Lasagne alla Bolognese

Sheets of fresh egg pasta, green with spinach in the Bolognese original, layered with slow-cooked ragù, béchamel and Parmigiano Reggiano and baked until the top blisters and the edges crisp: lasagne alla bolognese is the Sunday dish of Emilia-Romagna and the most copied and most abused pasta bake in the world. The recipe was registered with the Bologna Chamber of Commerce in 2003 by the Accademia Italiana della Cucina, which specifies lasagne verdi, a ragù of beef and pork cooked for hours, a thin béchamel and Parmigiano, nothing else. Mozzarella, ricotta, cottage cheese, sliced sausage and a thick tomato sauce belong to the Italian-American lasagna, which is a separate dish with its own standards. Lasagne from Naples, with meatballs, egg and ricotta, is a third thing again, eaten at Carnival.