Mushroom and Leek Savory Bread Pudding

A few years ago, I had some random chunks of break that were taking up space in my freezer. I had company coming over and it occurred to me to turn that leftover bread in to a casserole or bread pudding of sorts. I am not a big fan of sweet bread puddings, so the savory version seemed like the right course of action.

The bread pudding was a huge hit at that brunch.

Fast forward a few years. I recently found myself planning Shavuot meals. On Shavuot, it is customary to eat dairy meals. I decided to turn back to that bread pudding I made a few years ago. We still love it and I decided to share it here.



Mushroom and Leek Savory Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
4 leeks, cleaned and sliced in to thin rounds
15 oz. baby bella mushrooms
1 tbsp. salt
2 tbsp. fresh tarragon, chopped
1 tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped
3 tsp. ground black pepper
2 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
6 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable broth
2 cups half & half
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 cups cheddar and jack shredded cheese blend
additional salt and pepper
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
3 cups cubed pumpernickel bread, crusts removed
3 cups cubed italian bread, crusts removed
olive oil spray

Directions:


Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Heat up the olive oil and butter in a large sauté pan.

Add in the onions, garlic and leeks and sauté for about 3-5 minutes.


Add in the sliced mushrooms and cook for another few minutes.

Stir in the fresh herbs, salt and pepper and cook another two minutes.

Cook until all of the veggies have softened. Remove from heat and set mixture aside.

While the veggies cook, you can quickly prep the bread cubes and get to work on those.

Spray a large baking sheet with olive oil spray.

Place the bread cubes on the baking sheet and bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the bread cubes start to brown.


Remove from oven and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the eggs, broth, half and half, additional spices, half of the parmesan cheese and half of the shredded cheese.

Add the lightly toasted bread cubes to the egg mixture.

Stir the vegetable mixture into the egg mixture.

Let the mixture sit for about 20 minutes.

Pour the mixture in to a 9"x13" pan.

Sprinkle over the remaining cheeses.

Bake in oven for about 25-30 minutes or until pudding is set and cheese starts to bubble and brown.

Remove from oven and let sit a bit before serving.

Enjoy!

Categories: baked, bread, bread pudding, casserole, cheese, leeks, mushrooms, parmesan, pudding

Mocha Pound Cake

I am slowly conquering my fear of baking cakes from scratch.

I am sheepishly admitting here that in the past, I have been known to simply doctor cake mixes in to creations of my own. I had no idea that it was so easy to create a cake of your own. I've made a few cupcakes here and there, but by and large I have stuck to Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker.

Until last week.

Last week, I made some chocolate brownies from scratch! Whoa! They came together super fast, and actually tasted pretty good! Who knew?

So the other day, when I was working on my chocolate crouton recipe for the Kosher Connection link-up post, I decided to come up with something on my own. I will admit that I did look for a chocolate pound cake at Trader Joe's. I couldn't find it. So I made my own. I decided to turn it in to a mocha pound cake. I was so amazed with the results, I had to share the recipe.



Mocha Pound Cake - (adapted from King Arthur)

Ingredients:


1 stick butter, room temperature
1.5 cups sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tbsp. instant espresso powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
2/3 cup cocoa
2 tbsp. sour cream
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup milk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Coat a loaf pan with cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, baking powder, espresso powder, cocoa, cinnamon and sour cream.

Beat in the eggs slowly.

Add in the flour and milk. Mix well - so that all the ingredients are combined.

Pour the batter in to the loaf pan.

Bake the cake for an hour at 350°F. You may need an additional 5-10 minutes. The cake may be a little moist on top. That's ok. Let the cake cool in the pan for a bit.

Remove the cake from the pan and let cool further.

I turned my cake into croutons. Check it out here!

Categories: baked, cake, chocolate, coffee, dessert, pound cake

Warm Berry Compote with Mocha Pound Cake Croutons and Vanilla Ice Cream

Today's recipe is part of the Kosher Connection link-up. The Kosher Connection is a group of food bloggers who happen to be kosher and are working hard to bring amazing flavors to the kosher community. This month's link-up theme is croutons.

When I first saw the email, I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical. What can I do with croutons that I haven't done before? I've made soup croutons before, and those were pretty awesome. I like croutons in my salad as well. Those have been done before, and I wanted to do something different. My daughter suggested cotton candy croutons. Not sure that's workable. It did lead me on a quest for sweet croutons.

