Lasagne in the woods cooked on the Trangia and Hajka oven.

Lasagne, in the woods, no, I'm not joking..!

 

History

 

Lasagne’s roots go way back further than you might think. The ancient Greeks had a dish called laganon it wasn’t pasta as we know it today, more like a flat dough sheet. Later on, the Romans picked that up and turned it into lagana, slicing it into ribbons. In fact, lagana even made an appearance in one of the oldest Western cookbooks out there, De Re Coquinaria by Apicius, from the 4th century. Safe to say, people have been layering carbs and flavour for a long time.

The lasagne we’d recognise today, hearty, saucy, and built for feeding a hungry table first showed up in Naples during the Middle Ages. It was a bit of a showstopper dish, usually saved for special occasions. The classic Neapolitan version, lasagne di carnevale, layered up sausage, tiny fried meatballs, hard-boiled eggs, ricotta or mozzarella, and a rich ragù. Not exactly a midweek meal.

The most widely recognised version today, though, comes from Emilia-Romagna, Lasagne al Forno. That’s the familiar one, with thick ragù, béchamel, and generous helpings of cheese, all baked to perfection. Fun fact, the traditional pasta sheets used in that region are actually green, thanks to spinach being mixed into the dough. It’s a detail a lot of people outside Italy don’t realise.

Tomatoes didn’t show up in lasagne until the 1880s in Naples. And it was Francesco Zambrini of Bologna who helped popularise the layered version we now know and love during the 19th century. These days, Bolognese-style lasagne is probably the most well known but as with any beloved dish, everyone has their own version. And, let’s be honest, everyone’s mum (or Nona) insists theirs is the best.

My recipe is one that I think works well on a camp stove in a camping environment. I have made this exact lasagne in my titanium dry baking set up in the woods in the past and it worked really well, this is the first time making it on the Hajka. On my titanium stove, I swapped out the ricotta with cottage cheese as well as the pasta with butternut squash, I have used sausages instead of mince and have even used Quorn mince, each time I made these changes, I am sure that someone's Nona, somewhere, complained of a stabbing pain in their back, so please be careful when you mess with the recipe, but it can be done to make it that little bit easier for you at camp, if you're doing this at home, there are no acceptable exceptions! As I am typing this, I actually remembered the time i made the tomato sauce with tomato powder and the béchamel with milk powder and the horrible cheese power in a plastic pot stuff, claiming to be parmesan... the less said about that, the better, but, that being said, it 'worked' and was a warm meal.

Any good lasagne recipe has layers of sheet pasta with a meaty, slightly acidic tomato sauce and ooey-gooey cheese.

 

Did someone say ooey-gooey cheese..?

 

If you wanted to, you can use this exact recipe at home, scale it up for more people or remove/replace whatever you want to. 

 

 

 

Ingredients

 

Lasagne noodles 3/4 (aka pasta sheets - for ‘Dave’)

Onion (small)

Carrot (1 small)

Celery (1 stick)

Minced beef (200g ish)  or sausage (2/3 - Italian - Neapolitan if possible, I used the sausages)

Nduja

Pancetta or bacon lardons (unsmoked)

Garlic (2/3 cloves)

Tomato puree 

Tin of chopped tomatoes (small)

Passata (small)

Mozzarella ball

Parmesan cheese

Ricotta cheese or cottage cheese

Egg (if using ricotta)

Glug of red wine (optional)

Thyme

Basil (fresh if possible)

Oregano 

 

 

Equipment 

 

I used the Trangia 27, Mora Rombo, chopping board, gas stove, Hajka oven. 

 

Hajka lit by the UCO.

 

Cooking 

 

Slice/dice or grate your celery, carrot, garlic and onion. This is known as a sofrito and is the base for many dishes.

 

Lightly fry the carrot, celery and onion in a small skillet until the onion goes translucent, add the meats and cook until it is broken up and browned.

 

Drain the meat if needed then add in the seasoning. If you have the wine, add it now to deglaze the pan, you don’t need a lot, I took a small bottle to camp with me, added a glug and saved the rest to drink with the meal. 

 

Stir in the tomatoes and Nduja and simmer for about five minutes.

 

Combine the egg, ricotta, and parmesan in a small bowl. You may be able to do it in the ricotta pot… you can get away with just using the cottage cheese here if you need to… 

 

Place a little bit of meat sauce into the bottom of what ever you’re going to be using as your baking pan, I used the Hajka ceramic pan. 

 

Place your oven ready pasta noodle over the sauce.

 

Divide the ricotta mixture and spread over the noodle.

 

Top with sauce and sprinkle on a small amount of the shredded mozzarella cheese. 

 

Repeat the remaining layers ending with a topping of mozzarella cheese.

 

Then bake in your oven… for a good… half an hour… ish… maybe.

 

Hajka Atop the EDCCooperative Trangia 27 and the field office of course...

 

This will be trial and error on the camp stove and will depend on what you’re making. I left mine for around 50 minutes on a low heat in the Hajka, I could have took it out earlier, but… I didn’t. It was still amazing.

 

Id say that's almost done.

 

My fellow campers commented on the smell wafting around the site from my lasagne, everyone wanted a slice… there wasn’t enough to go around unfortunately, but, those that did try it were amazed. 

 

The final article

 

Summary

 

The lasagne worked out really well... REALLY well! The Hajka on its maiden voyage performed well, I just finished the gas bottle off, which was why I was cautious about the timings, but, I think I would have been more than adequate with a thirty minute oven time, of course, in this method, everything was already cooked through with the way that I had done it, you could do it straight into your oven, you would just need to be mindful of this as you would be using the oven to cook all the ingredients through, this may take a little longer... 

I enjoy cooking and even more so in the outdoors, its these little things that enable to make my time in the outdoors that bit more enjoyable. In some instances, the cooking of a meal is an 'activity' that takes the time and gives you something to do, if you didn't have much to be getting on with at camp. I chatted to the odd person whilst I was preparing this, it wasn't too 'involved' once I got it going and it was in the oven. There is only a little bit of prep, the initial cook and then you have enough time to sit back and relax a bit. I will definitely be doing this in the Hajka again.

This lasagne was not just another camp meal, it was a celebration of history, innovation and the joy of cooking in the great outdoors. By using the Trangia and Hajka oven, i was able to bring the taste of traditional Italian culinary art into the wilderness. The layered pasta, tangy tomato ragu and melted cheese came together to create a dish that not only filled my belly but also sparked campfire conversations and drew curious campers with its irresistible aromas. 

This experience reminds me that even far from home, with a little ingenuity, you can transform simple ingredients into a feast that connects you to a rich and flavourful past. 

Happy camping and buon appetito!