December 2012 Saveur - New Orleans dessert from Matt and Naddie's Restaurant
I will post the recipe as it was listed in the 'zine and will then proceed to write about all the changes I made for convenience.
For the Bread Pudding:
4 1/2 cups of milk (4 c; 1/2 used for the pan frying portion that I did not do)
20 tbsp unsalted butter (16 tbsp; the other 4 tbsp was for the pan frying)
1 c sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp kosher salt
12 oz stale country white bread cut into 1/2 inch cubes - about 8 cups
6 oz white chocolate, roughly chopped, plus more for garnish
1/2 c toasted slivered almonds
8 eggs (6 eggs when not pan frying)
1 c flour (I did not use as I did not pan fry the sliced bread pudding - too much work for a party held at someone else's house)
2 c panko bread crumbs (ditto - related to pan frying)
For the Rum Sauce and bananas:
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c heavy cream
4 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed
2 tbsp dark rum
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice (did not use)
1/2 c turbinado sugar (did not use - see above)
4 bananas, halved lengthwise and then halved crosswise (ended up putting them IN the bread pudding as I did not pan fry the bread pudding)
I mostly followed the recipe when making the bread pudding and the rum sauce but I nixed the pan frying portion of the recipe. I made the dish during my Thanksgiving break and froze both the pudding and sauce. Since I had a holiday party two weeks later, I knew I would be exhausted from work as it was the busiest time of year with the end of semester and graduation.
To make the bread pudding: I brought 4 cups of milk, 16 tbsp of butter, the vanilla, nutmeg and salt to a simmer in a 4 quart saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat and let cool for 20 minutes. Combine the bread cubes, chocolate, almonds and bananas in a large bowl and set aside. Add 6 eggs to the milk mixture and I then also added some rum - I don't know how much as I poured it from the bottle - maybe a 1/4 cup. Whisk until smooth. Pour the custard over the bread mixture and stir until evenly combined. Let sit to soften bread which is about 20 minutes. Heat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Pour bread mixture into a 9"x13" metal baking pan, which for me was a foil pan because it was going to be frozen after I baked it. I made sure the ingredients were evenly distributed and I covered with foil as the recipe instructed and baked it for an hour. I let it cool of course, before I bagged it into a 2 1/2 gallon zip lock and put it in the freezer.
While the bread pudding cooked, I made the sauce. In 1/2 cup of water, bring the sugar to a boil over high heat stirring until the sugar dissolves. Continuing cooking sugar mixture without stirring until the sugar turns into an amber-colored caramel, which is about 15 minutes (I forgot to do this step). Add the cream, butter, rum and juice and stir until smooth. I then let it cool, placed it in a container and put it in the freezer.
The biggest worry was freezer burn and it was a non-issue. The other thing I discovered was that the bread pudding was so moist probably because I had added some rum. Maybe freezing it added some moisture but not to the detriment of the bread pudding. My friend had a convention oven so I had to bump up the temperature to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and it took at least an hour to bake again. I baked it with the foil on for at least half of the time and just watched that it did not burn. It was still moist and custardy that it did not really need the rum sauce. While the bread pudding baked, I heated up the sauce and poured it on the plates for individual slices of bread pudding. My friend whose heart is in the same place as mine could not wait for the bread pudding to bake and she helped me keep an eye on it, tasting it along the way, too.
I thought it turned out pretty good and I plan to make it again while I have time over this second holiday break and freeze for another occasion. I will do without making the rum sauce and improvise again by using the leftover heavy cream I froze in November combining it with soy milk because we don't usually have milk on hand and I don't want to buy it again just for this dish.
