Stale Bread Lasagna

Stale Bread Lasagna with Mushroom or Meat Sauce -saw this demo'd on Rachael Ray and had both the stale bread frozen in the freezer and some mushrooms that would need to be used soon. The take away lessons were --don't add the cheese til the last 5 min of cooking. I halved the bread/ mushroom and liquid/spice portions of this recipe and there was still plenty. Kevin loved it and loved the texture of the multigrain--when I do this again will definitely try it with a white or whole wheat bread and ground meat. Also note that I added extra chicken broth around the edges as it cooked. All of the sudden it came to me that there didn't seem to be enough liquid to soak through a denser multigrain bread. 

             EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for drizzling or softened butter

• 10 to 12 slices white bread 1-inch thick (stale is not only fine but preferred) ***of course first substitution for me was leftover multigrain bread- Kevin loved the taste of the bread
• 3 tablespoons EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef, pork and veal or chopped crimini mushrooms ( I used mushrooms but would try it again with ground meat)
• 1 onion, finely chopped (did not halve this item)
• 1 rib celery, finely chopped  (did not halve this item)
• 1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped  (did not halve this item)
• 3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• Salt and pepper

• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• A few grates of nutmeg
• A pinch of cloves
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 pound Fontina Val D'Aosta cheese or other easy-melting Italian cheese (as you can see by the picture used TJ's quatro formaggio cheese)
• 1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano 

Grease a casserole dish with EVOO or butter and preheat oven to 400ºF. Arrange bread slices in a casserole dish in a tight-fitting layer.

Meanwhile, heat 3 tablespoons EVOO, a couple of turns of the pan, in a saucepot over medium-high heat. Add meat or mushrooms and brown well.

 Add onion, celery, carrot and garlic, and season with salt, pepper and bay leaf.

Cook to soften then add tomato paste, nutmeg and cloves.



 Stir in stock and bring to a bubble.

 Add milk and simmer 30 minutes to thicken. (30 min was too long for me as we halved recipe so I simmered about 10 min)

Spoon sauce over bread -or pour...

Will look like this then ***now after in oven I rethought that there was probably not enough liquid to absorb all the bread--especially as it was a firmer multigrain bread -- so poured extra chicken stock -about 1/2+ cup around edges of casserole--worked out well***

***** top with cheese. Bake 30 minutes until cheese is melted and brown.*****
See below picture --the cheese browned WAY TOO MUCH --next time I would add it for the last 5 minutes to get melted I tried adding a little more shredded parm --flavor was good but wo0uld have been better with more melted than crisp cheese!

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