Hasta manana my friend
Juliette is my “lunch buddy” at work. We eat lunch together at the break room most of the days and talk about places, people and food and travels. Last week was her last day at Martinez. She and her husband are moving to Oregon. I hope they find happiness in the new place. I will miss our lunches. We had a farewell potluck lunch for her and I asked her what she wanted me to make . She wanted to try my Yankee pot roast again , something I have made for previous pot lucks here. I surprised her with a second dish my favorite bread pudding with bourbon sauce. Both were well received.
I have the recipe for both. Make them if you may ,and enjoy!
Bread pudding
Bread pudding has many forms and recipes from different parts of the world. It is a very old dish that date back to 11th century. Like many modern day favorites, bread pudding or bread and butter pudding as the Brits call it, was the poor man’s pudding. (Every culture had its share of poor man’s dish; Pizza, Goulash, Shepherd’s pie, lobster, sushi,polenta, etc) The cooks hated to waste stale bread and they refurbished it in to bread pudding.
For me its basically a pudding so the consistency is important and should be that of a pudding, a custard pudding.
It is stale bread plus custard . When baked, it becomes a baked custard.
I like to flavor it with vanilla and nut meg/clove but not cinnamon.
Ingredients
Ingredients for pudding
1.1 lb day old bread. Classic bread pudding is made with french brioche which is some times hard to find. You can use Challah . I like the challah over Brioche as I like to place the curved golden brown tip of the bread to make the top of my pudding. Also the brioche is inherently rich. I prefer to add my own level of richness. If you can not find Challah you can use white or french . The idea is to get the kind of bread that is very dry and act as a sponge that soaks with the custard.
2. 5 cups milk and cream I use a combination of 2 cups of heavy whipping cream and 3 cups of whole milk.
3. 6 eggs
4. 1 cup white sugar
5. 1/2 to 1 cup raisins soaked in cognac/bourbon. (avoid the soaking part if you don’t want alcohol)
6. salt, vanilla extract(1-2 tsp), nut meg(a pinch) and head of cloves (2) to taste
7.butter to grease the pan
Directions
Drying bread Take a baking pan(s) and break up the bread into pieces. I like to keep the curved surfaces of the challah intact and place the curved side up. rest of the bread pieces can be placed any which way.We want the bread to be very dry. Heat the bread at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. cool it on the counter top.
Custard mix In a bowl beat eggs and sugar and add milk and cream and beat again.When the mixture is a nice golden yellow add the salt, vanilla extract,nutmeg, cloves.
Putting it together Take a 9×13 baking dish and generously(really generously) grease the inside with butter. spread the bread pieces. make sure the curved glazed pieces form the surface of the bread layer. Spread the soaked raisins pushing some in between the bread pieces. (don’t add the liquor) Pour the custard mix into the dish getting the custard into every nook and cranny and slightly lower than the curves of the bread surface.
Bake Bake at the center of your oven.(you can make a tent over the dish with foil to retain the moisture.) at 325 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes (temp of the pudding should reach 160 degrees). take it out and let it cool. The pudding should not be liquidy but more like jello and not like a brownie.)Some people like to eat the pudding warm.
Sauce
Though you can eat the pudding without a sauce, many sauces would make a great combination. For those who do not or can not have alcohol. Use a vanilla sauce or classic Creme Anglaise. (Though I love creme anglaise i avoid it with bread pudding because bread pudding is a similar custard that is baked) I like Bourbon (or cognac) cream sauce.
Ingredients for the sauce
- 1-2 cup milk and cream (equal amounts)
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2-1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup bourbon or cognac
- 1/2-1 tsp vanilla extract
- a small pinch of salt to bring out the flavor.
- change the measurement of milk& cream and sugar to change the quantity of the final product.
- Some use 1 egg yolk I don’t
- some make a slurry with corn starch and the liquor. I don’t like the flavor of the corn starch here.
Direction
Melt the butter in a pan under low heat. Add sugar and melt it into the butter.add the liquor. Let the alcohol evaporate. Add cream and milk and vanilla extract and salt. Slowly bring to boil while constantly steering take out of heat and cool.
Yankee pot roast
A pot roast is a quintessential favorite as meat dishes go. it is found in every culture that eat meat.It is a poor man’s and family dish. Various forms of pot roasts/tew are Sauerbraten (German) Goulash (Hungarian) Boeuf a la mode (french) Daube (Cajun) rostizado or guiso de carne asado (spanish) guisada (mexican)
The beef is braised and slow cooked. Use tough cuts like chuck, brisket, round that has lot of collagen and comes from the much exercised part of the animal.When slow cooked over time the collagen breaks down into gelatin that enrich the liquid and the dish.
In Yankee pot roast the winter tubers are served on the side with hearty slices of bread.
Ingredients
- Beef chuck road 6lbs
- sat/pepper/flour to coat the roast for browning
- oil for browning the meat
- 2 cup low salt beef or chicken broth
- 1 cup red wine
- 4 stalks of celery cut
- veggies tubers (below)Two sets of them 1 to make the sauce and others as side
- 3 large carrots peeled 1 diced fine and 2 into 2 inches chunks
- 2 large parsnip peeled diced fine and 1 cut into 2 inch chunks
- 1 large turnip peeled 1/2 diced fine and the other cut in to chunks
- 8 small red potatoes 2 peeled and diced fine 6 unpeeled whole
- 2 red onions peeled 1 finally sliced and 1 cut into chunks
butter for the veggies - 6 garlic cloves smashed
- 1/2 inch fresh ginger grated (optional)
- 1/2 tsp sweet paprika (optional)
- 4 cloves
- 1 tsp caraway seeds
- Bouquet garne made of thyme rosemary and bay leaves
Directions
In a heavy bottom pan or dutch oven heat oil(high heat) Pat the meat dry and coat all sides with the mixture of salt/black pepper and flour. Brown all sides about 5 min each and put the meat aside. De glaze the pan with the red wine and save the de glaze. Add fresh oil and saute the 1 finally sliced onion and the chopped garlic and ginger. when they are golden, add the de glaze and the broth and reduce heat.Add all the finely diced part of the veggies and celery to the pan.Add boquet garne, cloves, paprika, caraway seeds Cover and cook for at least 2 hours.(meat should retain the shape of the chunk and not fall apart)
Remove the meat (save) and the discard bouquet garne. skim any fat off the top.With an immersion processor, puree the liquid and the veggies to a very fine consistency. You can remove the solids if you want by using a very coarse sieve. I like to leave the solids in.
Return the meat and the liquid back to the pan and simmer over low heat.
In another pan melt butter and saute all the chunks of veggie one type at a time and keep them aside Add the veggies sequentially, Potatoes and carrots first then 30 min later parsnip, onions and turnip. (The cooking time for the veggies depend on your taste of crispiness)
Take the veggies and the meat out. Leave all the veggies together on the serving platter. Rest the meat for a few minutes and then cut them in to reasonable chunks against the grain. return to the pan and cook until your meat melt in your mouth softness.The liquid should also reduce to a thick sauce. Add salt/pepper etc to your taste.
When ready add the meat/sauce to the platter, garnish with parsley.
Bon voyage and Bon appetit !
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