Mayhem is Almost Over! Bread Pudding Part II

Yes, I know Taneasha posted Bread Pudding on Friday, but this isn’t the same thing at all. Bread pudding is one of those infinitely flexible dishes, like my biscuits or Taneasha’s baked potato. You can do just about anything with them.

Case in point: She cleaned out her fancy baking ingredient cupboard, and I dug wild things out of the dirt.

Recipe Guy and I got a ton of wild onions when we went digging in the yard, and that was just from one bunch. There were bunches all over the place. Until Mowing Man drove the John Deere into the front pasture, that is. Dammit. There goes the free food. Technically, it’s still there, but it’s no longer likely to reproduce and it’s a lot harder to spot. I mean, something that looks like this:

Kinda hard to miss.

When it’s hacked down to ground level? Not so much. Oh well, there were still berries in the back of the house and at the base of the power pole out front. Not to mention the herb garden. Herb gardens are lovely, fragrant, perennial and self-seeding. Very handy and very low maintenance if you’re looking for something to pretty up the front yard.  

And of course, you always have fresh herbs on hand. Like the dill we used in this recipe.  (No, there’s no dill in the pic above, the dill is on the other side and I don’t seem to have a pic of that side. You’ll just have to trust me that it’s there.)

Savoury Bread Pudding

What You Need:

• 1 large bunch of spinach
• 2-3 slices of cooked bacon
• 1 shallot or a few wild onions
• 1 tbsp bacon fat, butter, or olive oil
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
• 4 eggs (or equivalent)
• 1 c cream
• 3 c bread, chopped or torn into chunks
• 1 c grated cheese

What You Gotta Do:

You’ll want your spinach clean and ready to go before you heat the pan. The best way to get rid of any remaining dirt on the spinach is to put it in a sink full of cold water. The leaves will float, the dirt will sink. Plus, if your spinach is starting to look a little old and limp, a few ice cubes and a teaspoon of vinegar added to the water will perk it up nicely.

Once you’ve rinsed and dried your spinach leaves, stack a few of them on top of each other

and roll them up.

This works best if you put the biggest ones on the bottom. Now that you’ve got a nice little spinach burrito, slice it. Lovely shredded leaves. This technique works for any leafy green, from tender basil to mature romaine.

Dice the onions (or shallot, if you don’t happen to have wild onions in your yard) and the bacon, and drop them into a pan over medium heat. We started the pan with a tbps or so of bacon fat in it, but you could easily replace that with butter or olive oil.

It’ll take a few minutes for the onions to soften and the bacon to start sizzling again. Add the spinach and dill to the pan.

Cook until it's nice and wilted.

Assembling the pudding can be done any way you’d like.

Mix the bread, veggies and cheese all together; keep them separate, in layers;  any way you’d like… We mixed the bread and veg.

Any kind of bread will work for a pudding. A dense whole grain rye, a crusty baguette, or as we used, the soft centre bits pulled out of a giant loaf that we turned into a mufalletta sammich. Each will give the pudding a slightly different flavour and texture, and each is perfect for a savoury bread pudding.

Whisk together the eggs and cream.

The ingredient list says 4 eggs, but I had some egg whites in a container, so I used 3 eggs and the whites. Any combination will work, as long as you have the volume of about 4 eggs.

The custard for this pudding is pretty much exactly like the custard you’d use for a sweet bread pudding, only difference is in the seasoning. Taneasha used sweet vanilla, I added some nice hot cayenne.

Sugar and Spice, that’s what this is all about. ;)

Put half of the bread and veg mixture in the very well buttered small casserole dish and start sprinkling on the cheese.

Until it looks kinda like this:

Then the other half of the bread and veg mixture.

Now pour on the spicey custard (really, I’m so used to heat in my food that the tiny dash of cayenne wasn’t even discernable to me, but others noticed it, so I’m calling it spicey). The custard will soak into the bread, but you should have enough custard that it completely saturates the bread and squishes out if you poke it.

And then top with the rest of the cheese.

After it bakes in a 350 degree oven for about 50-60 minutes, a piece of spaghetti stuck in the middle will come out nearly clean (spaghetti’s longer than a toothpick and lets you actually test the centre) and the pudding will be golden brown and nicely puffed up.

