Lasagna (singular, ; plural
lasagne but always spelled
lasagne in Italy and UK) is both a form of
pastaPasta is a generic term for foods made from an unleavened dough of flour and water, and sometimes a combination of egg and flour. Pastas include noodles in various lengths, widths and shapes, and varieties that are filled with other ingredients like ravioli and tortellini...
in sheets (sometimes rippled, though seldom so in Northern
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
) and also a dish, sometimes named
lasagne al forno (meaning "oven-cooked lasagne") made with alternate layers of pasta,
cheeseCheese is a food consisting of proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. It is produced by coagulation of the milk protein casein. Typically, the milk is acidified and addition of the enzyme rennet causes coagulation. The solids are separated and pressed into...
, and often
ragùRagù is an Italian term for a meat-based sauce, which is traditionally served with pasta. The word is the phonetical Italian spelling of the French ragoût, a noun derived from ragoûter ....
(a
meatMeat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs, livers, skin, brains, bone marrow, kidneys, or lungs...
sauceIn cooking, a sauce is liquid or sometimes semi-solid food served on or used in preparing other foods. Sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to another dish. Sauce is a French word taken from the Latin salsus, meaning salted...
) or
tomato sauceA tomato sauce is any of a very large number of sauces made primarily out of tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish...
.
The word
lasagna, which originally applied to a cooking pot, now simply describes the food itself.
Some recipes call for more than one cheese, most often
ricottaRicotta is an Italian sheep milk or cow milk whey cheese. Ricotta lit. 'recooked' uses the whey, a limpid, low-fat, nutritious liquid that is a by-product of cheese production....
and mozzarella.
We shall feast our grape-gleaners with lasagne so tempting to swallow in slippery ropes.
Robert Browning, "Englishman in Italy"
Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog.
Palindrome|Palindrome attributed to Baby Gramps|Baby Gramps
I never met a Lasagna I didn't like.
Garfield, paraphrasing Will Rogers
Jon: "Most of the Earth's surface is covered by water."Garfield: "Who cares? How much of it is covered by lasagna?"
"What a life it would be if you could come to mine for teaI'll pick you up at half past three, we'll have lasagna."
Noel Gallagher, from the Oasis song Digsy's Dinner
"Life is a minestroneServed up with parmesan cheeseDeath is a cold lasagneSuspended in deep freeze"
Lol Creme|Lol Creme / Eric Stewart|Eric Stewart, from the 10cc|10cc song Life Is A Minestrone
"You know, there's a million fine-looking women in the world, but they don't all bring you lasagna at work. Most of them just cheat on you."
Silent Bob from Clerks
Lasagna (singular, ; plural
lasagne but always spelled
lasagne in Italy and UK) is both a form of
pastaPasta is a generic term for foods made from an unleavened dough of flour and water, and sometimes a combination of egg and flour. Pastas include noodles in various lengths, widths and shapes, and varieties that are filled with other ingredients like ravioli and tortellini...
in sheets (sometimes rippled, though seldom so in Northern
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
) and also a dish, sometimes named
lasagne al forno (meaning "oven-cooked lasagne") made with alternate layers of pasta,
cheeseCheese is a food consisting of proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. It is produced by coagulation of the milk protein casein. Typically, the milk is acidified and addition of the enzyme rennet causes coagulation. The solids are separated and pressed into...
, and often
ragùRagù is an Italian term for a meat-based sauce, which is traditionally served with pasta. The word is the phonetical Italian spelling of the French ragoût, a noun derived from ragoûter ....
(a
meatMeat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs, livers, skin, brains, bone marrow, kidneys, or lungs...
sauceIn cooking, a sauce is liquid or sometimes semi-solid food served on or used in preparing other foods. Sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to another dish. Sauce is a French word taken from the Latin salsus, meaning salted...
) or
tomato sauceA tomato sauce is any of a very large number of sauces made primarily out of tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish...
.
The word
lasagna, which originally applied to a cooking pot, now simply describes the food itself.
Variants
Some recipes call for more than one cheese, most often
ricottaRicotta is an Italian sheep milk or cow milk whey cheese. Ricotta lit. 'recooked' uses the whey, a limpid, low-fat, nutritious liquid that is a by-product of cheese production....
and mozzarella. Mozzarella is made in the south of Italy, so the use of these two cheeses is typical of lasagne made in Naples or further south.
Lasagne alla Bolognese uses only
Parmigiano ReggianoParmigiano-Reggiano, commonly known outside Italy as Parmesan, is a hard, granular cheese, cooked but not pressed, named after the producing areas of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna, in Emilia-Romagna, and Mantova, in Lombardy, Italy....
