Layered lasagna, a perfect winter dish

It’s time for a winter dinner preparation and you are thinking of making a comfort Italian food, and lasagna comes to your mind. This simple dish is a perfect dish to satiate hunger for winters. It is hot, cheese and comes with the goodness of Italian pasta. Have you ever wondered how this delicious Italian dish became so popular and everyone’s favourite? You may not know this but technically lasagna did not originate in Italy as you may expect. Its origin can be traced way back to ancient Greece. The name lasagne or lasagna is derived from the Greek word Laganon, the first form of pasta, laganon was not a traditional lasagna as we know it with traditional Italian ingredients, but it was composed of layers of pasta and sauce. So, it basically got its name from the method in which it was made, not for its ingredients. Lasagna is a dish made with alternating layers of pasta, cheese, sauce and meat and vegetable. The plural of lasagna is lasagna. In Italy, lasagna is always used when referring to lasagne. The word lasagna originally referred to the pot in which the dish was cooked rather than the food itself as it does today. In fact, it is believed by some that the word is derived from the Greek word for chamber pot. Like with any popular and successful dish, which everyone wants to call their creation, many countries have debated for years that who came up with the first lasagna recipe. Of course, Italians claim that this was their creation, but they were not the creators of this dish, however, perfected the layering process of this classic dish. Talking about the origin of the dish when Romans conquered Greece and occupied the country around 146 BC, they set about adopting local knowledge, culture, language and food as their own. While the Greeks didn’t invent the hearty dish, they know and love today, they inspired one of the world’s oldest pasta. The modern present-day pasta, the richly layered dish swimming in sumptuous tomato sauce, made its debut in Naples, Italy during the Middle Ages. Lasagna has always been served as a special dish on special occasion and even the mention of lasagna in the menu delights the diners as compared to other dishes. Lasagna as a dish is so iconic that July 29 is celebrated as lasagna day every year. Traditionally, the dough was prepared in Southern Italy with semolina and water and in northern regions, where semolina is not available with flour and eggs.Classical Italian lasagnaIngredientsLasagna sheet pasta Ground beef 500 gmYellow diced onion 1 no.Garlic 5-6 clovesTomato, diced 50 gmTomato paste 200 gmSugar 2 tbspParsley, chopped 3 tbspBasil leaves 2 tspFennel root 1 tbspSalt to tasteBlack pepper to tasteEgg 1 noRicotta cheese 100 gmMozzarella cheese 150 gmParmesan cheese 50 gmMethod:Boil water with salt and oil in a heavy bottom pan and cook the pasta for 8-10 minutes.Check the pasta and cook till it is al dente and drain the pasta sheets in cold water and keep aside.In a separate heavy bottom pan, heat oil and sauté the chopped garlic cloves and fennel chopped.Add diced onion and add the ground beef and stir.Add tomato dices, tomato paste, dry basil leaves, salt, sugar and pepper.Cook till the beef is cooked and the meta is no longer pink and becomes crumbly.Remove from flame and keep aside.In a separate bowl combine eggs, ricotta cheese, parsley and salt.Spread the prepared meat sauce in a baking dish over a pasta sheet.And layer with one third of ricotta mixture and Sprinkle with 1/3 rd of mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese.Repeat layers twice and top layer with remaining meat sauce and cheese.Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes.Let it stand for 15 minutes and serve hot garnished with some basil leaves.Note: Always boil the pasta in salted water with enough salt and oil to flavour the salt and avoid the pasta sheets sticking to each other. Also, while cooking the pasta do not make a mistake to over-boil it. Always boil the pasta till it is little raw from inside. Because when you cook it with the sauce, it will cook perfectly and will coat evenly with the sauce.