Pan-Bagnat: A rather extravagant sandwich - 2 hours to prepare, but worth it!

Confession time! I saw this recipe in a magazine and decide I'd embark upon it for lunch. This decision was made at about 11 o'clock. I'm not one for reading recipes from start to finish before I start, and it was only when I started it, I realised it was more likely going to be ready for tea time rather than lunch!!

So, warning for you....should you wish to make this (and I highly recommend it), make it the day before you need it and fridge it until the chosen point!

The recipe is based on a french dish called Pan-Bagnat. It's essentially a hollowed out loaf, filled with roasted vegetables and cheese and pressed in the fridge for several hours. This allows the flavours and juices to be absorbed by the bread and sliced in lovely chunks for a healthy, tasty lunch-time meal.

It's a great picnic dish and I think best served for crowds, this much effort invested in a sandwich deserves to be shared!

The key ingredients here are a decent loaf (I favour a multi-grain one as I think it holds the shape better) and fresh vegetables. Don't follow the ingredients too slavishly - if there is something you don't like just swap it for more of something you do!

....feedahappylife's selection of vegetables....

...preferred bread...

Pan-Bagnat (serves 4)

• 1 red pepper, quartered
• 1 yellow pepper, quartered
• 1 large courgette, sliced
• 2 portabella mushrooms, halved
• 1 aubergine, sliced length ways
• Olive oil
• Red wine vinegar
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• Handful basil leaves, torn
• Large, round, crusty loaf
• 3 tbsp caper puree (or olive tapenade or pesto)
• 125g mozzarella, drained and sliced
• Seasoning

Step 1: Place vegetables in a single layer, pour over a good glug of oil and grill for 10 minutes (turning half way through). You might need to do this a few times to get through all of the vegetables

Step 2: Make the dressing by mixing half the basil, a glug of oil, a glug of vinegar, seasoning and the crushed garlic in a large bowl. Stir together to combine and add the roasted vegetables to the boil and toss gently. Leave vegetables to cool.

Step 3: Slice of the bread 'lid' and remove all of the inner bread (leave a 1 cm shell). I keep the inner bread, shred and freeze for breadcrumbs for other dishes...

Step 4: Cover the inside of your bread with your choice of paste

Step 5: Take the cooled vegetables and squeeze them dry between sheets of kitchen roll (this is really important and will stop your bread going soggy). Slice the mushroom halves and put to one side.

Step 6: Layer up your cooled vegetables and press firmly into the bread. Alternative vegetables with mozzarella slices and torn basil leaves. Leave the mushrooms until last and add to the top.

Step 7: Place the lid back on the bread and wrap tightly in cling film. Place the bread between two plates and weight down with tins for two hours in the fridge

Step 8: Remove cling-film, cut into slices and serve

Hope you enjoy,
Helen x

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A-meze-ing Meze

Oooooohh meze!! Virtually the only way you can justifiably try everything on the menu without spending an inordinate amount of money or being perceived as the greediest person at the table.

Authentic meze takes effort. Little dishes must warrant their place at the table with big, gutsy flavours and surprising textures. Ideally they must also complement each other, with a theme of ingredients running through the collection of dishes.

On the face of it, making ten different dishes at home, that each delight and marry together is a little daunting (finding the time to cook one meal can be hard enough!).

So, this is my easy approach to meze, practised with some friends over the weekend. Dishes are generally Helen-invented (i.e. not authentic Greek dishes), but inspired by Mediterranean ingredients and recipes.

I've been quite brief with the method, as the dishes aren't complicated and you can easily tweak things.

Meze Dish 1: Pitta Stuffed with Spiced Lamb

Method
Dry fry 2 tsp cumin seeds and crush in pestle and mortar with a pinch of dried chili flakes. Mix in with 200g lamb mince, a healthy glug of garlic infused olive oil, 1 tbsp sesame seeds and seasoning. Roll into balls and press into patties. Bake in the oven 160c - 180c for 20 minutes (you may need to drain some fat during the cooking time). Serve in toasted pittas with grated carrot.

Meze Dish 2: Hot & Smoky Sweet Potato

Method
Slice 3 large sweet potatoes into wedges. Mix with seasoning, 1 tsp smoked paprika and a good glug of chili oil. Bake in the oven (160c) for 20 minutes until golden.

Meze Dish 3: Sweet and Savoury Nuts

Method
Melt a knob of butter in the microwave. Mix with 1 tbsp brown sugar, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp ground cumin and ground sea salt (amount depends on your taste and concern about sodium levels!). Stir in 200g chopped nuts and spread mixture on baking try. Roast at 160c for 10 minutes. Remove and leave to cool before serving.

Meze Dish 4: Tasty Tortillas

Apply a paste of your choice (e.g. tomato puree/pesto/harisa/sundried tomato) to 1 tortilla. Top with slices of meat (e.g. chorizo, salami) and grated cheese (e.g. mozzarella). Place another tortilla on top, squeeze together and grill on each side for 3-4 minutes until golden and bubbling on the inside (be careful when you turn them over). Slice and serve warm.