,
Bolognese sauceBolognese sauce is a meat-based sauce for pasta originating in Bologna, Italy...
and nutmeg flavored
béchamel sauceBéchamel sauce or besciamella , also known as white sauce, is one of the mother sauces of French cuisine. It is used as the base for other sauces . It is traditionally made by whisking scalded milk gradually into a white flour-butter roux...
(besciamella). Classic Bologna lasagne should be made with
Lasagne verdi (green lasagne) which is
eggAn egg is a round or oval body laid by the female of any number of different species, consisting of an ovum surrounded by layers of membranes and an outer casing, which acts to nourish and protect a developing embryo and its nutrient reserves...
pasta with added
spinachSpinach is an edible flowering plant in the family of Amaranthaceae. It is native to central and southwestern Asia. It is an annual plant , which grows to a height of up to 30 cm. Spinach may survive over winter in temperate regions...
, although in other towns of Emilia-Romagna, the lasagne need not be green. As with the term 'lasagne', the
verdi variety can refer to the dish or the pasta. A vegetarian version of the traditional Bologna lasagne or “Lasagne alla bolognese" is sometimes found in adjacent in Tuscany – not traditionally a pasta region – and other regions. It substitutes a simple tomato and basil sauce for the Bolognese sauce, arranged with layers of noodles, nutmeg flavored béchamel sauce and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
Especially outside Italy, there are many variants, from
artichokeA globe artichoke is a partially edible perennial thistle originating in southern Europe around the Mediterranean.Artichoke may also refer to:*Artichoke , a creative company specialising in arts events...
spinach lasagna to spicy
chipotleA chipotle , or chilpotle, is a smoke-dried jalapeño chili used primarily in Mexican, Mexican-American, Tex-Mex, and Mexican-inspired cuisine....
lasagna to vegetarian and
seafoodSeafood is any sea animal or plant that is served as food and eaten by humans. Seafoods include seawater animals, such as fish and shellfish...
versions. The dish lends itself to creative use of ingredients by home cooks as well as chefs.
Today the term "Lasagne" is often chef speak for layering and baking, so you may find a Potato/Scallop or a Frittata/Shrimp "Lasagne" where there is no pasta in the dish at all
In eastern Europe a similar dish called Łazanki is made.
Rippled sheets are typically packaged pasta made of durum or hard wheat which repels sauces – the ripples are designed to hold the sauce better. Emilia-Romagna egg pasta, which is made with soft wheat, drinks up sauce and does not need the help of rippling.
Origin
Although the dish is generally believed to have originated in
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
, one theory is that the word "lasagna" comes from the
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
λάσανα (
lasana) or
λάσανον (
lasanon) meaning "trivet or stand for a pot", "chamber pot". The Romans borrowed the word as "lasanum", in Latin, meaning "cooking pot". The Italians used the word to refer to the dish in which lasagna is made. It wasn't long before the name of the food took on the name of the serving dish.
Another theory suggests that lasagna might come from Greek
λάγανον (
laganon), a flat sheet of pasta dough cut into strips.
The recipe was featured in the first cookbook ever written in England, leading to an urban legend that the dish originated in the British Isles. The claim is dubious, in light of the much earlier
RomanAncient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
use of "lasanum".
Popular culture
- In the comic strip Garfield
Garfield is a comic strip created by Jim Davis. Published since June 19, 1978, it chronicles the life of the title character, the cat Garfield ; his owner, Jon Arbuckle; and Arbuckle's dog, Odie...
, lasagna is said to be the favorite food of GarfieldGarfield is a fictional character and the title protagonist from the comic strip Garfield created by Jim Davis.-Character:He is a lazy, fat, selfish, orange, anthropomorphic tabby cat who enjoys eating , sleeping, and tormenting his owner Jon and Odie the dog. He considers himself to be more...
, an orange tabby cat who enjoys eating, but especially loves lasagna.
- In the television series Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which premiered on NBC on September 22, 1994. The series revolved around a group of friends in the area of Manhattan, New York City, who occasionally live together and share living expenses. The series was produced by...
, lasagna is one of the foods favored by character Joey TribbianiJoseph Francis "Joey" Tribbiani, Jr. is a fictional character on the popular US television sitcom Friends , and the title character in the spin-off, Joey , and is played by Matt LeBlanc.-Background:...
.
- In the animated television series Daria
Daria was an American animated television series that ran on the cable network MTV from 1997 to 2002. Created by Glenn Eichler and Susie Lewis Lynn, the series about a smart, acerbic, and somewhat misanthropic high school girl was a spin-off of MTV's animated Beavis and Butt-head .The series was...
, Daria Morgendorffer's family is seen eating lasagna for dinner in nearly every episode.