Lasagne layered with cheese

6 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient

Directions

Losyns. Take good broth and do in an erthen pot. Take flour of paynedemayn and make therof past with water, and make therof thynne foyles as paper with a roller; drye it harde and seeth it in broth.

Take chese ruayn grated and lay it in disshes with powdour douce, and lay theron loseyns isode as hoole as thou myght, and above powdour and chese; and so twyse or thryse, & serue it forth.

9-10 sheets lasagne (broad noodles) made with white flour 1.7 litres/3 pints/7½ cups meat or chicken stock or water Butter for greasing Ground mace and cardamom or cinnamon and a little white pepper for spicing About 175 g/6 oz full-fat hard cheese (such as Cheddar), grated

This would have been thought (by some) an ideal dish as a last course, to 'seal in' the alcohol so often imbibed too freely by the young. You can, if you wish, prepare your own lasagne as the medieval cooks did. But commercially produced dried pasta makes an equally simple and comforting dish for meatless meals.

Choose a square or oblong baking dish which will hold the pasta in three layers. If you pile it higher in a smaller dish, it may be difficult to slice and serve six helpings.

Bring the stock or water to the boil in a fairly big pan and boil the lasagne in three or four batches until all the sheets are cooked. As each batch is done, remove the sheets with tongs or a pair of forks to a warmed, damp tea-towel on a flat work-top and lay them flat side by side.

Grease the inside of your chosen dish with butter. Sprinkle the bottom lightly with spices and a quarter of the cheese. Cover with a layer of pasta, trimmed to fit the dish if required. Repeat the layers of spice, cheese and pasta twice, and end with a last layer of spice and cheese. Re-heat until the cheese is melted.

from The Medieval Cookbook by Maggie Black Chapter 5, "Of Manners and Meals" posted by Tiffany Hall-Graham From: Tiffany Hall-Graham Date: 05-26-94

Submitted By DALE SHIPP On 04-20-95

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