De Lasanis – Medieval Lasagna with Cheese, Pepper & Spices

De Lasanis – Fermented-Dough Noodles with Cheese & Pepper

“The Feast in the House of Levi” (detail), Paolo Veronese. Used here as period context for Renaissance pasta and cheese dishes.

Source: The Medieval Kitchen, Odile Redon, Françoise Sabban, and Silvano Serventi (1998)

De lasanis is one of the earliest references to pasta dishes resembling modern day cacio e pepe. The resemblance is striking — a simple but elegant combination of starch, cheese, and spice that became a cornerstone of Italian cookery. Redon's addition of yeast imparts a tang and complexity most modern cooks miss when substituting dried lasagna noodles. If you can, I recommend making your own—it’s surprisingly easy and richly rewarding.

Historical Recipe & Context

Where it comes from:

The recipe appears in the 14th-century Italian collection Liber de Coquina (“The Book of Cookery”), one of the earliest known cookbooks of the Italian peninsula. The version usually cited is from the so-called “Neapolitan collection” of the manuscript (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MS. lat. 7131).

The recipe itself:

“Lasanis: Recipe de bonis pasta farinae triticeae factis, et cum aqua calida decoctis; et pone in catino cum caseo bono, et forti specie. Et sunt optimi cibi.”

English translation (Redon, The Medieval Kitchen, 1998, p. 134):

“Lasagna: Make a good dough of wheat flour and cook it in hot water; put it in a dish with good cheese and strong spices, and it is a very good food.”

Redon's Recipe 

“Make a dough of flour and water with yeast and salt; when risen, roll it thin and cut into little squares. Cook them in boiling water. Place them in a dish in layers with grated cheese and spices, and serve.”

The Dough Debate: Yeast or No Yeast?

The original Liber de Coquina recipe for De lasanis simply says: “make a good dough of wheat flour and cook it in boiling water” — no yeast. This would produce a dense, rustic noodle similar to modern eggless pasta.

However, modern scholars (Redon, Sabban, Serventi) suggest that early pasta may have been closer to bread dough, which would have included yeast. Yeast gives a slight tang and a lighter, chewier texture.

Try both! A no-yeast dough stays truest to the manuscript, while a yeasted version follows Redon’s interpretation and offers a unique flavor rarely tasted today.

Modern Recipe

Dough

• 3 cups flour (semolina, or 50/50 mix stoneground white and wheat)
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 1 ½ tsp yeast

For Layering

• 2/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• Black pepper to taste

Spice Blend (optional, period-inspired)

• ½ tsp each cardamom, nutmeg
• ⅛ tsp each cinnamon and black pepper

Method

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water and let proof 10 minutes.
2. Mix flour and salt; add yeast mixture to form a pliable dough. Knead until elastic. Cover and let rise at least 1 hour.
3. Near the end of rising, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
4. Punch down dough, knead lightly, and divide in half. Roll thin (about 1/16"). Cut into 2-inch squares.
5. Boil squares until they rise to the surface, then remove with a slotted spoon.
6. In a warmed baking dish, layer noodles with cheese and spices. Top generously with cheese and spice blend.
7. Serve hot.

Notes

• The yeast-leavened version in this post follows Redon/Sabban/Serventi’s interpretation, suggesting early pasta may have resembled risen dough more than the dried sheets familiar today.
• The original is strikingly simple: flour dough + boiling water + cheese + spices. Leavening adds depth but isn’t explicit in the medieval text.
• This is among the first European recipes to use the word lasanis/lasagna, centuries before the tomato-based versions we know now.

Cheese

The original recipe simply calls for caseo bono — “good cheese.” In 14th-century Italy, this usually meant aged, firm cheeses suitable for grating.

• Pecorino: A sheep’s-milk cheese, salty and sharp, widely used across Italy. The most common grating cheese of the period.
• Parmigiano: Early Parmesan was already famous by the 1300s and exported to wealthy courts. Hard, nutty, and perfect for layering in pasta.
• Caciocavallo: A southern Italian stretched-curd cheese (ancestor of provolone), eaten both young and aged. Regional cooks may have used it when Pecorino wasn’t available.