The puff will soften as it cools, but it shouldn’t fall too much. If you’re planning on serving this to guests, I recommend doing it warm, fresh out of the oven while it’s still impressive and fluffy. It goes perfectly for dinner with a green salad, or as the centrepiece of a casual brunch.

For us, it was a handy little lunch that used up the almost wilted spinach.

It’s also the perfect thing to eat by the forkful right out of the fridge as you’re trying to decide what to have for a snack.

What do you eat straight from the container as you stand with the fridge door open?

Moving Mayhem - Bread Pudding Edition

Well, it’s really happening.  The move is finally here.  But before we go, I need to use up some of my special ingredients.  I just can’t bring myself to throw something like vanilla beans in the trash.  After much thought, I decided bread pudding would be a great means of emptying my cupboards. 

Here's what you'll need:

4 large croissants
2 eggs
2 cups half and half
1 ½ cups vanilla sugar
1 vanilla bean
1 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon brown rice syrup
½ teaspoon salt

Although I highly recommend having these ingredients on hand, I understand that you may not have all of them.  If you don’t have vanilla sugar, you can certainly make it for next time.  Just save the used vanilla bean, let it dry, and put it in a container with some sugar.  If you don’t have a vanilla bean, you’ll just have to go buy one… or I guess you could make a different flavor of bread pudding.

Ok, let’s get this show on the road.  First thing you need to do is butter the bottom and sides of a square pan.  8 or 9 inch will work just fine. 

Next, preheat the oven to 350°.  Then, tear your croissants into smallish pieces.

When you’ve done them all, it should look something like this:

Next comes the custard.  Crack two eggs into a mixing bowl or you can use a 4 cup measuring cup like me. 

Beat the eggs slightly, add the half and half, sugar, salt and vanilla extract, and whisk until you have little bubbles on top.  Then add the syrup. 

More whisking, then finally, the fun part… the vanilla bean.  With a sharp knife, slice it lengthwise down the middle. 

With the back side of your knife (not the sharp part) open one half of the pod and scrape out the seeds. 

Set the other half aside for now.  Plop the vanilla seeds into your egg mixture. 

Whisk whisk whisk!  You’ll see the seeds mostly separate.  Little clumps will probably remain, but don’t fret. 

Now for the spices.  First comes the nutmeg.  Freshly grated only please. 

Seriously, don’t use the pregrated stuff in a bottle.  You can get a nutmeg grater rather inexpensively, and then you’ll always have good nutmeg on hand.  The stuff in the bottle loses its flavor so quickly, but the whole nuts are good for just about ever. 

Last but not least is the cinnamon.  This is another thing that loses its flavor quickly, but the good stuff you can’t grind yourself, so just buy it frequently.  If you can find it in bulk, it’s a good way to get it.  Whisk one last time, getting everything incorporated and pour it over your croissant pieces. 

Press down so that every piece gets a chance to absorb all of that vanilla goodness. 

Into the oven it goes for 35 – 40 minutes.  When I finally looked up from what I was doing, I was met by this precious site. 

We’ve finally left the snow behind (I think) and Otto isn’t taking one moment of sunshine for granted.  So, I’m probably biased, but I could just look at that cutie pie all day.  Ok, back to bread pudding.  When it’s done, it should be nice and golden brown on top and a knife inserted into the center should come out clean.

Allow it to cool for at least 20 minutes before cutting.  You can even cool it completely, refrigerate it, and serve it cold.  Either way is fabulous.  While it’s cooling, let’s start on the vanilla bean whipped cream.  Pour 1 tablespoon of sugar onto a plate.  With the back of your knife, scrape the seeds from the remaining vanilla bean half and add it to the sugar.

With a fork, smoosh them together.  (yes, smoosh is a technical term)     

In a glass measuring cup, measure one cup of heavy cream and add the vanilla/sugar mixture. 

Whip until you get stiff peaks.  (Is it only romance writers whose minds go instantly into the gutter with a phrase like that?) 

Look at all those little vanilla seeds in there.  Isn’t it pretty?  Now, cut your bread pudding into squares and serve with a dollop of whipped cream and some chopped nuts.  I had pistachios I needed to use up. 

Take a bite and be swept away to vanilla heaven.  Nothing beats the flavor of real vanilla beans. 

So, if you were moving, and had to give up everything in your kitchen, which of your ingredients would you be sure to use up?