Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

I don't do it often, but to cook Florence fennels in milk is a very Italian method, not really used much overseas (or at least, I haven't noticed it!). The fennels seem to acquire a really special taste when cooked in milk, and after this first 'stage' they are usually baked in the oven or placed under the grill, with or without toppings. A big tray would have several fennels, but becasue I only had three fennels I decided to add some lasagna sheets to make sure that they would not 'dry up' too much in the second cooking stage in oven.  Fennels Cooked in Milk Wash three Florence fennels and cut like in the photo.   Gently (very gently) simmer the fennels in milk (about half a litre) until they are quite tender (about 30 minutes). Watch the pot at all times: the milk may boil out. Lift out the fennels, but keep the milk in the pot. I didn't want to put the fennels straight into a pan, so I placed ...

Photo by Alessandra Zecchini© The photo is not very good, in fact I thought that I wasn't going to put this recipe here, as it is really basic, but if you have a veggie garden with lots and lots of zucchini you are probably looking at different ways to cook them... I used Barilla pre-cooked egg lasagna sheets. Cut the zucchini (green, yellow or a mixture of both) into slices and place in a pan with a little olive oil and a garlic clove. Cook stirring often and then add salt and a little tomato passata. Set aside and make a white sauce with 2 tbsp of plain flour, 500 ml of milk, 50 g of butter, and then salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg to taste. Put a little white sauce in the bottom of a lasagna dish, add a layer of lasagne, one of zucchini, and one of white sauce. Sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese. Repeat until you have finished all the ingredients, making as many layers as possible. Put very little white sauce between layers, leave most to put on the top, or the lasagne ...