Lasanis

Lasagna

Original Recipe: (from Liber de Coquina an Italian 14th manuscript)

De lasanis. Ad lasanas, accipe pastam fermentatam et fac tortellum ita tenuem sicut poteris. Deinde, divide eum per partes quadratas ad quantitatem trium digitorum. Postea, habeas aquam bullientem salsatam, et pone ibi ad coquendum predictas lasana. Et quando erunt fortiter decocte, accipe caseum grattatum. Et, si volueris, potes simil ponere bonas specis pulverizatas, et pulveriza cum istis super cissorium. Postea, fac desuper unum lectum de lasanis et iterum pulveriza; et desuper, alium lectum, et pulveriza: et sic fac usque cissorium uel scutella sit plena. Postea, comede cum uno punctorio ligneo accipiendo.

Translation: (from The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy)

Of lasagne. To make lasagne take fermented dough and make into as thin a shape as possible. Then divide it into squares of three fingerbreadths per side. Then take salted boiling water and cook those lsagne in it. And when they are fully cooked and grated cheese. And, if you like, you can also add good powdered spices and powder them on them, when they are on the trencher. Then put on a layer of lasagne and powder [spices] again; and on top another layer and powder, and continue until the trencher or bowl is full. Then eat them by taking them up with a pointed wooden stick.

My Interpretation:

1 pound flat pasta sheets

1 gallon chicken broth

½ cup grated Parmesan Cheese

1 tsp. butter

2 tsp. Powder Fort (see Powder Fort)

Bring broth to a boil, place pasta sheets in broth and cook al dente (see directions if using a package). Divide pasta sheets, cheese and spice powder into thirds. Lightly grease the bottom of a casserole with butter. In casserole layer pasta sheets, grated cheese, then powder fort ; repeat until three layers are made. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. Let cook for 10-15 minutes before cutting in square shape and serve.

Sources:

The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy; Odile Redon, Françoise Sabban, & Silvano Serventi, translated to the English by Edward Schneider; The University of Chicago Press, 1998