Wednesdays being meat-free, I was again scratching my head as to what to make. I didn't have a lot of time and although I am always up for making something with dough, I couldn't think of anything. And then I thought of bread... and cheese... and the idea of making a lasagne with bread, developed.
To tell the truth, I was quite surprised at the end result. I did not think it was going to be bad, but I did not think it was going this fabulous, either!!
Preparation time: 30min
Cooking time: 30min
Serves: 6
Difficulty level: Easy
Ingredients
3tbs butter
1 onion
200g bacon
500g pumpkin, cubed
2t sugar
9 slices of bread (brown or white)
3 eggs
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1t Hot English Mustard
125ml cream
150g cheddar cheese (we used processed), grated
80g mozzarella cheese, grated
Method
Preheat oven to 180degrees C. Melt 1tbs butter in a pan. Fry the onion until starting to brown.
Add the bacon and fry until starting to brown. Remove from heat.
Melt 2tbs butter in a pan and add the pumpkin. I used frozen cubes of pumpkin, but it takes a long time to defrost.
I would suggest fresh, as first choice of course or, defrosted. Cook until done and soft. Add a little salt and the 2t of sugar. Cook until all juices are gone and if possible, it can fry a little.
Whisk together the eggs, mayonnaise, mustard and cream.
Spread the 9 slices of bread on both sides with butter. Layer the bread at the bottom of the breadpan.
Evenly cover with half the cheese.
Then add the bacon & onion.
Layer bread,
then the pumpkin,
then the other half of the cheese.
Last layer of bread. Evenly sprinkle the mozzarella over. Pour the cream mixture over, covering all the corners and evenly over the entire thing. Top with some cayenne pepper.
Bake in the oven for about 30min, until the cheese starts to brown as well as the sides.
Serve with a fresh salad and ENJOY!!
Yours in oil and veggies
Risch
With Christmas around the corner, the question of what to eat has escalated from a daily routine question, to one of a national security crises!! With friends and families visiting, the catering party feels a lot of pressure to perform. Well, this past weekend was my turn. We had family over, and we were 10 adults and 9 kids. Quite a bunch to prepare meals for!! Luckily for me, I had my menu worked out months ago, and I had enough time to practice my meals.
My menu:
Starter: Spinach Soup
Main Course: Honey-Mustard Gammon
Basil Potatoes
Sweet Pumpkin
Dessert: Christmas Cake with ice cream and Ginger cream sauce
And it was an absolute feast!! The Spinach Soup is already on the blog, and it is truly a winner. Completely different to what people normally expect from spinach. Even the people who don't like spinach, admitted that this was not bad at all!! This recipe is for the Gammon...
Ingredients
1x Gammon
50 - 100g butter
2tbs honey
3tbs hot english mustard
2t whole grain mustard
Method
Melt the butter. Add the honey and mustard and mix well. You can play with these ingredients to suit your taste, of course.
Place the gammon in your pot of choice - mine being a cast iron pot of course!!
Add a little water just covering the bottom of the pot. Brush the butter mixture over the gammon.
Close the lid and place in the oven at 140degrees C for a total of 5 hours.
After 1 hour: Brush with the butter mixture
After 2 hours: Turn the gammon over. Brush with the butter mixture.
After 3 hours: Brush with the butter mixture
After 4 hours: Pour the excess liquid off. Brush with the butter mixture. Remove the lid.
After another 30 minutes: Turn the gammon over. Brush with the butter mixture. Leave the lid off.
After another 30 minutes - Your gammon is ready!! If you want, you can grill it for about 10 minutes, to deepen the rich brown colour. Brush with butter mixture before you grill for extra flavour!
And enjoy!!
Yours in oil and veggies
Risch
Making my own mayonnaise has been something I wanted to do for a very long time, but just never got round to it. Probably because I already had store-bought mayonnaise on hand. However, I decided recently that once this bottle of store-bought mayo is finished, I am going to make my own. So, yesterday was the day! There are literally hundreds of websites with recipes for home made mayonnaise, each with its own little tweak - as is mine - but it's basically egg, oil, vinegar and flavouring.
From what I could gather, your ratios should look like this:
1 egg = 1 cup of oil = 1tbs vinegar
Vinegar can be any vinegar, from white wine to grape to apple, brown or white. You can substitute it with lemon juice, too. And, of course, the taste will be different with each of the different vinegars or juices. Flavouring is your basic: salt. To taste. Seems like you don't need to be too shy, as the salt evens out the sour of the vinegar. And then pepper and mustard. All to taste. The oil can be any oil, too. From olive to peanut to sunflower...
Here is 2 of my versions, both taste quite different from the store-bought version, but it is very addictive, much creamier and softer on the tongue. The one version is a softer, plainer mayo, while the tangy one has a bit of "zing". The method is the same for both.
Plain Mayo Tangy Mayo
Ingredients: Ingredients:
2 eggs 3 eggs
2 cups sunflower oil 2 cups sunflower oil
1tbs red wine vinegar 1/4 cup white vinegar
1tbs white vinegar 2t hot English mustard
1/4t hot English mustard pinch white pepper
pinch ground black pepper pinch salt
1/4t salt
Method
Add all the ingredients into a tall beaker. Let it sit for a while so that everything can settle into it's layers.
Use a stick blender and place it on the bottom of the beaker. Put it on high for about 20 seconds. Slowly lift it up, to incorporate everything.
Taste to see if it suits your taste. Add some salt or pepper if needed, and incorporate well.
And enjoy on Hamburgers or my famous Baked Mince Roll!!
Yours in oil and veggies
Risch
