Freelance Friday: Pumpkin Pecan Bread Pudding

Need I say more? Really, I mean, who doesn't like bread pudding? It's gooey, crunchy, sweet, custardy, creamy, soft with a hint of tart. It's all things lovely baked into bready goodness, topped with cold cream and dreamy caramel love. If I sounds like I'm gushing, it's cause I am. It's a dessert that I forget about 9 months out of the year and then fall hits me and then I find every reason I can to incorporate butter and cream and carbohydrates into my daily diet. And then I remember the frozen baguettes I had tucked away in my freezer awaiting their fate as bread crumbs or croutons. But this time their demise was much more splendid. It dawned on me today that it is indeed bread pudding season. And what better a way to enjoy it than to cram it together with this seasons other favored dessert, pumpkin pie.
When I was little my mom used send me on bread pudding missions. She'd give me a few dollars to run down to Jean's Deli and get her some of their bread pudding. It was pretty traditional, hint of cinnamon lots of raisins, pipping hot with cold cream poured over top. I remember having to hurry home so the cream would still be cold and the pudding still warm when she ate it. I never understood why, at the time. What's all the hype over this mushy bread soaked with milk? I'd fill my pockets with penny candy (which soon changed to two penny and then nickle candy) and then run home, not even thinking to stop and sneak bites of the sweet treasure encased in that styrofoam takeout box.
Latter on in life Jean's Deli expanded and changed locations and mom took me there for lunch. We of coarse had the pudding and a flood of regret hit me. All those times I devotedly ran back to my mother with her untouched goods, I could have been hiding in the bushes, disassembling the pudding, figuring out ways to eat as much of it as possible without her noticing half the insides where missing. It was for the best, I'm sure. But still to this day I can't make bread pudding without thinking of mom, and, of coarse, bringing her at least two pieces.
The recipe I've adapted for bread pudding leaves you with a less-sweet bread, to compliment the cold cream and sweet caramely topping. The key is to use high quality dense bread with a hearty crust, such as a levain. If your bread is fresh, let it get stale for a day before starting your pudding, this lessens the soggy factor and helps the bread cubes hold their structure. I like to add nuts for some added texture, and instead of raisins I went with dried blueberries. This recipe brings together all the fall flavors of pumpkin pie with all the glory that is bread pudding...

Pumpkin Pecan Bread Pudding
Serves at least 8


1 Hearty baguette (cut into 1" cubes)
2C Half and Half
5 Fresh eggs
1 can Pumpkin puree
1C Brown sugar
1/2C Maple syrup
2t Pumpkin pie spice
1/2t cinnamon
A few grates of fresh nutmeg
1/2t salt
4T melted butter
1C chopped pecans (lightly toasted)
1C dried blueberries

One batch Chai Spiced Rum Sauce

Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients, excluding bread, butter, pecans and blueberries, in a large bowl, wisk well to incorporate (a blender will make short work of this, but do not over blend, you don't want mixture to get foamy). In same bowl, add remaining ingredients, mix well. Allow to soak for 10-15 min, less depending on how stale or tough your bread is. Spray or lightly butter a 9x13 in. baking dish. When bread is finished soaking pour melted butter over mixture and incorporate just to coat. Fill baking dish with bread mixture, pat down and smooth it out just a bit. Bake for 45-55 min. It should appear slightly puffed and browned and a tooth pic should come out clean.
Let cool for at least 15 min. before serving. Serve in a bowl with cool cream or half and half and a hefty drizzle of Chai Spiced Rum Sauce...

Shiny little threesome

These are my finds of the week.

Think cream puffs...

Freelance Friday: Asparagus and Chevre Tart

So, I thought I'd start this thing. Well, actually, I was asked to start this thing, where I spend my Friday freelancin' in my own kitchen. It's a little something for both of us to share. I'll go first... Then you show me how it went for you... okay?

Today I finally made the tart I've been planning on making since Sunday. Most people would call this a quiche, and it basically is. I call it a tart because I make a thinner version in a 1" tart pan instead of a 2 1/2" pie dish. Either way works out just fine, but my recipe won't fill a pie dish.
























Tarts are one of those things that have endless possibilities. From the simplest combinations of Swiss cheese and wilted spinach to roasted sweet corn and Dungeness crab. Start with a good crust, always use fresh eggs and cream and get creative!

Asparagus and Chevre Tart
serves 4-6

1c Heavy cream
1c 2% milk
5 Farm fresh eggs
1c Asparagus (chopped on bias)
4 Slices thick cut bacon
1/4c Chopped scallions
1/4c Chevre (fresh, soft goat cheese)
1/2t Salt
Fresh ground pepper
Fresh grated nutmeg

One batch pate brisee

Prepare pate brisee, allow to chill for one hour before rolling.
Combine cream, milk, salt, pepper and nutmeg in a heavy bottom sauce pan, just till simmering, turn off immediately. In a blender, pure eggs, then slowly incorporate cream mixture, this will be your tart custard.
Roll out dough and arrange in a tart pan, blind bake with pie weights at 350 for 15 min.(I use a layer of parchment fitted snugly against dough, filled with dried beans, works great!). Remove pie weights and prick bottom of tart with a fork, return to oven for 5 min.
While baking your tart shell, chop bacon into bite-size pieces and crisp up in a hot pan, place on paper towel when crisp to cool and drain fat.
When shell is finished, you can start adding your fillings. Layer in the asparagus, scallions and bacon, then crumble chevre evenly over top. Carefully pour in custard to fill. Bake at 350 for 40-50 min, or until evenly puffed and browned.