Modern substitutes: Parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiano) or Pecorino Romano are excellent stand-ins today. Use Parmesan for a nutty, mellow flavor, or Pecorino for a sharper, saltier edge.

Spices (Specie Forte)

The original recipe for De lasanis simply says to layer the noodles with caseo bono (“good cheese”) and forti specie (“strong spices”). In Italian cookery, specie forte was a recognized blend used in many dishes.

From the Libro di cucina / Libro per cuoco (14th–15th century):

“Specie forte: piglia zenzevero, pepe, garofali, noxe moscade, cannella, e fanne polvere.”

Translation:

“Strong spices: take ginger, pepper, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and make a powder.”

Notes

• Core spices: Pepper and ginger provided heat; cinnamon and nutmeg gave warmth; cloves added pungency.
• Use in De lasanis: These “strong spices” would have been mixed with grated cheese between the pasta layers.
• Modern adaptation: This post uses pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom — a variation consistent with the period’s spice palette.
• My personal blend: I use a ratio of 3 parts pepper, 2 parts cinnamon, 2 parts nutmeg, 1 part ginger, and 1 part cloves. Instead of relying on just black pepper, I often mix long pepper, cubeb, and black pepper together — this gives a more complex, resinous, and authentic flavor closer to what a 14th-century cook might have known.

Spice Spotlight: Long Pepper & Cubeb

Long pepper (Piper longum): Related to black pepper but hotter, muskier, and slightly sweet. Common in medieval Europe before black pepper became dominant.

Cubeb (Piper cubeba): Sometimes called “tailed pepper.” Resinous, almost floral, with a camphor-like note. Imported through Venetian and Arab trade networks.

How to use today: Both are available from specialty spice merchants. If unavailable, substitute with a mix of black pepper and a touch of allspice or cloves to mimic cubeb’s resinous flavor.

🍽️ Menu Placement

De lasanis is a rich pasta-and-cheese dish, similar in flavor profile to early cacio e pepe.

• Pottage Course (Second Course): Works well as a “wet” dish between appetizers and roasts, balancing lighter starters with substantial dairy and grain.
• Roast Course (Third Course): Equally appropriate as a side to roasted meats — its warming spices and cheese richness pair well with heavier dishes.

👉 In period feast planning, this flexibility means it could appear either as a centerpiece in the pottage course or as a companion in the roast course, depending on the rest of the menu’s balance.

⚖️ Humoral Context

In medieval and Renaissance dietetics, foods were classified according to the four humors — hot, cold, moist, and dry. Health was thought to depend on balancing these qualities through the foods served at a meal.

• Noodles (wheat): Wheat was considered cold and dry. Boiling softened its dryness, but on its own noodles could still be heavy or binding, needing balance.
• Cheese: Classified as cold and moist, and often seen as heavy on digestion if eaten alone.
• Pepper & spices: Hot and dry — exactly what was needed to counter both the cold/dry of the noodles and the cold/moist of the cheese.

Together, De lasanis becomes a balanced dish: the heaviness of the cheese and noodles is moderated by the warming spices, creating harmony between cold, moist, and dry qualities. This made it especially suitable for the second (pottage) course, which was designed to ready the stomach for the heavier roasts to follow.

🥕 Dietary Notes

• Vegetarian
• Contains gluten & dairy
• Vegan option: substitute plant-based cheese (almond or oat cheese) for parmesan

Labels

Browse by Dish Type: Pottage, Pasta
Browse by Ingredient: Grain, Cheese, Spices
Browse by Use: SCA Feast Planning, Period Techniques
Browse by Era: Medieval, Renaissance

Sources

• Odile Redon, Françoise Sabban, and Silvano Serventi, The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
• Liber de Coquina (ed. Marianne Mulon, Paris: CNRS, 1985) for the Latin text.
• Digitized Latin text and scans available via Gallica (BnF MS. lat. 7131).

📖 This recipe is part of the Ceilidh 2001 – Fourteenth-Century Italian Feast .
Explore all dishes from this reconstructed 14th-century Italian banquet.