork and combine with the flour on all sides. Continue until all the flour is mixed with the liquid. If the dough has mixed in a bowl, transfer it to a clean surface. Stir the dough for another 15 minutes. It should be elastic, but not sticky. If the paste is too soft, add more flour gradually. If tough, add another tablespoon of water. After kneading, the dough should be very smooth. Sprinkle flour on top and bottom, cover with an inverted bowl and let sit for 10 minutes. The dough is then ready to use.

Cooking casserole:

1. When using fresh dough, roll it out very thinly. When using the machine, use the 6 track for the last rolling. Cut the dough into 20-25 cm strips and cook for a while in salted, boiling water for about 30 seconds to one minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in a large bowl of cold water to cool, then onto a dry towel. If using dry lasagne, simmer for 3-5 minutes and refrigerate the sheets.
2. Combine ricotta, mozzarella, one cup grated cheese, eggs, and parsley in a large bowl.
3. To harvest lasagne, prepare a large baking dish. Spread a thin layer of sauce over the bottom of the dish. Cover the dough with a layer of cheese and egg mixture and sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Continue to alternate layers until you are finished covering the last layer of dough with the sauce and parmesan, which you use sparingly.
4. Cover the tin with aluminum foil and bake in the oven preheated to 190 ° C for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking for another 15 minutes. Remove the lasagne from the oven, cover and let sit for about 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

Medieval recipe from "Liber de coquina"

Take a yeast dough and roll it out as thinly as possible. Then divide it into squares three fingers wide on each side. Boil the salted water and cook the dough sheets in it. When they are fully cooked, sprinkle with grated cheese. If desired, add ground spices to the lasagne. Alternating between sheets of prepared dough on a tray, season them with the spice mixture.

How to choose and use ready-made lasagna dough sheets

You can buy several types of ready-made dough in the store. First, the sheets can be of different thicknesses. Which one to choose is a matter of individual taste. Their difference is that lasagne with thin sheets turns out to be more tender. Secondly, there are lasagna sheets on the market that do not need to be pre-cooked. This dough was first cooked and then dried. When baked in the oven, dry sheets absorb liquid from the filling and become soft. By following the recipe on the package, you are guaranteed to get the lasagna soft enough. If you are using your own recipe, you may need to add one cup of water or tomato juice to the sauce that you will distribute over the lasagna sheets. Alternatively, you can use the recipe completely unchanged, after soaking the dry dough in warm water for 5 to 10 minutes, after which you should collect the lasagna as usual.

Examples of lasagna toppings

Use these toppings alone or in combination with tomato sauce, béchamel sauce and cheese:

1. Slices of sausage.
2. Meatballs.
3. Vegetable stew (for example, veal stew with tomatoes).
4. Spicy cheeses.
5. Fried mushrooms.
6. Fresh herbs, especially basil or parsley.
7. Caramelized onions.
8. Oven baked red pepper.
9. Oven baked tomatoes.
10. Baked or fried eggplant with garlic and parsley.
7. Fried zucchini.
9. Fried pumpkin slices.
10. Ratatouille or any other vegetable mixture.