Lasagna, the perfect dish for a Sunday with family!
Lasagna is the first traditional course par excellence and it is a national heritage. This rich and savoury dish has its origin in the city of Bologna, in Emilia Romagna. It’s one of the most famous and most typical Italian dish known all over the world. The ingredients are few but simple and genuine: egg pasta sheets, ragù and béchamel sauce.
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How much do you know about Lasagna’s origin?
It seems that the first version of this dish was born in the middle of ‘800. At that time ragù did not exist, so the recipe was made with layers of egg’s pasta alternating with spinach and a kind of meat sauce. Starting ‘900, Bologna’s people introduced a number of modifications until lasagne became what it is today.
Some of regional variations
As you know, there are many varieties of Lasagna. The two most known are Lasagna alla bolognese with spinach egg’s pasta, ragù and besciamella, Lasagna al Pesto from Liguria, where Lasagna alternates egg’s pasta with pesto and besciamella. We also have Pasticcio from Veneto with red radicchio, Lasagna with pistachio pesto and mortadella from Sicily and other variants, such as pumpkin and sausage or mushrooms.
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Let’s see together how to make Lasagne with ragù!
TRADITIONAL RECIPE
Pasta
- 3 eggs
- 120 ml water
- 500 g plain flour
- a pinch of salt
Ragù
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700 g meat mix (veal and pork)
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1,5 l tomatoes sauce
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1 carrot, 1 celery and 1 onion (for the soffritto)
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40 g butter
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1 white wine
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1 spoon tomato paste
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Nutmeg
-
Oil
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Salt and pepper
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2 laurel leaves
Béchamel sauce
-
1,5 l milk
-
100 g butter
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100 g plain flour
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q.b. nutmeg
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q.b. salt and pepper
Let’s start with ragù. Chop the carrot, onion and celery and let them fry with oil and butter. Add the meat mix, salt, pepper and grate the nutmeg. Let it brown and then fade with white wine. Add the tomatoes sauce, the tomato paste and the laurel’s leave. Let cook the ragù for an hour and an half on a low flame.
Meanwhile start preparing pasta: form a hill with the flour and pour in the centre of it the eggs, add salt e start kneading (before with a fork and then with hands). Knead until you get a smooth and firm dough, cover it with a rag and let it rest in the fridge.
Continue by preparing the béchamel sauce. In a pot melt the butter, add the plain flour and mix. Pour the milk little by little, salt and nutmeg. Take it boil.
Take off the pasta out of the fridge and start roll it out with a rolling pin. Cut the lasagne into the size you prefer. Boil water in a saucepan and cook two or three lasagna per time. When they come to the surface, put them on a rag and let them dry.
Put some of ragù and béchamel on the bottom of a baking try. Spread the lasagne on top. Continue in this way until you have four or five layers of lasagne and finish with the béchamel sauce and plenty of meat sauce.
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Enjoy your Lasagna and have fun preparing them with the best ingredients!!
Cover photo Romjan Aly from Pixabay
