Savory Bread Pudding With Mushrooms, Leeks, and Canadian Bacon

This dish started with an inspiration from a restaurant here in Chicago that has since closed. Good thing I took good notes during the few times we had breakfast there! The versions they offered were leek, ham, and Gruyere, as well as one with tomato, bacon, and Cheddar. I think the combinations are really just up to your imagination and your tastes.

The base is just the same as any breakfast casserole or strata that I would make – stale or day-old bread cut into cubes, then soaked in a custard mixture. For these, I wanted to make individual servings in ramekins, so I cut the cubes of bread on the small side so that they would be easy to stuff into the dishes. The custard mixture is about one cup of milk (or half-and-half, if you are in a more celebratory than healthy mood) to three eggs. Depending on the amount of bread you have, you can increase or decrease the amount of custard mixture – just make enough to soak the bread completely. Season with salt and pepper as you would scrambled eggs.

I got a little carried away with ingredients, but I just couldn’t resist. I started with some leeks (one large or two small), rinsed them thoroughly (they have a considerable amount of grit since they grow in sandy soil), and cooked them in some olive oil until they began to soften (a little kosher salt helps this process along). I removed those from the pan and sauteed some sliced cremini mushrooms in butter in the same pan, adding a little salt again, along with some freshly ground black pepper and fresh thyme leaves (thyme and mushrooms is one of my favorite combinations). In addition, I had some Canadian bacon on hand that I really wanted to incorporate.

The best way to bring this all together is to cube your bread into a large mixing bowl, pour over the custard, and mix with your hands. That way, you’ll be able to tell if you made enough custard to soak the bread. You can always whip up a little more egg and milk to add to it, if it seems too dry. Then, mix in your vegetables and/or meat and/or cheese in the same manner (hands) to make sure you evenly distribute – just make sure you let anything you precook to cool a bit before adding it to the mix. I used shredded Gruyere here, along with some Fontina that I needed to use up – make sure you add a nice little handful to the top before you put the bread pudding into the oven for some added browned goodness.

If you bake in (buttered) ramekins, place them on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake at 350 until golden and bubbly (about 20-30 minutes, depending on your oven). If you bake in a (buttered) casserole (like a traditional breakfast strata), it will probably take a little longer; browned and bubbling is the goal.

I get it.

Soufflés are scary.  They are.

Pop culture ruined the soufflé for us with images of deflated cooks serving deflated dishes to deflated guests. Well, I am here to change that. Contrary to public opinion, soufflés are easy, delicious, and do not need to be perfect. However, the world (and the French) have made us American home cooks believe that we are merely setting ourselves up for failure if we try to make a soufflé of any kind. Here’s the best advice I can give you on this matter:

1. Practice on your loved ones. The pizza delivery man is only a phone call away.

2. Follow a good recipe to a tee the first time (the Joy of Cooking has several). Once you are comfortable with the technique, add variations to your heart’s content.

3. All of the ingredients you put into the soufflé taste good together, so even if it isn’t perfectly beautiful, it will be delicious.

The pic above is a souffle I made with Gruyere cheese and frozen spinach, which turned out quite well, I must say, in spite of being a little overcooked. I find savory soufflés more appealing that sweet ones, but anyone who knows me will not be surprised by this. Try making one for a weekend lunch and serve it with a mixed green salad dressed with a simple vinaigrette. A chilled, crisp, un-oaked Chardonnay would be a most welcome accompaniment.

Feel free to post questions here before you start. Knowledge is power in battle soufflé.

Shrimp n' Grits

I don’t know who originally came up with the idea of shrimp and grits for breakfast, but I think it may be one of the most beautiful things you can look forward to in the morning.  There is something familiar about the texture of the grits, even to people who aren’t used to eating grits for breakfast.  For me, it brings me back to the days in my childhood where my mum would go through the extra effort of making cream of wheat for me before school.  Those mornings always seemed so warm and comforting, even if it was an ice storm outside.   The savory grits in this dish, studded with bacon crumbles, take comfort to another level.

As far as the shrimp component is concerned, I have to think that it was just a matter of what some southern American cook had on hand.  Sure, we eat pork and corned beef for breakfast all the time, but why not seafood?  It is kind of about honing your understanding of food origins, and thinking about cooking regionally.  If inland cooks are serving grits with fresh eggs from their chickens and cured bacon from their smokehouses, why wouldn’t low-country cooks serve them with some fresh-caught shrimp?  It is our luck now that these recipes have been distributed so widely, for we have the opportunity to gain the knowledge of cooks from everywhere, and from almost every time (I guess it would be culinary anthropology).  In other words, they did a lot of work in developing recipes, and now we can just enjoy making them.

That said, I am not a huge fan of writing recipes, but I do it when I feel it is warranted.  I am not sure, in this case.  What I bring to this dish is nothing more than a few extra flavorful touches, including bacon in the grits and a good, healthy dose of Old Bay seasoning on the shrimp, which are just sauteed quickly in some olive oil, butter, and garlic and tossed with some freshly chopped parsley at the end.  In the recipe shown in the picture, I left the shrimp shells on, but I highly suggest removing them, as they make for a mess when you eat them.  However, the shells do retain a lot of the seasoning, so if you are making this dish for only yourself or some people who’ll not mind sticky, gritsy fingers, go for it.

If readers are interested in more details about how to make this dish, I’ll be happy to post an official recipe.  Just let me know!

WOW!  What a great response!  Here’s the recipe, kids!  If you have questions, let me know.