Tuscan Sourdough Casserole

I know what you're thinking. Casserole? Well, after much debate, and a couple bottles of wine, this is the final name we came up with for my new dish. Hitting the menu soon, and available for order, the Tuscan Sourdough Casserole is outstanding.

The idea came about during a hodgepodge dinner with my dear friends Chris & Cara. A combination of fridges was the first inspiration. I had some chicken, they had some sausage and veggies.  When beginning to construct some sort of plan, I came across a memory of a dish I had when I was living in Siena, Italy.  Tuscany is known for their hearty soups, which are usually constructed with leftovers, a medley of vegetables, and some sort of protein, usually beans. So, I started cooking.

Beginning with an onion and some garlic, the chicken was diced and added to a hot skillet.  Then some diced spicy Italian sausage (pre-cooked) was added to the pan.  The Tuscan influence hit the pan next, a can of Navy beans (in future recipes, I plan on using white beans, or cannelloni). Then, one very ripe tomato was diced and added to the pan along with some salt, cayenne, and white pepper. Once this mixture looked like it was blending pretty well, I added a whole bunch of spinach and some sliced zucchini. This simmered until all the spinach was wilted and the zucchini was almost al dente. The next bit, was a play on my favorite Tuscan dish, Ribollita (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribollita).  We sliced up some San Francisco Sourdough very thin, toasted it, and layered into the bottom of a Pyrex baking dish. The stew mixture was then added on top of the bread, followed by a layer of graded swiss cheese ( we later had a very heated discussion about another cheese other than Parmesan which would substitute for swiss... we came up with nothing).  Another layer of bread was added, then stew. then topped with a layer of very thin bread, and a whole bunch of Parmesan.  This was all baked at 400* for about 15 min.  

The result was outstanding.  Three of us polished off an entire pyrex baking dish.  Accompanied by a very refreshing salad of tomatoes and butter lettuce.  We discussed the dish for the duration of the night, what could change, what the name should be, playfull additions, and so forth.  This not only hit the spot, but triggered an incredible discussion about food. I love my friends. As Chris stated in the final naming of the dish: "Tuscan Sourdough Casserole: A Spontaneous Combustion" ... Yup. Delicious.