Ingredients:

300g old bread (I prefer white bread with lots of crust, but anything goes)
500ml milk or 450ml milk and 50ml cream if you like it creamy
200g sugar (I prefer dark brown raw sugar – in any case, unrefined)
5 eggs
50-75g raisins or sultanas (depending on your taste)
1tsp cinnamon (or more…)
2tsp vanilla sugar (or more…)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 200C. Mix the milk with the sugar. Break up bread into a large bowl and pour the milk over the bread. Mix with your hands until it’s… mixed. Doesn’t have to be homogenous, just squeeze it a few times. Add raisins, cinnamon, vanilla sugar and beaten eggs. It’ll be sludgy – you want it that way. Pour mixture into an oiled loaf pan and pop into the oven for 45 minutes.

When I did this last I put and extra 2tsp of vanilla sugar on the top and it made it nice and crispy. It did mean I had to cover the loaf with tin foil for the last 10 minutes to prevent it from going too dark.

Also, if you can’t get your hands on vanilla sugar, vanilla extract works just fine of course.

Some popular variations include adding apple slices – none at the top or they’ll burn – or covering the entire loaf, after it’s fully cooked, with a mixture of 1 egg white, 150g icing sugar and a bar of milk chocolate. I prefer to stick to the plain vanilla version though.

Nom nom nom…

For the first time since my discovery of the Interwebs, I’ve purchased a cookbook. And I have to say, it’s really lovely. Not only is it filled with amazing seasonal recipes, it’s also really beautiful with great illustrations that remind me of Quentin Blake’s style, and tasty food photography. Check the link for a sample recipe and some pictures. Recommended!

Stéphane Reynaud’s 365 Good Reasons to Sit Down to Eat

P.S.: Photography by Marie-Pierre Morel, illustrations by José Reis de Matos, both brilliant artists.

After grabbing a few different lasagna recipes off Epicurious and Cooks.com and wrangling them into a new recipe, I decided to share the result. Because you should eat well.

“It’s hard not to spend the whole day on making a lasagne” – a friend of a friend who knows where it’s at.

Ingredients
Feeds up to 8 people. Will take about two hours all up to prepare.

Veal sauce

1 small to medium sized onion
2 garlic cloves
a can of chopped Roma tomatoes
1/4 cup drained dried tomatoes packed in oil
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup tomato paste
500g ground veal
1/4 cup of stock

Roast vegetables

2 large red bell peppers
3 medium onions
4 medium carrots OR 2 carrots and some yams, OR hey, whatever you fancy and have lying around (I used a courgette once)
8 large garlic cloves
1-2 cups of cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
freshly ground black pepper

Béchamel(ish) sauce

3/4 c butter
7 1/2 tbsp. flour
2.5 c full cream milk
1 cup stock (I used beef)
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp tarragon
splash of wine, I used Vicotto Giovane (thanks Odetti!)
1/2 tsp salt
dash of nutmeg
1 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano, another Parmesan or could use Pecorino too)
2 cups grated Mozarella cheese

On top and between

1/2 cup grated Mozzarella (about 2 ounces)
1/3 cup grated Romano or Parmesan (about 1 ounce)
dry lasagna sheets

Preparation

Roast vegetables

The bell peppers are best of you hold them above a naked flame until their skin is nice and charred and easy to peel off. Alternatively, you can grill them in the oven until they’re blackened. Cool and peel. Slice lengthwise into strips.

For the rest of the veg, preheat the oven to 190°C. Cut the onions in 8 pieces each. Cut the carrots into nice bite-size pieces. Peel and crush the garlic cloves a little. In a large shallow baking pan toss vegetables with garlic, oil, and pepper to taste and roast in middle of oven, stirring occasionally, 30 to 35 minutes, or until tender. 10 minutes before it’s ready add the cherry tomatoes. Can be made up to a few hours in advance.

Veal sauce

Separately chop onion and slice the garlic lengthwise. Finely chop dried tomatoes. In a heavy saucepan cook onion and garlic in oil over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened. Add tomato paste, canned tomatoes, stock, and salt and pepper to taste and simmer sauce, covered, stirring occasionally, 30 minutes.

While sauce is simmering, in a non-stick skillet cook veal over moderate heat, stirring, until cooked through. Add veal and dried tomatoes to sauce and simmer 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Veal sauce may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring sauce to room temperature before using.

Béchamel(ish) sauce

In large sauce pan melt butter. Blend in flour and cook, stirring constantly over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add milk and stock, stirring constantly until mixture boils and begins to thicken. Add seasonings. Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan. Just before adding to the lasagna at a later stage, stir in the grated Mozarella.

Assemble lasagne

Lightly oil a 13 by 9 inch baking dish. Spread about 3/4 cup veal sauce over bottom of dish and cover with 3 lasagne sheets, making sure they do not touch each other. Drop one third Béchamel by spoonfuls over pasta and spread evenly. Top with one third vegetables. Spread about 1 cup sauce over vegetables. Make more layers in same manner, beginning and ending with pasta. Spread remaining sauce evenly over top, completely covering pasta, and sprinkle with grated cheeses.
Bake in middle of oven 40-50 minutes, covered for the first part, uncovered for the last 20 minutes or so. Let lasagne stand 15-20 minutes before serving. Actually, the closer it gets to room temperature, the easier it becomes to cut into squares, the better.

Serve with bread and wine!