Recipe Cards
I get dreamy eyes when a card with handwritten scribbles of a bread pudding recipe falls from a recipe collection passed down from my Grandmother. It reaches the soul of family.
Yes, it’s text book nostalgia - it draws me to the kitchen and I want to make bread pudding.
(Just baked - bread pudding with chocolate chips, lingonberry jam and whipped cream)
Creative Resolutions – No “re-heated” Leftovers
At the end of our usual lavish holiday buffet or multi course dinner there are usually all sorts of baked goods such as challah, cinnamon rolls, panettone or simple rolls and baguette left over. I know from my family’s Christmas dinner this year there were several uneaten cakes, including a pannetone, chocolate chip cookies, butterscotch bars (which I wish I had for breakfast this morning) and a few baguettes. These bready goodiess are most likely stale the day after. Why waste them! Let’s pull out those hand scribbled bread pudding notes and get to work.
I bet you look for something simple when you find yourself once again behind the stove after cooking your holiday meals -- good thing bread pudding is simple to make and a productive use for some of those bread leftovers.
(Brioche bread pudding with fresh berries and brandy spiked chocolate sauce)
Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding
(recipe yields four portions)
6 cups leftover sweet bread cubes such as challah or panettone (1-inch dice)
2 large eggs
2 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons honey such as clover
¼-teaspoon freshly ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon butter for greasing pan
1-3 tablespoons sugar (depending on sweetness of the bread)
1. Combine eggs, milk, honey and cinnamon in a bowl then mix throughout with a wire whisk, and add chocolate chips.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Place cubed sweet bread into a second bowl then add egg mixture and toss to combine. Let mixture stand for ten minutes (in this way the sweet bread will soak up the egg mixture).
4. Grease a baking pan (7 x 9-inch, or large enough to fit egg/bread mixture) with butter then add egg/bread mixture.
5. Sprinkle egg/bread mixture with sugar (taste a little of the mixture to gauge how much sugar to add as it depends on the bread used).
6. Bake egg/bread mixture in pre-heated oven (18 minutes or until top is golden in color).
Chef’s tip: serve bread pudding with vanilla cream or chocolate sauce spiked with rum.
Bread Pudding…The Savory Side
Just as sweet bread puddings work well for your leftover sweeter yeasty goods, a savory bread pudding works just as well for your not so sweet ones.
(left picture: seared musrhoom bread pudding with scrambled eggs)
(right picture: finally a dish for all those leftover truffle pieces - shave freely over scrambled eggs and savory bread pudding)
Steamed Mushroom Bread Pudding
(recipe yields plenty for four portions when served with a main dish such as beef stew)
3 cups mixed mushrooms such as shiitake, white button and chanterelle mushrooms
6 cups cubed leftover rolls or baguette (crust cut off, 1-inch sized dice)
3 tablespoons oil such as canola or grape seed
1 onion (3-inch diameter)
2 cloves garlic
¼-teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons Kosher-style salt
10 gratings fresh black pepper
3 pinches cayenne
2 cups whole milk
2 large eggs
1-2 tablespoons melted butter
4 sheets of aluminum foil (12x12-inch)
Plastic wrap
1. Put mushrooms in a large bowl filled with luke-warm water (swoosh mushrooms around in water with your hands to remove dirt) then cut mushrooms into small pieces (1/2-inch pieces).
2. Peel onion and garlic skins, then cut in small pieces (1/8-inch dice).
3. Heat vegetable oil in a pot (1-gallon sized) on high heat setting then cook onions and garlic (1-2 minutes or until browned). Season onion mixture with nutmeg, salt, pepper and cayenne then add mushrooms and continue to cook (10 minutes or until browned), stirring often with a wooden spoon.
4. Combine milk with onion/mushroom mixture then bring to a boil. Move pot on the side of stove then add eggs and whisk with a wire whisk to combine.
5. Combine bread cubes with milk/mushroom mixture in a large bowl then let sit for ten minute (mix/combine mixture with wooden spoon).
6. Bring a pot of water (1-gallon sized) filled with water to boil.
7. Brush a sheet of aluminum foil with melted butter then roll half of the bread/mushroom mixture into a sausage like roll (approximately 9 inches long), then roll bread “sausage” into the aluminum and twist each end of aluminum tightly together like a candy wrapper. Wrap a second sheet of aluminum foil around the same/first bread “sausage” so that it is double-wrapped, then wrap whole bread “sausage” with plastic wrap, including the ends on all sides (this will take several layers of plastic around roll).
8. Repeat with second half of bread/mushroom mixture.
9. Place both bread “sausages” in a large pot boiling water and simmer for 45 minutes. Transfer cooked rolls to a plate lined with kitchen paper towels, then let cool for 10 minutes or until cool enough to handle.
10. Unwrap cooled bread “sausages” then slice in pieces (3/4-inch thick).
Chef’s tip: These bread “sausage” slices are terrific when browned in a skillet and served with scrambled eggs as brunchy dish.
