Lasagne, or the singular lasagna, is also an Italian dish made of stacked layers of this flat pasta alternating with fillings such as ragù (ground meats and tomato sauce) and other vegetables, cheese (which may include ricotta and parmesan), and seasonings and spices such as garlic, oregano and basil.[2] The dish may be topped with melted grated mozzarella cheese. Typically, the cooked pasta is assembled with the other ingredients and then baked in an oven. The resulting lasagne casserole is cut into single-serving square portions.
Lasagne originated in Italy during the Middle Ages and have traditionally been ascribed to the city of Naples. The first recorded recipe was set down in the early 14th-century Liber de Coquina (The Book of Cookery).[3] It bore only a slight resemblance to the later traditional form of lasagne, featuring a fermented dough flattened into thin sheets (lasagne), boiled, sprinkled with cheese and spices, and then eaten with a small pointed stick.[4] Recipes written in the century following the Liber de Coquina recommended boiling the pasta in chicken broth and dressing it with cheese and chicken fat. In a recipe adapted for the Lenten fast, walnuts were recommended.[4]
How many layers should lasagna have?
Its structurally evident that a lasagna needs a minimum of 2 layers to maintain the definition of a lasagna. There needs to be a sauce + noodle layer and at least 1 inner layer of filling, typically sauce + cheese as a minimum and then a top noodle layer with sauce + cheese and/or béchamel on top.