Almost Lasagne

I used to love lasagna - especially the one my daughter, Kristina used to make - so it was quite a compliment when my other half remarked today - as he was eating the lasagna I had made - 'that Kristina doesn't make a bad lasagna'! In fact, I made two versions - a regular one and a gluten free one. Both vegetarian - and the regular one had a finely chopped red pepper added. That's a no no for my stomach and for the RA.

As it was a little chilly this morning, I lit the Rayburn (range), and did most of the cooking on that.

Gluten free Vegetarian Lasagna:

For the tomato based sauce, I fried up one finely chopped onion, a good sized courgette and a generous handful of mushrooms, then added a jar of ready-made, gluten free bolognaise sauce - although a tin of tomatoes, with a good dollop of tomato puree would do fine.
In place of the lasagna sheets (do they even do them gluten free? I'll have to check), I used gluten free pasta spirals. The sauce was made by first melting block margarine in a small saucepan - half an ounce to an ounce, depending on how much sauce you want. It's best to be on the generous side, as the pasta should be well covered. Mix in enough gluten free plain flour (I use Dove), for the flour to be taken up by the margarine (butter can be used for a richer flavour - and it's probably healthier), then gradually add milk as it thickens, till the consistency is as you want it. It should be a nice, creamy, white sauce. Add a pinch of salt if required (I don't), and about an ounce of grated cheese. Layer in dish as you would a regular lasagna (tomato based sauce, pasta, white sauce - then the same again), and sprinkle the top with more grated cheese.

Not quite as good as my daughter's, but not a bad second best.

PS: Check out http://www.trufree.co.uk/ or you local Tesco (UK), for Lasagna sheets, gluten free, egg free and milk free, 250 g packets, produced by True Free.

I'll try them next time.



SOME FACTS:

So where did Lasagna originate from? I always thought of it as a truly Italian dish – and I suppose the best recipes would come from there. But googling around I found that the word lasagna itself originally came from the Greek λάσανα (lasana) or λάσανον (lasanon), which means a trivet or stand for a pot, and also chamber pot. How on earth did that translate into a favourite Western dish?
The Romans changed it slightly, to lasanum, which in Latin means cooking pot (that’s better!) . The Italians used the word to refer to the dish in which lasagna is made, but it wasn't long before the name of the food took on the name of the serving dish.
Another theory (and where there are one or two, there are probably more!) is that that lasagna might come from the Greek λάγανον (laganon), a flat sheet of pasta dough cut into strips.
Surprisingly, the recipe for lasagna appeared in the first cookbook ever written in England (14th century), according to Wikipedia – and so some would have it that it is an original British recipe – but alas, the Romans cooked it first.