Meze Dish 5: Lentil and Aubergine Salad

Method: Chop 1 aubergine into cubes. Mix with olive oil, 1 tsp ground cumin and seasoning. Roast for 40 minutes until golden. Whilst cooking, boil 150g puy lentils. When cooked, stir though 3 large chopped tomatoes, a handful of chopped coriander, roasted aubergine, 2 tsp cider vinegar and crumbled feta. Season to taste and serve.

Meze Dish 6: Tzatziki and Tortilla Chips

Method: Grate 1/2 cucumber, place in kitchen roll and squeeze out as much fluid as possible. Mix with 2 tbsp full-fat Greek yogurt, 1 tsp cider vinegar, seasoning and 2 tbsp garlic-infused olive oil. Stir, stir, stir and serve with grilled triangles of tortilla.

Hopefully you can see how easy these dishes are! They're great for relaxed evenings with friends indoors or out! You could increase the amounts and easily served as side dishes for BBQs too.

Hope you enjoy - and maybe try?!

Helen

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Greek Tales Part 2: Moussaka Masterclass!

One of the things I really love about foreign towns and cities is the food markets. I’m filled with happiness by the accidental turn off the tourist trail, down a side-street and into a secret world of locals bustling about buying their weekly fresh produce.


Our food markets just don’t seem comparable. Whilst I will happily stroll around our farmers markets, there is something a little clinical (and overpriced) in contrast with the natural European markets. For them it feels like a way of life and for us it seems to be some kind of aspirational statement (which I’ll admit to buying into!).

In Greece, I wandered down a cobbled street on a quest to find our hastily parked car, and tripped into the hubbub of the street vendors. Men and women selling stalls upon stalls of fragrant fruit and vegetables bursting with sunshine and goodness. Glistening, pungent fish were piled high, only centimetres from the pavement with swathes of people pushing past, shopping trolleys overflowing with haggled bargains.

I think the best, comparable quality at home comes from vegetable box schemes. I can’t wait to have a garden where I can grow my own vegetables but until then, my street market happiness comes in a box! The seasonal selection of muddy, knobbly vegetables are so much more exciting than regulation-sized carrots and machine-washed potatoes from the supermarket. If you haven’t tried a veg box scheme before, it’s really fun and they often have good offers for first time purchasers (e.g. your first box free – no catch!). My favourite national suppliers are Riverford Organics and Abel & Cole, though you may be able to find some interesting regional providers too. Cost wise, if you eat a lot of vegetables at home, the price is equivalent to supermarkets. If you’re still on a mission to meet your three let alone five a day target though, it may seem expensive…..

Anyway, enough vegetable chat and onto the main course, the super recipe for Moussaka from the Melenos Lindos hotel. There is a link in my ramblings to be made however, with many of the ingredients in season now (i.e. likely to be in a veg box/on offer in the supermarket).

This moussaka was very different to the versions I’ve tried before. The flavours are more delicate and the whole dish is less ‘saucy’, but it’s all the better for it!

Serves 2

• 200g best lean beef (optional - marinated for 4 hours in olive oil and herbs)
• 2 beef tomatoes (1 finely chopped and 1 sliced)
• 20g Parmesan
• 25g plain flour (+ extra to use as coating)
• 25g cornflour
• 50ml light olive oil (+ extra to use for frying)
• 500ml milk
• 1 aubergine
• ½ finely chopped onion
• 20g feta
• Selection of summer herbs

Step 1: Chop the beef into small pieces. Add to frying pan and brown. Add onion and tomato and cook for five mins on low heat. Put to one side.

Step 2: Remove lengthways 1cm sections of the peel from the aubergine (this will create a striped effect on the outside) and cut into ½ cm thick slices. Drop slices in bowl of cold water and then coat in flour. Lightly fry in hot oil for 2 mins on each side until golden. Remove and sit on kitchen towel to drain excess oil

Step 3: Add cornflour, plain flour and olive oil to large saucepan and create a roux. Keep stirring on low heat to cook out the flour. Gradually add the milk, whisking all the time (the lumps will go – just keeping adding & whisking!). When thickened stir through half of the Parmesan and 2 tbsp of chopped herbs.

Step 4: Use a small bowl to assemble dish. First, create a layer of tomatoes, add a sprinkling of the herbs and Parmesan and then add a layer of aubergine. Repeat with another layer of tomato, herbs, Parmesan and aubergine.

Step 5: Spoon the beef mixture on top and press firmly into dish

Step 6: Spoon béchamel sauce mixture on top, and a sprinkling of herbs and then another covering of sauce (you need to ensure herbs are slightly covered by sauce to prevent them burning)

Step 7: Place in the oven (160c) for 25 mins

Step 8: Sprinkle the feta over the top of the moussaka and return to the oven for another 5 minutes

….and there you have it! I’m looking forward to doubling up the recipe and making it for some friends soon. Also keen to see whether it tastes anywhere near as nice at home as it did when the professionals were involved!!

Next post will be the final Greek instalment, with a selection of meze recipes.

Helen x

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