Lasagna is one of the most typical dishes of Italian cuisine. Within its simplicity, this pasta dish can be tremendously versatile as it accepts almost any foodstuff as a filling.
The first records of lasagna (or at least the dish that gave rise to the lasagna we know today) goes back to the 14th century. One of the most notable differences, regarding contemporary lasagne, is that the initial one did not have tomatoes; this fruit would not reach Europe until Christopher Columbus’ expedition invaded America a century later.
As for the filling, as I pointed out earlier, lasagna is (like the vast majority of pastas) a very adaptable element, almost any food combination has a place between its sheets. Traditionally, this dish has: layers of meat (minced meat, sausages…), Parmesan or ricotta cheese, bechamel, ragú and a cover of grated mozzarella. From there, thanks to the imagination of the people who create the history of the culinary world, the content of these rectangles of pasta has been varying (vegetables, fish, seafood …).
In terms of shape, lasagna has always maintained its rectangular shape, except in the case of American lasagna. If you think of American television lasagnas, like the ones Carmela cooks in the Sopranos, despite being rectangular, they show a wavy end that do not appear in the original Italian lasagna. This type of waved lasagna is used almost exclusively in the United States.
In this case, we will escape the tradition once again and prepare a zero-waste recipe based mainly on vegetables. We will use aubergines, courgettes, smoked bacon and the leftover juice from a Cajun chicken that I baked a few days ago, to extol the flavour of the vegetables. However, if you want to keep the dish completely vegetarian, you can change the chicken sauce for vegetable broth and remove the smoked bacon, without a doubt.
| Ingredients: |
• 500 ml. of bechamel (you have the recipe in the “Sauces” section).
• 6 sheets of fresh lasagna.
• 1 diced eggplant.
• 1 diced zucchini.
• 25 ml. of tomato purée.
• 40 ml. of Cajun chicken sauce (or vegetable broth)
• 200 g. of grated Emental cheese.
| Steps to follow to make the filling: |
• Make the bechamel following the steps of the recipe in the “sauces” section.
• Cut the zucchini and eggplant into cubes.
• Sauté the smoked bacon without oil in the pan.
• Sauté the vegetables using the bacon’s fat (5 ‘).
• Add 20 ml of tomato purée, leave on low heat (5 ‘).
• Add the Cajun chicken sauce (or vegetable broth) over the vegetables and let reduce for about 5 ’or until well incorporated.
| Lasagna assembly: |
• Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius (heat up and down).
• On an oven tray, pour a thin layer of bechamel to hold the first sheet of lasagna.
• Put a layer of vegetables and bechamel between each sheet of lasagna.
• To cover the last sheet, use the last spoonful of bechamel mixed with 5 ml of tomato purée and a layer of Emental cheese to grill.
• Bake for about 15 minutes or until you see the cheese is completely grilled.
Recendo 