I knew my croutons had to include chocolate. I came up with a mocha pound cake recipe that is perfectly suited for croutons. You can use your own favorite chocolate pound cake recipe or even a store-bought chocolate pound cake.

My original intention was to pair the croutons with a warm pudding dish. As I was discussing this dish with my family this morning, a warm compote was recommended. I've never made compote before, but I warmed up to the idea. I quickly ran over to my fruit & vegetable market and picked up some berries.

While this recipe has a few steps involved, it is totally worth it. This dessert was amazing. Will definitely make this again.




Warm Berry Compote with Mocha Pound Cake Croutons


Warm Berry Compote
Ingredients:

1 cup strawberries
1 cup raspberries
1 cup blackberries
3/4 sugar
juice of one lemon
1 tsp. corn starch mixed with 1 tsp. water


Directions for the Compote:

Place all of the ingredients, except for the corn starch slurry, in a sauce pan on the stove on medium-high.  Stir everything together until the mixture begins to boil.

Once the mixture is boiling, add in the corn starch mixture.

Turn down the heat and keep cooking and stirring. The berries will begin to disintegrate and the mixture will thicken a bit. Cook the compote on medium low for about 10-15 minutes, stirring every so often. Keep the compote on low until you are ready to serve.

Chocolate/Mocha Pound Cake Croutons

Ingredients:

1/2 - prepared and cooled pound cake loaf
baking spray

Directions for the Chocolate Croutons:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cut up the pound cake in to 1-2 inch squares.

Lay the pound cake pieces on a sprayed baking sheet in a single layer.

Bake in the oven for 5-7 minutes. Flip cake squares over and bake another 4-5 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool slightly. You may notice that the cake croutons seem a bit soft when you pull them out of the oven. They will crisp up as they cool.

Serve the berry compote warm with some vanilla ice cream and the yummy chocolate croutons.  Enjoy!

Categories: blackberry, cake, chocolate, dessert, ice cream, raspberry, strawberry, sweet

Asparagus and Leek Fried Rice

We recently spent the day in and around Bucks County, PA. This area that stretches from the New Jersey border, near the Delaware River, is simply beautiful. Filled with beautiful farmland, old homes, and adorable little shops and wineries - there is just so much to see. As we were driving to our destination, we passed by a farm that advertised some fresh asparagus. I love asparagus! I got super excited, but we had somewhere to be. I made note of the sign and hoped that we'd be able to buy some of the good green stuff on our way home.

We stopped by the farm on our way back. At first I was disappointed to see that the place appeared "closed." On closer look though, I noticed a small little shack with open doors that appeared to have farm goods inside. I got out of the car to inspect. They had a small selection of asparagus, herbs, greens and fresh honey available. There was no shopkeeper, but all items were priced and there was a locked box to deposit your money in. Love it! I fished out a few dollars and bought some asparagus! Love this kind of shopping. Further down the road, we stopped at another farm for fresh brown eggs. It was a lovely day!



I was so excited to use this fresh and local asparagus. Earlier that morning, I had picked up some lovely fresh leeks. I love the way leek pairs well with asparagus. I was thinking about just sauteing the two as a side dish, but then it occurred to me to use the vegetables in my main dish.



Asparagus and Leek Fried Rice
Ingredients:

1 tbsp. rice bran oil or canola oil (or any other high heat friendly oil)
1 tsp. sesame oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 tbsp. crushed fresh ginger
8 oz. chicken-style seitan (or protein of your choice)
2 leeks
1 lb. asparagus, cut to 1.5 inch pieces
4 cups cooked and cooled rice
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp.  tamari or soy sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
2 tsp. red pepper flakes

Directions:

Start by cleaning your leeks. Slice them in thin rounds and soak in cold water. The sand and grit will soak to the bottom. Blot dry with a paper towel.

In a large wok or fry pan, heat up the oil.

Add in the garlic, ginger and onion. Cook for about 5 minutes to soften a bit.

Add in the seitan chicken or any protein for that matter.  Cook for two more minutes.

Add in the cleaned and trimmed leeks and asparagus.  Cook for about 3-5 minutes.

Stir in the already cook rice. Mix to incorporate well.

Add in the rest of the seasonings. Cook for another 5-10 minutes, stirring as you go. Taste and add additional seasoning as necessary. I love adding some chili pepper flakes and a squirt of sriracha when I eat it,

This dish is very versatile. Feel free to add other vegetables or change up your protein.

Enjoy!

Categories: asian, asparagus, fried rice, ginger, gluten free, leeks, rice, seitan, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian