My Favorite Things – Lasagna
In my last blog, I wrote of how Chili is a filling and comforting cold weather dish. The same can be said about lasagna. How many foods are so comforting that they are even the favorite of a popular cartoon cat?
Lasagna, while traditionally made with meat, can be made vegetarian, right down to using zucchini slices in place of pasta noodles. This allows both meat eaters and vegetarians to enjoy this hearty pasta casserole. There are a variety of recipes, but most consist of alternating layers of lasagna noodles, cheese, sauce, meat and a variety of other ingredients and seasonings, and cooked for nearly an hour to melt the different flavors together into cheesy goodness.
There are two theories on the origin of lasagna, both denoting an ancient Greek dish. The main theory is that lasagna comes from Greek λάγανον (laganon), a flat sheet of pasta dough cut into strips. It is interesting to note that the word λαγάνα (lagana) is still used in Greek to mean a flat thin type of unleavened bread.
The other theory is that the word lasagna comes from the Greek 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. Later the name of the food took on the name of the serving dish.
A lasagna recipe was featured in the first cookbook ever published in England, leading to an urban legend that the dish was formulated in the British Isles. The claim is dubious, in light of the much earlier Roman use of “lasanum”.
Whichever the history and origin of this mouth watering dish, the result is the same..which is a recipe for comfort and warmth that has been enjoyed for hundreds of years.
