Ainy Cooks

LASANA MANItalian cuisine is one of the most favorite and widely adopted cuisine in the world.How can we forget Italian Pizzas, pasta, lasagna and much more which are part of our Pakistani cuisine.I am quoting Marcella Hazan’s words here about Italian cuisine.

“I think the success of Italian food is that it’s the food that is easiest to live with. Also, in a restaurant, nothing is cooked until you order it. If you eat Italian food in the American way it is fattening. Italians don’t serve butter on the table with the bread. Also they don’t serve olive oil on the table. Now in America it is fashionable, instead of having the dish with butter they have a little dish full of olive oil so that people dip their bread in it. Because butter got a bad name, olive oil got a good name, and all the Italian restaurants in America do this, but it’s not Italian at all.

You don’t have the big portions, you usually don’t have cake or dessert but fruit or something made with fruit. And we don’t snack. At home supper is usually very light, pastina in brodo, a formaggino, maybe a vegetable, but very light. That is also healthy because eating a big dinner means you go to sleep and burn less calories. Also I wish that in the United States they would learn how to eat long pasta without a spoon. That is the fault of the restaurant, because they put a spoon there. People don’t know how to eat pasta with just a fork.”

Why i am mentioning about Italian cuisine today, because we have a guest today with us. She is an Italian and an excellent cook. I liked her tempting and healthy recipes. I am grateful to her for stopping by and shared such a famous recipe with us. This is equally famous in Pakistan as in Italy.
Now over to Daniela for her awesome recipe:
Dear readers of Ainy Cooks,

My name is Daniela and I live in Milan, Italy. I love anything related to food and cooking (well, I’m Italian) and I always search the internet looking for new recipes from all over the world.

In fact, I personally run my own blog of recipes, which you can find on http://extravirginshop.com
I like trying and creating recipes related to the Mediterranean culture, where pasta, tomatoes and olive oil are the the stars of the kitchen!

The other day I ran across Ainy’s blog and I immediately fell in love with it.
It’s colourful and warm, and you can just feel Ainy’s love for good food..
Being born and raised in Italy I’ve been taught, expecially from my Grand Mother, to cook with simple and quality ingredients. With the right ingredients, even if they’re just a few, you can create the most amazing recipes..Here’s one, very Italian.. Hope you like it!

 

LASANA DOWN

Grandma’s Lasagne

INGREDIENTS

For the ragout:

 

  • 1 stalk of celery
  • 1 small carrot
  • 1 small white onion
  • 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
  • 500 g of minced beef meat
  • 100 ml of beef stock
  • 1 lit of tomato sauce
  • salt
  • black pepper

 

For the Lasagne:

 

  • 350 g of Mozzarella
  • 500 g of dried egg pasta or lasagna noodles
  • 100 g of grated Parmesan cheese
  • Fresh basil
  • Olive Oil for the pan

 

METHOD

Prepare the ragout by placing in a pot the chopped celery, carrot and onion with 4 tablespoons of extravirgin olive oil. Fry over a low heat for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally.

When the vegetables have browned add the meat and turn up the heat.
Add the stock and when it’s completely evaporated, add the tomato sauce, a generous pinch of salt and some freshly ground pepper.
Let the ragout cook for at least 3 hours, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.

Once the ragout is ready boil the lasagna noodles in salted water for about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Grease the baking tray, spread the bottom with a layer of ragout sauce and begin to layer the pot with lasagna noodles, mozzarella, ragout, basil leaves and a handful of Parmesan cheese.
Continue to fill the lasagna until you have 5 layers, ending with Parmesan cheese.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 200° C (375F) for 35-40 minutes.
Remove the foil and continue baking for another 5 minutes, turning on the grill function.

Buon Appetito!

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