Lasagna
has become a comfort food in North America equally at home on a
restaurant menu as it is homemade. It transcends all nationalities
today though it is a dish widely believed to have originated in Italy
in the city of Naples where the first modern recipe was created and
published.
There
are other theories laying claim that lasagna comes from the Greek
'laganon', a flat sheet of pasta dough cut into strips. Another
theory is that the Romans borrowed the word as 'lasanum', meaning a
cooking pot or dish in Latin. Finally, the English raise their hands
proposing that it was a dish developed in the 14th century
England called 'Loseyn', described in The Forme of Cury, a
cookbook in use during the reign of Richard II.
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| Boiled lasagne sheets. |
Regardless
of whether the argument sways towards Greece, Italy or England, today
most of us think of it both as a food and a dish in which it is
cooked. As a chef who fooled around with tradition a number of years
ago, I decided to bake my lasagna in a less than usual manner. I
brought my version to my chef's station and it turned out to be quite
a hit.
The
basic recipe is not so different to many of others; ground beef,
provolone cheese mixed with ricotta, a wonderful tomato based sauce
and the obligatory sheets of pasta. If you are to use store made
sheets I recommend more the style that needs to be boiled over the
oven ready version, my reasoning will become clear in a moment.
For
me tradition is wonderful but not untouchable. I decided to make my
lasagna not in a lasagna pan; rectangle, long and in one whole piece.
Rather, my muffin pans stood up ready for duty. I boiled the pasta
sheets to the desired level of softness, then after rinsing under
cold water I lay them out onto parchment paper and let them dry
individually.
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| Mini lasagne ready for the oven. |
The
filling this time somewhat traditional with ground beef, seasoning,
finely chopped sweet onion and a half cup of red wine. Sauce for the
lasagna was made separately from the raw stage, though there are many
ready-made pasta sauces available anywhere. I decided to take six
large fresh tomatoes, boil water and drop them in for 5 minutes.
Don't forget to put a small cross with a sharp knife on the butt
side; this will make peeling them easier.
Once
the tomatoes are peeled I put them through a sieve to remove the
seeds, then into a preheated pan with a little olive oil. Cook them
for about 5 minutes, crushing and moving them around, add ¼
cup red wine, salt and pepper, blend well and bring to a simmering
boil. Add finely chopped mushroom, onion, bell pepper and one large
garlic clove finely chopped. Cover and simmer away for ½
hour on low. The cheese of choice for me is provolone rather than
mozzarella, shredded not grated.
As
the sauce finishes I add a large handful of freshly chopped basil and
get ready to assemble. Take a cup full of the tomato sauce and 2
cups full of cooked ground beef, place into a bowl and mix well. Add
some fresh finely chopped oregano and the filling is ready. Shredded
provolone is blended with ricotta cheese and seasoned.
Muffin
tins at the ready, I cut parchment paper into approximately three
inch squares and fold into each opening. A good trick is to drop a
tablespoon of tomato sauce into the bottom of the parchment lining so
as to keep it from popping out, and trim any excess. The pasta
sheets are a little too long so I cut approximately 2 inches from the
length, setting it aside. Curve the pasta inside the muffin tin with
about 1 inch overlap, cut to fit a small piece to fit on the bottom,
drop a little sauce then half fill with meat mixture. Cut another
small piece of pasta and place on top of meat, add 1 to 1½
teaspoon of sauce on top, then add the ricotta mixture, and finish
off with shredded provolone cheese over the top.
Preheat
the oven at 375° and place the
muffin lasagna on the middle rack. Bake for approximately 15 to 20
minutes or until the very tips of the pasta begin to show a browning.
If needed you can turn the broiler on for 5 minutes to brown the
provolone cheese on top. After removing from the oven let the
mini-lasagna stand for 5 minutes to cool. Remove from muffin tins to
plates, peel away the parchment and serve with a freshly made salad.
I
had said earlier that oven ready pasta is not as good as the one you
have to boil and the reason is simple. Muffin tins are small in
diameter and the oven ready pasta sheets would not be able to bake
well enough and leaves an unpleasant taste. This recipe is also
simple to change from ground beef to chicken or even to an all
vegetarian lasagna.
Let your imagination be your guide on this food journey and all others you wish to take, unleashing the cook inside.