Let me know how yours turns out!

My day as an 87 year old...

I started at 4:00 this morning, fumbling through the medicine cabinet. I know I have some leftover antibiotics from the dentist a few months back. Where’s the Echinacea? Damn! I finished that weeks ago. Oh, please tell me I still have some Tylenol around here. I just can’t remember where I put anything.

I have a double ear infection, my lungs are wheezing like I’ve been smoking for the last 30 years, I threw my back out lifting jugs of oil and can’t bend over without involuntarily muttering some sort of groaning sound. My Honda won’t start, so I’m forced to fire up my retired VW bus, which I haven’t driven in a year and a half. A little bit of tinkering and she came too. I love my old bus, but she tops out at about 45mph maybe 50, 30 on hills. Our drive to pre-school was all laughs, no radio and no heater, we played the ‘watch your frozen breath float out the window’ game.

My hearing loss, due to the infection, has caused me to ask everyone to repeat themselves, and when I ask them “What?” or “Can you say that again?” I’m actually yelling it because I can’t even hear the sound of my own voice. I came to work with a pocket full of vitamins and various pills thinking I would remember what was what. Now I know why oldies have those pill boxes with times and days of the week on them.

Now I'm wearing slippers.


I think I need some tea, and tapioca.

Umph…

Orange.

It's my new favorite color.

My cinnamon fetish

Have I mentioned this? Have you heard? Yes, it's true. I have, as of late, a complete infatuation with all things cinnamon. I recently stayed up until 12:30 in the a.m just to make cinnamon rolls (thank you Orangette for the inspiration).

Cinnamon, I want you on and in everything, especially if there's butter or maple syrup for you to cozy up next to. A conjugal visit, of sorts, a blissful conjoining of spicy, creamy, sappy sweet love. I won't watch, I swear. But I promise I will lick the plate clean of you when your done. I just can't help myself, I'm crazed. Most women go bonkers over chocolate. Not me. Nope. I only have eyes for you, cinnamon.


Luckily, for me, it's pretty easy to get a four year old on board with having breakfast for dinner. Delighted in my new affair, I decided to conjure up a batch of baked french toast, laden with cinnamon, of course.
Along with cinnamon, french toast is something I've always had a crush on. It's my go to breakfast item whenever I have company, and a favorite when eating at greasy diners before noon, ya just can't go wrong. This is a recipe I've adapted from an America's Test Kitchen cookbook. Baking french toast brings a whole new purpose for maple syrup. They turn out fluffed and moist with a thin, sweet crunchy shell. It's never dry or too dense, which are both common issues with the traditional pan grilled style french toast. It's really the method I'm wanting to highlight here, the flavors and ingredients can easily be tweaked to please any palate. Just don't forget the CINNAMON!

Baked French Toast
serves 4 or so

8 slices of a hearty white bread or french bread
6 large brown eggs
3/4c cream(milk is ok if your looking for a lighter version)
1 1/2t cinnamon
7 grates or so of fresh nutmeg
1 T pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c grade b maple syrup
2 T light oil, safflower or canola

Set oven to 300. Arrange bread slices on a sheet pan and put in oven to dry, about 10 min. per side, this allows bread to soak up more of the egg batter without getting too soggy, set aside to cool about 4 min. before continuing.

Mix eggs, cream, vanilla, 1/2t cinnamon, nutmeg, salt in a shallow dish (a 13x9 Pyrex works well). Whisk well until fully incorporated. Two at a time, dip cooled bread into batter, turning to coat both sides, about a 20-30 second soak. Place battered bread on a cooling rack set inside a sheet pan, to allow all excess batter to drip off.
Meanwhile, crank the oven up to 425, spread oil on a sheet pan and set in oven to heat, just till oil starts to smoke, about 4 min. When pan has heated, arrange bread on sheet quickly, give each one a little giggle to spread oil underneath. Put in oven to cook first side for about 10 min.
At this point you'll want to mix brown sugar and remaining maple syrup and cinnamon in a bowl to make a nice crumbble topping for bread. After 10 min. remove bread, flip each slice over and top with crumble mix, place back in oven to finish, about 6-8 min more. Let toast cool for a few minutes before serving, I like to top each with a pad of butter while they're still hot.

These really don't need much more. You may find you want a slight drizzle of maple syrup over top, but the addition of the brown sugar crumble really adds a good kick of crunchy sweetness. These are the perfect candidate for a dollop of fresh tart yogurt, to balance out they're ambrosial maple topping.

Enjoy!

