Strawberry Bread Pudding

 

Greetings all!  As promised, I have some recipes and other foodie items from the past few weeks to share.  Let me begin with the dessert I made for Doc's birthday.

Doc and I have spent some serious time at Foster's Market in Durham.  In fact, that's where we met for our first date.  I remember each of us getting coffee and a cookie that February afternoon, and I just sat there thinking, if this guy enjoys Foster's even half as much as I do, this could be a very good thing.  Well, over a year later, we're frequenting Foster's as often as possible for its good food, fun atmosphere, and constant invitation to sit back and relax.

I'd say our favorite time to go is on a Sunday.  Since we go to Summit on Saturday afternoons, we have all of Sunday to do whatever we'd like.  And Foster's we like.  With a laptop and iPad under his arm and a bag of full of papers to grade on my shoulder, we order up some sort of feast from the brunch menu, a menu that never disappoints, be it a bowl of grits, a breakfast burrito or the chef's brunch special.  One day I ordered a scoop of the bread pudding du jour for Doc to try.  I'm almost positive it was strawberry, but as we've had so many scoops at this point, I can't remember.  I've got Doc hooked, and so I knew that making him strawberry bread pudding for his birthday dessert would be a hit.

As the original recipe indicates, this dish is certainly breakfast-worthy, but in now way limited to pre-noon hours.  You can use whatever fruit you'd like, even a combination of fruits if you wish (Foster's lists blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, pitted cherries, sliced peaches, nectarines, or plums as possibilities).  I did add some sugar to the custard, but if your chosen fruit is sweet enough already, you could just rely on the glaze to sweeten things up.  And since I served this to only four people, I halved the recipe and used an 8x8 baking dish.  But if you're serving a crowd, the orginal portion will be perfect.

 

Strawberry Bread Pudding
adapted from Foster's Market Sweet Fruit-Full Breakfast Bread Pudding

Bread Pudding
Butter for greasing the baking dish
2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
2 cups half and half
6 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup granulated sugar
6 cups 1 1/2 inch cubes of day-old French bread
2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced

Buttery Glaze
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with butter or spray with vegetable oil spray.
2. Stir the buttermilk, half-and-half, eggs, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the bread cubes and let them sit in the liquid for 10 to 15 minutes, until the bread is soft and has absorbed almost all the liquid. Add the fruit and stir gently to combine. Pour the bread into the buttered baking dish, making sure to get all the liquid out of the bowl.
3. Cut a sheet of aluminum foil large enough to cover the baking dish and grease it with butter and place it, buttered side down, over the baking dish. Bake the bread pudding for 1 hour. Uncover and bake for 15 to 20 minutes more, until the top of the bread pudding is golden brown and crispy.
4. While the bread pudding is baking, whisk the butter and cream together in a small bowl. Slowly add the sifted confectioners’ sugar, whisking until the glaze is smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the still-warm pudding. Serve warm.

Serves 10-12

Taking a little break...

Hello wonderful blog readers!  I just wanted to give you all a heads up.  As I am currently inundated with grading here at the end of the school year, I'm going to take a short hiatus from the blog this week and perhaps into next week.  Wish me well...the ink in my colored pens needs to hold out.

I do have some fabulous recipes to share with you, so hold tight to your whisks and mixers: I will be back.  With gusto.

Hope all of you out there are having a great week...I am amazed to have almost 100 followers!  Thank you for wanting to journey with me in the kitchen and in life.  I'm truly grateful to have each and every one of you along for the ride.

High Five for Friday

1. Encouraging.  Challenging.  Watch this video and see what love really looks like.

The Story of Ian & Larissa from Desiring God on Vimeo.

2. Enjoying a new paint color (Lenox Tan...the perfect neutral) in the living room and kitchen.  My roommate is doing a fantastic job decorating her town home.

3. Saw The Avengers last night with Michal (and Lara...total bonus!).  Michal and I are friends for many reasons, and one reason I really appreciate is that she loves a good guy movie as much as I do.  And I do recommend the movie...superheroes rock, especially Captain America and all his old-fashioned ways.

4. Taking Doc with me to prom tomorrow night.  I'm using the picture below for styling inspiration:

5. I have officially graded over half of my seniors' research papers. I'm thinking of taking up this fella's approach to marking grammar issues:

Orzo with Grilled Vegetables & Sun-Dried Tomatoes

I'm kind of a closet vegetarian.  Don't get me wrong, I welcome a perfectly cooked filet mignon or pork tenderloin any day, but as far as my kitchen goes, I err on the side of veggie-filled main dishes. And this, my dear readers, is a veggie-filled dish you simply must try.

The recipe does require some steps, but no step is too demanding of a novice chef.  Using my trusty grill pan, I grilled the zucchini and portobellos in four batches.  While four batches might seem a little taxing, it actually allowed for just the right amount of time to prepare the other ingredients and dressing.  I followed the recipe to a T with the exception of the fresh mozzarella (I added a few more ounces...I can't help myself).  The flavors are amazing--fresh basil, crunchy yellow bell pepper, smoky veggies, tangy balsamic, peppery arugula--and even better is that the dish seems to multiply...like loaves and fishes multiply.  I first served it with grilled chicken among four friends (all had multiple servings), and then there was enough to share with another friend the next day, and then I STILL had two more servings for lunch at school.  See?  Loaves and fishes.

Feel free to adjust the veggies to your particular taste, and since there's no mayo in this, serve it up at a neighborhood barbecue or a perhaps a picnic for two.  I guarantee people will want seconds...thirds.  And you'll have plenty.

Orzo with Grilled Vegetables & Sun-Dried Tomatoes
from Foster's Market

1 teaspon salt
1 pound orzo
1/2 cup olive oil
Safflower oil or canola oil, for oiling the grill
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 zucchini, sliced lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices
2 portobello mushrooms, stems discarded, caps wiped clean, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup julienned sun dried tomatoes
Juice of 2 lemon
1 yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
1 bunch or arugula or watercress, washed, drained, and stems removed
8 large fresh basil leaves, cut into very thin strips (chiffonade)
8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut ino 1-inch cubes
Salte and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Additional basil leaves, to garnish, optional

1. Bring to a boil 3 quarts of water in a large pot. Add 1 teaspoon salt and the orzo and cook 3 to 5 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the pasta is just tender. Drain the orzo, rinse, and set aside to drain again. Add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil to the colander, toss with the orzo, and set aside to continue to drain.
2. Heat a grill pan to the smoking point over medium-high heat. (Or lightly oil the grill grates with the safflower oil and heat a gas or charcoal grill to medium-high.)
3. Whisk together 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and 2 tablespoons of the vinegar in a small bowl. Lightly brush the zucchini and mushrooms with the olive oil mixture. Place the slices, a few at a time in the grill pan or on the grill grates and cook 3 to 4 minutes per side, until crisp-tender. Place on a plate to cool while the others are cooking.
4. Mix together the sun-dried tomatoes, the remaining olive oil, remaining vinegar, and lemon juice in a bowl and set aside until ready to use.
5. Coarsely chop the zucchini and mushrooms and place in a separate bowl with the orzo, yellow bell pepper, arugula, basil and mozzarella. Add the sun-dried tomato mixture, season with salt and pepper, and toss lightly to mix. Garnish with basil leaves if desired. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

Clearly, Strawberry Fest 2012 is still in session in my kitchen. After making salad and cake with these glorious red wonders, I moved on to cookies.  Yes, cookies.  I had no idea you could put strawberries in cookies, but thanks to Martha Stewart, I now know you can.  Let it be said that these are not your typical, crumbly cookies; rather, they have a texture more akin to a dense cake, a dense cake that is a sweet, buttery, creamy, and strawberry-studded. What is most marvelous is that they really do taste like strawberry shortcake, one of my favorite desserts ever, but in the easily transportable form of a cookie.  So head out to your local strawberry patch and then make these.  You (and everyone who eats 'em) will be glad you did.

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies
from Martha Stewart

12 ounces strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/4 inch dice (2 cups)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup heavy cream
Sanding sugar, for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 7 tablespoons granulated sugar in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, or rub in with your fingers, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in strawberry mixture.
2. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing evenly apart. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, and bake until golden brown, 24 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool. Cookies are best served immediately, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day.

Makes about 3 dozen

High Five for Friday

1. Loving each and every song on Christy Nockels' latest album, Into the Glorious.  From a lighter, acoustic version of "Waiting Here for You," to a peppier tune like "Ever Lifting," this album fills my ears with truths I so need to hear: Our God is powerful, gracious, strong, faithful, present, and absolutely, completely 100% devoted to us knowing how deeply He loves us. I've been enjoying Nockels' voice for over 10 years (Watermark, anyone?), and what a blessing her music continues to be to my heart.  Take a listen to what she said about her song, "For Your Splendor":

Thanks to my small group's current study, I've been thinking a lot about Jeremiah 17:7-8, and the lyrics of "For Your Splendor" provide the perfect words to pray through the truths of those verses:

I’m so concerned with what I look like from the outside. 

