During the festival of overthrowing the conventions par excellence, the popular cuisine elaborated this complex and rich dish of meat. Just like that of the tables of the "lords". The secret? Ragù, meatballs, brains and …
There paternity of the lasagna, like that of ragout, is a centuries-old battleground between Naples is Bologna. Although in both cases it is very different recipes, on which, however, seems to glimpse, as a historicity, the primacy of Neapolitan recipes. This is even more true for the lasagna, which in Naples also have a period of election: the Carnival. Here then are the Neapolitan carnival lasagne. A type of lasagna even richer, in which the popular cuisine he tried to overthrow hierarchies and stereotypes, as in any self-respecting Carnival: the recipe elaborate and rich in meatwe can do it for once.
When the metropolis were not there
In this dish it seems to breathe the authentic spirit of this city that, as noted by the journalist and gastronomist Luciano Pignataro, for centuries it has had a unique role in Europe: metropolis when other cities did not exist (until the eighteenth century Naples was the largest city in Europe, in the Middle Ages it was Palermo), city from the soul popular when the rest of Italy dominates the middle class, Naples has always been the city of excesses. Misery and nobility, simplicity and baroque tastes: everything is so mixed that the carnival outburst, typical of the most hierarchical societies (Rome and Venice, just to stay in Italy) where, for one day, everything is reversed, in Naples it was not rooted as elsewhere. Except for the Carnival lasagna, in fact.
In the only pork sauce
For the preparation of the Carnival lasagna we need some egg pasta sheets, possibly come on curled outlines. For what concern ragout, we resort to the classic Neapolitan recipe, but generally with the use of only meat from pig, also considering the time of year (the slaughtering of pigs, traditionally, took place at Christmas to last until the first half of January). So based on Neapolitan chops, "tracchiulelle" and rind. And above all with the presence of the cervellatine, le sausages long and thin Neapolitans worked with a knife tip. Beef is used for the preparation of another ingredient, i.e. meatballs: these, once prepared (with breadcrumbs, pecorino cheese, garlic, salt, pepper and parsley) should be fried and then left to soften in the meat sauce. The quadror ricotta of sheep, mozzarella (fiordilatte), hard-boiled eggs, parmesan and caciocavallo. Although there are no shortage of versions in which the salami. Neapolitan, of course.
Browse total or area
In a baking dish greased with extra virgin olive oil, the first is inserted layer of dough which then covers with the sauce, being careful in carefully arranging the pieces of meatballs and brains. Then it will be the turn of ricotta, other cheeses and hard-boiled eggs. And so on, layer by layer, until the ingredients run out. The distribution of ingredients can be performed in a way uniform on each layer, or you can use "areas", Always different on each sheet. Each family then has its own recipe. On which, even at Carnival, do not mess around.
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