Lasagne
When I was starting this blog and decided to devote one category to Food & History, one of the first things I thought to write about was Lasagne. I’m not Italian, nor do I have a special family recipe for it, but I just had the thought, “Whose genius idea was this?!” Lasagne is one of those delicious, comfort-food/Sunday-dinner meals I will never be sick of. Pasta, sauce, cheese, meat/veggies…what more do you need!?
As with a lot of things in life though, the humble beginnings of lasagne look much different than the lasagne we know today. While the exact origin is unknown, lasagne definitely has its roots in Ancient Rome. There are layered dishes found in Apicus’s De re coquinaria, which is a cookbook that dates back somewhere around the 5th century. Apparently these were a cross between modern lasagne and middle school Sloppy Joes (pass), but with ingredients like turtledove and sow’s udder (double pass). The recipe in Tasting History, which is my main source for this post, comes from the medieval era, and is a bit closer to the lasagne we know today. However, it is unbaked, contains no sauce, and certainly a lot less cheese. Fun fact, tomato sauce didn’t actually make an appearance in Italian cuisine until the 1500s.
I’ve made homemade pasta before, even homemade lasagne noodles, but never have I ever made pasta with a yeasted dough. It made it an interesting dough to work with for this purpose, and I would definitely recommend rolling it a tad thinner than you think you need to, as it does puff up a bit when it’s boiling. The spices used in this recipe also might seem peculiar for a dish like this, but it actually kind of works. The flavor of the parmesan pulls the spices together and makes it pretty tasty. If I were to make this again, I would adjust with a little less ginger; in some bites, I felt like that’s all I could taste, but to each their own.
It’s so cool to know where some of our favorite culinary staples actually came from and just how different they are to how we know them today. Tasting History by Max Miller has some great recipes, as well as some weird ones from the ancient world I might end up trying to explore. But for now, buon appetito!
-S
Ingredients:
1/2 tsp ground grains of paradise or black pepper
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground clove
2 tsps yeast
1 cup warm water, divided
3 cups bread flour
1 tsp sea salt, plus more for boiling
Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
8 oz grated parmesan
Method:
Prepare the spice mixture by whisking them together and setting aside. This can be altered, as original recipes were not specific in what should be used.
Dissolve the yeast into 1/4 cup of warm water and leave to proof for 10 minutes. In a large bowl, add the yeast to the flour, then add the remaining 3/4 cup of warm water and salt to form a dough.
Once the dough comes together, knead for 10-15 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place it in a bowl and let it rise for an hour, covered.
Once the dough has risen, punch it down and roll it out on a lightly floured surface into a large, thin sheet. This should be between 1/16 and 1/8 inch thick. Cut the dough into squares three fingers across and aside. (This is the direction from the original recipe. I tried to go off what the picture in the book looked like, which seems to be rectangular rather than square. But, semantics).
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat and add a drizzle of olive oil to keep the pasta from sticking to itself. Once the water is boiling, add the pasta and boil for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
**The original recipe says you will know when it’s done when it rises to the surface of the water, but my pasta was always floating to the top! So I wasn’t really sure what I was looking for at first, but went by time instead.
Remove lasagne using a slotted spoon and set aside while you assemble. While pasta is still warm, line the bottom of a dish with a single layer of pasta, then sprinkle with layer of cheese and a small amount of spices. Continue this until you have three layers of each and serve hot.