Squash part duex

I wanted to take just a minute to share with you an even more delectable recipe for the buttercup squash I so raved about in my last post. Having roasted it a couple nights ago, the uneaten leftovers of my squash have been sitting lonely in their little tinfoil jacket, waiting for me to find some inspiration, and time, to turn them into something even lovelier. Two things came to mind when I was pondering the fate of my sweet little buttercups: the fresh sage in my garden and the fresh ripened raw milk cheese I was gifted last week from my friend Vicki (btw, she's amazing and I'll get to that some other day). I wanted soup! It was cold, I'd just started the first fire of the season and I wanted cozy food. Something I could snuggle up next to and sip with the fire. Something that would smell, taste and feel like the season that was upon us. So this is my cozy, warm, sweet, salty, creamy, smooth, hint-of-spice welcome to winter soup.

Sweet Onion and Buttercup Soup
will serve a hefty serving to four

1 medium sweet onion (small dice)
3T butter
2T fine chopped fresh sage
1T fine chopped fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
pinch of red pepper flakes, or a dash of your favorite hot sauce
3C vegetable stock, or so (please, pretty please, use homemade stock)
1C whole milk or half and half (this you can easily omit, just replace with more stock)
1/2 medium roasted buttercup squash, peeled and cut into 1 in. chunks (see previous post for instructions)

Melt butter in a heavy bottom stock pot, when bubbly and slightly browned add onions and herbs. Allow this to caramelize on medium heat till browned, 7-10 min. Add peeled squash, stir briefly, then add stock one cup at a time (you may not need all suggested liquid, or you may need more). Add milk until you've reach a desired creaminess, allow to simmer on med-low for 10 min. to allow flavors to meld. At this point you have a pretty chunky soup, you can do one of two things. If your wanting a very silky smooth texture, pour soup into a blender to puree for a minute or two. If your cool with a bit of chunkiness, mostly onions at this point, give it a quick whip with an immersion blender.
If your squash is already roasted, this can easily be a 20 minute soup.

I was lucky enough to have on hand some of the best fresh cheese on earth for my garnish, but creme fraiche, fromage blanc or even a nice parmigiana would suit just fine...

Patience

It seems I have misplaced mine. That is, the ability to be patient. That envious little ability to wait for something, anything, that takes times to be enjoyed. It's something I've always known, that I lack this characteristic. But I think, not because I want to, or even have to, I've decided to come to grips with my flaw.
I know now, that had I owned just an ounce of patience, the roof of my mouth would not be burnt from the pizza I decided to shove in my mouth mere seconds from taking it out of the oven. I also know that I would have been more comfortable for the first few hours of my day had I just let my wet jeans dry for that 10 extra minutes. Looking closer to a few other glitches I've found in the complexity of my personality, I've discovered something. Is patience, or the lack there of, at root of some of my most mindless flaws. Was I too lazy to do the dishes this evening? Or, was it my lack of patience that urged me to pass them up and crawl into bed instead? Was I irresponsible for not paying that phone bill on time? Or, was I too impatient to spend time going over bills because the front page picture of Bon Appetite with it's mouth watering Steak Frite was calling my name so loud I just couldn't wait to push my bills aside and dive in?
I suppose the answer to these questions is really not important. I hope in the acceptance of my shortcomings I'll begin to recognize it. It'll be one those life long personal journeys, "learning to wait", like staying sober or learning to paint. Perhaps there's group help out there, I.A: Impatience Anonymous. Ya! It'll go something like this:
Hi, my name is Kari, and I'm impatient. This is my first day being patient, it was tough, I relapsed a few times, but I'm still feeling strong. My biggest accomplishment was waiting a an entire hour for my squash to cook (wow!).
Ok, enough of my ranting, I can't wait to tell you about this squash!
Buttercup. NOT Butternut . Buttercup is a stout, green and grey, sometimes yellow, warty looking little slice of heaven. Sweet orange flesh, slightly sweeter than butternut, but smooth, oh sooo smooth. The texture is like whipped potatoes, not stringy or grainy, just smooth. Perfectly moist, with crispy roasted bits to add just that perfect hint of crunch. Really, I could go on forever. I've been waiting in anticipation for for these little gems to come popping up in the market, and finally! I had mine this evening as dessert. I mean, I prepared it in it's usual fashion but I ate it as my sweet/salty finish to my chips and salsa dinner. PERFECT!

Roasted Buttercup

One buttercup squash (they range in size from large softball to basketball, i prefer mine on the small side)
1/4 C Water or so
2-3 T butter
Kosher salt

400 degree oven
Cut squash into equal sized pieces, either quartered or halved. Rub edges with a bit of butter (evoo would work just as well). Sprinkle with desired amount of salt, place in a roasting pan (glass works will, I use a clay pie dish). Pour water in bottom of pan just to cover, enough to create a bit of steam during cooking. Cover pan with a tin foil tent and set to cook for about an hour. Just like a potato, when finished your fork should pierce the flesh without hesitation. You can remove the tent during the end of cooking to crisp up the edges. Peel away skin before eating.

Now...

Wait for it...

ENJOY