This week’s recipe for Cook the Book Fridays comes from Dorie Greenspan’s cookbook, Everyday Dorie. Savory Bread Pudding wasn’t top of my “to make” list from this book (not a fan of sweet bread pudding) but hey, when you are working yoru way through the book, you do what you need to, right?
In fact, this was more like a strata than a bread pudding. Bread pudding in my mind (and bear in mind that I don’t make/ eat it a lot) is more, well, bready while this was more eggy – like a crustless quiche with bread in it. I made 1/4 of the recipe to serve 2 and the amount of bread 1/4 of the recipe called for (approx 60g or one small slice) felt like nowhere near enough to soak up the amount of liquid (about 3/4 cup) – especially as I didn’t read the recipe far enough in advance and wasn’t going to have enough time to let the dish sit for an hour before it baked (so it wouldn’t soak up as much liquid anyway) so I doubled the bread and it seemed like a good ratio. I used stale spelt bread that we had in the freezer and the sturdiness stood up to the short soak and the bread didn’t go mushy in the baking process.
The ingredient that makes this dish stand out (and quite, frankly, makes it) are the caramelized onions – for sure they add a lot of cook time to this dish (that, if you make the full amount, takes close to an hour to bake on its own, plus the “stand” time) but it does really amp up the flavour. I made this dish vegetarian – there is the option to add ham or bacon which, for me would make this a complete breakfast dish (with maybe some tomatoes?).
Result: a tasty, if a little odd (Neil’s words) dish that I don’t know I would pair with roast chicken again – with a salad, sure, for a light lunch or supper. Anyway… it’s always good to try new things, right?
Get the recipe for Savory Bread Pudding on p 237 of Dorie Grenspan’s Everyday Dorie.
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Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of “Everyday Dorie” for review purposes. I was not asked to write about the book, nor am I being compensated for doing so. All opinions 100% my own.
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This dish did have a lot of steps and wait time. Caramelizing the onions took almost an hour for me. When cutting down a recipe it probably is hard to get all the ratios right but kudos to you for making it for only 2, it was a lot of work I am sure.
The bread pudding made with bacon and eggs sounds like the breakfast I want to eat. Great suggestion! But you’d have to find the time to caramelize the onions.
Sounds like we had similar experiences haha! Good to try but not a favorite.
I futzed around with it a bit to make it taste more like thanksgiving stuffing, and we thought it was quite good. I like this thought to add bacon or sausage to make it a breakfast thing.
STUFFING flavour? <3