Leek Soup – Dina Avila, Photographer

Boy, did this daylight savings throw me off. A touch of insomnia and, I’m embarrassed to admit, an oven left on all night led to a restless (and very warm) sleep and more than a little sleep-in. I won’t tell you what time we woke up this morning, but suffice to say, I feel rested as a result. I wish we could put this daylight savings thing to a vote because I am sure most of the country would want to turn it off for good. On the plus side, a late morning blog shoot brings you this incredible bread pudding.

After scouring the internet for a bread pudding recipe that didn’t involve seemingly pounds of sugar, I turned to one of my favorite cookbooks, Good to the Grain, by Kim Boyce. I’m not sure why I didn’t turn to her book first. I mean, as we know, I always do. Alas, lesson learned and I present you with a bread pudding that Adam and I nibbled on in the wee hours of the night last night. Technically midnight…but for all intents and purposes 1AM. Way past my bedtime….but it was worth it :)

Cheers!

Orange and Rye Bread Pudding

Inspired by Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce

I forgot to pick up whole milk, which the recipe calls for, so I used a
rice/quinoa milk I had on hand. It worked great, but
I’ve listed the whole milk as I think it would have lended a richer custard.

Ingredients:

One loaf day-old rye bread, cubed into one pieces

5 eggs

3 cups whole milk

1/4 cups buttermilk or heavy cream

Zest and juice from two oranges

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 dried cherries

2 tablespoons cold Irish butter, cubed

~

Spread the bread cubes on a baking sheet and place in oven.

Turn oven to 350 and let the cubes gently toast until mostly toasted. About 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk and buttermilk until well combined. Strain into a large bowl.

Stir the orange juice and zest, sugar, nutmeg, sea salt, cherries and 1 tablespoon of the butter into the custard.

Stir the cooled bread into the custard and let soak for about 10 minutes.

Butter a dutch oven or a 10 inch baking dish that’s fairly deep and pour the bread and custard into it.

Dot the second tablespoon of cold butter on top of the pudding.

Place the dutch oven into the oven and bake at 350 for an hour and a half.

Check on it at an hour and if it looks like the bread is starting to burn a little, place a sheet of foil on top of it for the final half hour.

Serve warm or at room temperature.