I don’t think I have seen a recipe that uses bechamel, although I have had it in restaurants on occasion.
Although, I almost answered the poll, “What’s lasagna?” - it’s lasagne, unless you’re making a version that uses only one noodle. After all, it’s not “spaghetto” or “raviolo,” now is it? (Although considering what my A1C is, maybe, in my case, it should be…)
In English, it’s generally lasagna, with an “a” at the end. Doesn’t matter what it is in the original language.
The Bolognese I have had, needed a spoon to eat. What you linked to looks right as it is lasagna.
What ever floats our boat. I like ricotta.
No, in American English it’s lasagna, in English it’s lasagne.
And cottage cheese? No, ricotta maybe, never had it in lasagne, may try it one day, but cottage cheese is the devil.
A well made bechamel is a thing of beauty, a gentle sprinkle of cheese on top, and I could gluttonously eat it by itself, and have done.
Sorry–I really meant to check on that. In American English, “lasagna” is standard.
Bolognese should be basically like a sloppy joe in consistency, maybe a bit drier. It is not so much a “meat sauce” as it is ground beef with concentrated tomato/milk/stock binding it together. Definitely not a “meat sauce” in the manner of Prego or Ragu where it’s tomato sauce with ground meat speckled throughout. It’s quite the opposite: it’s ground meat, with cooked down tomato sauce speckled throughout.
Lasagne layered with spinach, sometimes called Florentine,* is of course made with béchamel. It’s been many long years since I’ve seen that dish, since “Florentine” was last trendy in the 1970s.
*Catherine de’ Medici happened to like spinach and she was from Florence. “Florentine” as a synonym for “with spinach” is a term from France. Actual Tuscan cuisine from Florence didn’t have any particular connection with spinach.
Interesting. The association must have made its way back to Italy, as shown in the italian Pizza Fiorentina, involving spinach.
You’re making a distinction between Bolognese and ragù that isn’t generally done - Bolognese is just one kind of ragù. Or does the capital letter denote some sort of brand name?
Sorry – “Ragu” capitalized is an American brand of pasta sauces.
I’m still not sure how they managed to get away with using that as a brand name. It’d be like a company making “Salsa” brand Mexican condiment.
Back in the US, at least as recently as 2015, lasagne florentine is still pretty common, and virtually always made with ricotta, at least in my experience.
The frozen food brand Michael Angelo’s makes a really good (for mass produced frozen food) version, especially after you punch it up with a little garlic salt, crushed red pepper flakes and a generous sprinkle of grated parmasean.
Aah, I’m assuming Prego is too? Here, prego sauce is a type of piri-piri steak sauce, for the Africanised diaspora version of the traditionally plain Portuguese prego roll.I know Nando’s does one.
In my generation most folks went through the same progression. Introduced to Ragu as a kid and fell in love with it( it is loaded with a shit-ton of sugar ), got older and switched to Prego as a poor young college student( very slightly less sweet and a little chunkier ), then either migrated to fancier jarred sauces and/or just started making their own as their palates/wallets expanded.
But Ragu is the ur-bottled sauce in the United States. Pretty much completely inedible to me for decades, because goddamn is it sweet. But man I would have jumped through hoops of fire to get it in preference to my mother’s perfectly fine homemade sauce when I was nine.
As a young bachelor my first “successful” attempt at making home made spaghetti sauce was accomplished my following the list of ingredients on the Ragu label. I used canned tomato sauce and actual corn syrup from a bottle, along with onion powder and I forget what else. There wasn’t much else, though. I remember thinking: “holy crap, I just made Ragu.”
Corn…syrup? In a pasta sauce? That you eat?
I’d like to say Ragu is a step above this, but no, it’s pretty much the same.
Use this ragu alla Bolognese recipe and you probably won’t care whether it’s ricotta or béchamel in the lasagna.
Sugar is often added to tomato sauces.
I use a 50/50 cottage cheese mix ricotta mix. It smoothes out the ricotta and gets rid of some of the grainyness. I also use canned sauce, spinich, no pre-cook noodles and leftover meat. Most noodle based italian food isn’t good enough to put much work into.