As the surrender of July approached, we determined out that all over again, the clock changed into ticking for us to offer you with a today's Recipe of the Month. I had severa recipes that I'd marked in cookbooks or pulled out of magazines, but they all could require additives we did not have, so Brian decided he'd just go searching on-line for a dish that might be made with what we had accessible. That would allow him to make it, and me to blog approximately it, this weekend, in preference to pushing that reduce-off date proper all the way down to the ultimate minute.
We had some leeks and mushrooms within the fridge, so Brian determined to search for for leek and mushroom dishes. Many of these had been soups, which we deemed too hot for the climate, or pasta dishes, which we notion had been a touch too easy to in reality remember quantity as a brand new recipe. But eventually he landed on this Leek and Mushroom Bread Pudding recipe, which appeared best. We already had all the substances (with some minor substitutions), and it regarded, at a cursory look, like it could be made in about an hour and a half of. So if we started out early enough, we'd be able to restore it in time for a 5pm dinner on Saturday and nonetheless make it to a three-hitter in Trenton at 7pm.
Unfortunately, whilst Brian commenced out artwork at the recipe on Saturday afternoon, he discovered a few steps in the recipe he'd overlooked earlier than. The pudding didn't without a doubt should bake for 70 to 80 minutes; it required another 20 mins after that to brown, and every other 15 to 20 mins after that to kick back. All informed, it would take extra time to prepare than we had earlier than we had to leave for the game. So he set apart that recipe for Sunday and stuck a attempted-and-actual dish that took simplest 20 minutes to put together.
On Sunday, he made certain to get commenced on the bread pudding with the useful resource of mid-afternoon, knowing that we might must consume round 5pm another time to make it to an early function-gambling pastime consultation. Yet at the equal time as he modified into operating on it, he found out that there were although greater steps in the recipe he'd overlooked; as an instance, the substances have been meant to sit down out for an extraordinary half of-hour to permit the bread take within the milk before the pudding went into the oven. By this time, he'd already finished enough prep work to dedicate himself to the dish, however if he caught to the recipe, by the point it turn out to be done we wouldn't have any time to devour it. So he ended up making some changes to the recipe at the fly to get it finished on time.
Since I've in no way tasted the dish in its true form, I can not say for fine that it tastes absolutely as specific after those adjustments, but I can say that it nonetheless tastes masses top. Even although he baked it at a better temperature and ignored the greater soaking time, it changed into lots moist, and his substitution of whole wheat bread (which become what we had) for
All in all, this is a dish I'd certainly be willing to have again, though I must admit that even in its revised form, it's still rather time-consuming. In future, I might like to experiment with making it in the Crock Pot, so it could cook unattended over the course of the day...though I'm not sure how we could do that without forgoing the final browning step, and it would be a pity to lose that nice golden crust. But even if we have to keep the recipe in its current form, it's worth hanging on to for those lazy winter weekends (when we don't have a ballgame or a role-playing game to rush out to).
Here's Brian's revised version of the recipe:
Leek and Mushroom Bread Pudding
4 cups whole wheat bread, cut into 1/2” cubes
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large leek, diced
½ lb. white button mushrooms, sliced
1½ cups milk (nonfat)
2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
3 large eggs
½ tsp salt
2-3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
4-6 oz. grated Monterey Jack cheese
Prepare a greased 8” x 8” casserole dish.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (or a silicone baking mat) and spread bread cubes out on it. Bake for 10-12 minutes until cubes are slightly browned.
Remove from oven and increase oven temperature to 325 degrees F.
Saute the leeks in 1 Tbsp. olive oil until the leeks are soft and slightly browned. Remove from skillet, add another 1 Tbsp. olive oil, and saute the mushrooms until browned.
In a bowl, beat eggs and add milk, parsley, salt, and cheese.
In another bowl, toss toasted bread cubes with melted butter. Add leeks, mushrooms, and egg mixture and mix carefully. Pour into greased casserole dish. Cover with aluminum foil and allow to sit for five minutes.
Place in oven and bake for 45 minutes at 325 degrees F and 15 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Remove foil and allow to bake for an additional 15 minutes at 350 degrees F. Remove from oven when the top is browned and the pudding is baked through.
Eat.
