It started with the Yorkshire puddings. I was having so much fun with them, I'd completely forgotten there was half a loaf of very good jalapeño-cheese bread sitting quietly on the counter -- going stale. Well, to paraphrase a bumper sticker: When Life hands you stale bread -- make bread pudding!That was my project yesterday. Not just any bread pudding, you understand. I wasn't in the mood for dessert-style noshing. A hearty savory bread pudding was what tongue and tummy were calibrated for and that's what we were gonna have. What I found didn't quite fit my F.E.D. (fast.easy.delicious) criteria in that the whole operation was far from fast. It did qualify on the "easy" and "delicious" points, however, so I let it pass.
I'm not going to give you the recipe here. Better you go to Chuck Taggart's place and print off your copy. It'll take two pages but it's not so overwhelming if you break it all down into small segments. I took my time doing each little bit, stopping for a cuppa now and then or to read a chapter in a library book. No hurries, no worries. At that rate, it took me the better part of the afternoon and it was 7:30 p.m. before I had a portion loaded on my plate. None too soon, either. I was a regular starvin' marvin by then. Sometimes I forget to eat, you see, even when I'm fixing food, and then, when I realize what I've done, the meal is so close to being ready that I don't want to spoil my appetite.
I'll tell you something -- Mr. Taggert suggests using a 9 x 13" baking pan for this. His 9 x 13 must be a fair sight bigger than mine because there was no way in half of hell this much good stuff was going to be squeezed into that much space. And that was after I used smaller amounts of some of the ingredients! (I only used 3 cups of milk and 7 eggs.) I ended up hauling out my small roasting pan -- and that was just barely big enough to do the job. This would be a great main dish to serve if you're having company for dinner.
Full and content after partaking of the result of toiling in the culinary fields, I curled up with the library book, planning on doing this post when I finished it. There wasn't that much more to read. I guess there also wasn't that much gas left in the tank. I closed the book on the final paragraph and promptly went to sleep.
That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
7 comments:
That sounds pretty meaty, matey. It's a new departure from bread pudding for me and I'm going to study it closely -- any way of saving stale bread is my friend!
If you're not familiar with it, Dee, have a look at British recipes for 'bread pudding' and 'bread and butter pudding'. Both sweet and designed for desert, the first is a heavy, rich, dark cake. The second is a world class dessert on a par with and related to creme anglais; if the recipe doesn't call for marmalade to be spread on the bread before cooking it's a dud.
What in the world will you do with the rest of this delicious dish? It will take a month to eat it all, won't it? It is interesting. Personally, I am wondering if that sort of stale bread might not be made into French toast, but only a few slices at a time? (Stash the rest in the freezer for later on.) You probably know that Pain perdu, or lost bread is the way the French came up with how to use stale bread.
I'll keep the recipe filed in case I need to feed and army. LOL
Ava
I don't care how good a book or magazine or even newspaper is. I fall asleep when I read! Of course now days I fall asleep watching TV. Thank heavens the food channel has re-runs. :-)
How about pointing your camera off your deck so I can see what the hillsides look like now? lol
There's only two of us here, so will you see if that freezes well for us, please. It sounds like a good fit here......despite having 7 eggs.
Oh, John. Now you've done it. I am up to my knees in Brit bread pud recipes -- and all the assorted arguments about what's authentic and what isn't. (grin)
Ava, yes, French toast is a lovely way to use stale bread but not, I think, if it's jalapeño-laden. Another good route is making seasoned croûtons, which is what I was going to do before getting sidetracked with The Monster.
Bonnie, the hills look the same now as they did when you were here.
Mage, I certainly will be freezing what's left of The Monster. Today, I think. It was nice not having to cook yesterday while doing football, and it was nice for breakfast this morning but I believe I'm ready for a change of pace. (smile) By the way, for some reason your message doubled so I dumped the duplicate, okay?
Whatcha reading?
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