Pane Frattau - Sardinian Lasagna

This is Pane Frattau! 

In the last blog post we made Pani Carasau from scratch, a delicious crispy sheet of bread, and today we are making a Sardinian lasagna with it!  

Layers of pecorino cheese, tomato sauce and music paper bread gives this dish the idea of  being a kind of lasagna. This signature dish from Sardinia, literally called Pane Frattau in Sardininan language, is peasant food at it's very best. Cheap ingredients but with very rich flavours when combined together. 

Making your own broth is crucial here as the music paper bread will be softened in a full flavour broth, usually a rich sheep or vegetable broth, so avoid using a shop bought stock cubes.

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Serves: 2 

Ingredients
For the vegetable stock 

• 1 potato 
• 20g parsley 
• 2 sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 large fresh tomato
• 1 white onion
• 1 stick of celery 
• 1 carrot 
• 1 garlic 

For the tomato sauce

• Olive oil 
• 1 shallot
• 1 garlic 
• 20g of basil 
• 800g can of plum tomatoes 

To assemble

• 6 discs of pane carasau - shop bought or you make them from scratch with our recipe
• 2 fresh eggs 
• 1 tbsp of white vinegar 
• Pecorino cheese 

Method

1. Make the vegetable stock first. Peel the carrots, potato and the onion and chop them roughly into 4cm chunks. Wash the celery stick and chop this roughly into 4cm chunks too. Wash the garlic bulb and cut it in half, like if you were chopping all the cloves in half. Do not worry about leaving the skin on. Wash the tomato and cut into 4 pieces. 
2. In a large pot, add the chopped vegetables followed by the whole sun-dried tomatoes and the parsley. Add 3.5L of cold water, a good pinch of salt and cook on a medium heat for 2 hours. Let the stock reduce by almost half. 
3. Now make the tomato sauce. Thinly chop the shallot and the garlic. In a large saucepan, add a good glug of olive oil and bring the temperature to a medium heat. Fry the shallot for 1 minute then add the garlic and fry for another minute. Add a drop of water to cool down the pan and add the basil leaves followed by the plum tomatoes. Crush the plum tomatoes with a fork, season with salt and cook on a medium low heat for 30 minutes. 
4. Once the stock is ready, drain and discard all the vegetables, taste and adjust the seasoning of the broth with salt. Move the stock to the widest pot you have – it should be wider than the sheets of pane carasau. Close it with a lid to keep it warm. Once the tomato sauce is ready too, taste and adjust the seasoning. Close it with a lid to keep it warm.
5. Now grab 2 large serving plates and start building the pani frattau. Add a spoonful of tomato sauce and spread it on the plate followed by a sprinkle of pecorino cheese. Dip one disc/sheet of pane carasau in the broth to soften it, a few seconds should be enough, then lift it up and ease it on the plate on top of the tomato sauce. Top it with more tomato sauce and some grated pecorino. Repeat with two more layers per serving (each person gets three layers of bread) and finish with the sauce and cheese.
6. Now grab the stock and put it back on a medium high heat. Add a tbsp of white wine vinegar and poach the eggs. If you don’t have enough stock to poach the egg at this point just top it up with water. Serve the egg on top of the pani frattau followed by a drizzle of olive oil and enjoy! 

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