Will I blossom into what You hope I’ll be? 

Yet You’re so patient just to help me see. 

The blooms come from a deeper seed that You planted in me. 

Sometimes it’s hard to grow when everybody’s watching. 

To have your heart pruned by the one who knows best. 

And though I’m bare and cold, I know my season’s coming. 

And I’ll spring up in Your endless faithfulness. 

With my roots deep in You, I’ll grow the branch that bears the fruit. 

And though I’m small, I’ll still be standing in the storm. 

‘Cause I am planted by the river by Your streams of living water. 

And I’ll grow up strong and beautiful, all for Your splendor, Lord. 

So with my arms stretched out, I’m swaying to Your heartbeat. 

I’m growing with the sound of Your voice calling. 

You’re bringing out the beauty that You have put in me. 

For Your joy and for Your glory falling.

2. Watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets tonight with the same friends I watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Clearly we are all about a movie series, and Doc and Chris are kind to watch these with Michal and me.  She and I are total HP junkies, so we're thankful for the men in our lives who let us be exactly that.  I am definitely a bigger fan of the later movies, but this is the film where Dobby stole my heart, so it will always be special.

3. Eating a delicious salad at Cafe Caturra with Doc the other night.  I ordered the Arugula & Goat Cheese salad (added grilled chicken for a protein boost). The flavors were fabulous: dried blueberries, butter roasted pecans, smoked paprika on the goat cheese, baby arugula all tossed together in a red wine vinagrette (see picture in the middle).  Amazing.   Even better than the salad was eating outside in perfectly warm evening weather.  And even better than the weather was having Doc as my company.



4. Getting excited about traveling abroad this summer to Dublin, London and Paris!  I had a meeting about it this week, and talking about all the activities and whatnot made my eyes sparkle.  Oh, I just love Europe...I love accents...I love architecture.  And I plan on eating my weight in baguettes and fromage in France.



5. Walking my seniors through Hamlet's famous "To be or not to be" speech this week.  If you know it, you'll find this funny:

My purse is on The Small Things Blog!

Check out Kate's blog today to see what's inside...

Penne with Beef and Arugula

Do you remember that Wendy's commercial from the 80's where the funny old woman asked, "Where's the beef?"  Well, Clara Peller, I've found it.  It's been spending quality time with pasta and arugula in my kitchen.

If you've frequented this blog, you know that I don't cook a lot of meat.  Why? Well,  I have some weird meat issues, like being freaked out by bones in chicken or failing to cook some sort of protein to the right temperature which would then result in illness, perhaps death, which would be the most horrific outcome of any kitchen adventure and I would be so profoundly sad and at the very least this blog would be over and I may never step foot in a kitchen again because I would have officially become Allyson, Food Poisoner.  Phew.  See?  Issues.

Well, I faced those fears the other night when I cooked this pasta for Doc.  Step One to overcoming meat fear: Buy meat from a reputable butcher (I went to Earthfare).  Step Two: Take all proper precautions during prep (hand washing, not using the raw meat cutting board again, hand washing, hand washing). Step Three: Follow recipe guidelines from start to finish, no stone left unturned, no steak turned too early.

With Giada's ever trusty guidance, this meal came out perfectly. I loved the flavor of the beef (perfect combo of seasonings and a nice sear from the cast iron) mixed with the brightness of the herbs and the peppery notes of the arugula.  An added bonus of this recipe is that it can be served room temperature (can you say picnic?).


Penne with Beef and Arugula
from Giada De Laurentiis

1 (1 pound) New York Strip Steak
1 teaspoon herbs de Provence
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup olive oil, plus 3 tablespoons
1 pound penne pasta
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for steak and pasta water
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, plus more for steak
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
3 cups chopped arugula

1. Season the steak with salt, pepper, herbs de Provence, and minced garlic. In a cast iron skillet, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat.  Cook steak about 7 minutes per side. Remove the meat and then let it rest for 5 minutes. Thinly slice steak.  Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat.  Salt the water, add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta, reserving 1/4 cup pasta water.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, fresh herbs, and 3/4 cup olive oil. In a large bowl, toss the pasta with 1/2 of the dressing and the reserved pasta water. Add the arugula and steak, more dressing, and season with salt and freshly ground pepper as needed. Toss and serve.