Savory Bread Pudding

I am enticed by all things British. Lush landscapes, perfect gardens, historic churches, little villages, narrow lanes, and manor houses. Of course we learned to love tea the first time we were in England.  The meals we had were wonderful. I don't understand why British food is panned. A quick supper Mr. C  loves is Beans on Toast.  I always keep a can of Heinz Vegetarian Beans in the cupboard for when I need a quick 5 minute meal.  The U.S. version. The British version of doesn't have enough vinegar to suit.


One dish I have never tasted is Bread Pudding.  It is a concoction of eggs, dry bread, cream, and most often made with fruit, vanilla and sugar. The bread that need using up was a few slices of frozen round herb bread. I am an adventuresome eater, but sage and thyme wouldn't make a very palatable bread pudding.  I found this recipe for Savory Bread Pudding with Mushrooms and Parmesan Cheese and adapted it for our Saturday afternoon meal.

Savory Bread Pudding

3-4 slices of crusty herb bread, cubed
a little olive oil for toasting
 
2 Tbs. butter
4 ounces fresh mini bella mushrooms, diced
4-6 Tbs. onion, finely chopped
4-6 Tbs.  celery, sliced
4 slices Morningstar breakfast strips, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely diced
freshly ground sea salt and pepper

1 1/4-1/2 cupa 1% organic milk
1/2 cup powdered skim milk
3 large eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
Cayenne pepper to taste
1/3 cup asiago cheese finely grated

Cut bread into small cubes.  Heat olive oil in wok. 

Put bread cubes in the wok and toss to coat with oil.  

Heat and toss until bread is toasted on several sides.

Prepare vegetables and breakfast strips.

Melt butter in skillet.

Saute mushrooms, onion, celery and breakfast strips in butter until soft.  

Add finely diced garlic to warm. 

Toss vegetables with toasted bread.  

Place in an oiled dish.

Mix together milk, eggs and salt. Add cayenne pepper to taste. 

Pour over bread-vegetable mixture covering most of the bread. 

Top with grated Asiago cheese.

I baked this at 350 about 15 minutes,  

turned down the temperature to 300 . . .

and went for a walk with Sweet Girl and Mr. C.  

The bread pudding baked about an hour total.  

It would normally bake at one temperature for about 45 minutes. 

Mr. C likes toasty food, 

but I would prefer a thicker layer of pudding baked a smaller dish. 

Sweet Girl was ready to eat too.

Winging It

I needed to make bread today. I wanted a recipe that could be made with ingredients on hand, and not expensive ingredients such as eggs, milk, butter. Now doesn't bread made with eggs, milk and butter sound devine?  Challah? Sweet Rolls?  The buttermilk in the fridge needed to be used so I made Buttermilk White Bread. The aroma is wonderful!

Buttermilk White Bread

           2 cups Buttermilk
1/3 - 2/3 cups Water
          2 Tbs.  Butter
          6 cups  Bread Flour
          3 Tbs.  Sugar
          1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
           2 tsp.   Salt
           1 Tbs.  Yeast

In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer bowl, mix dry ingredients: bread flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.  Mix well.  Dissolve yeast in 1/3 cup warm water.  Warm buttermilk and melt butter.  Add liquids to dry ingredients and mix well adding water or flour as needed to make a soft (not sticky) dough.  If kneading by hand, turn on to floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.  Using dough hook, knead in stand mixer until smooth and elastic.

Let rise until double.  Degas gently and shape into loaves.  Cover lightly to keep dough from drying, and let rise until almost double.

Bake at 375F about 30 minutes.

This recipe made 3lbs. 8 oz. of dough. Yield  two 1 lb. 4oz. loaves and one 1 lb. loaf.

Supper

I made a casserole from these things in the fridge that needed to be used up. There isn't a recipe, I make it up as I go along. Adjust the ingredients to your liking.

Cheesy Rice and Vegetables

Onion
Garlic
Celery
Carrot
Mushrooms
Eggplant
Zucchini
Red Pepper
Corn
Tomato Paste
Prime Patty w/sauce (veggie)
Sour Cream
Basil
Thyme
Cayenne Pepper
Salt
Pepper
Rice (from Sunday)

The vegetables were diced small, softened in olive oil and seasoned. Tomato paste added to the skillet and saute until it begins to stick to the skillet.  Add sauce from Prime Patty and enough water to deglaze the skillet.  Mix in cheese. Reserve a little for the top of the casserole. Bake at 350F until bubbly and cheese is brown.

As long as the oven was on, I baked the last of the Pineapple Cookies and frosted with the last of the Cream Cheese Frosting.

Everything was good!  I'll try to do better with pictures.  Today was a bit of a hurry to go vote before the polls closed.