Showing posts sorted by relevance for query bread pudding. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query bread pudding. Sort by date Show all posts
One thing that I will always be sad about is that I never ever got to visit Ireland when I was living in the UK. For the whole 20 years that I was there, it was on my bucket list to go, but alas, it just never happened for one reason or another.
I love the Irish people. They are so kind and friendly. They become your best friend within a few minutes of meeting and there is nothing that they won't do for you. Our landlord was Irish, and one of my best friends, Josephine, is Irish. They are beautiful people.
They are a very humble and simple folk. There is no artiface. What you see is what you get. I love that about them. I, too, am simple folk.
We used to love to go to an Irish Pub in Toronto on Sunday afternoons. It was filled with families enjoying a nice afternoon together and a bevvie or two. There would be fiddlers, and singers, dancers. It was a good time.
Maybe one day I will still get to Ireland. You never know.
One way of visiting a country without actually going there is by learning to cook and love its food. The food of Ireland is very much like its people. Simple and wholesome. There is nothing artificial or complicated about it.
It's just plain good eating. Fresh and natural ingredients, put together simply.
This recipe I am sharing with you today comes from a cookery book entitled "Bread and Butter, cakes and bakes from granny's stove" by Irish author, Ciara McLaughlin. It's a lovely book filled with beautiful bakes, both savory and sweet. Seasonally categorized.
.JPG "Irish Blaeberry Pudding")
In looking at the photo you might be tempted to think this isn't a very special dessert. You would be wrong. It's fabulously tasty, with a sweet fruity base topped with a buttery light cake.
The berries used in this pudding are what the Irish call the Blaeberry, or Bilberry. They are very similar to wild blueberries. They are actually quite interchangeable and are beautiful in simple desserts such as this one.
The original recipe for this delightful pudding made 8 to 10 servings. I cut it down to make only 4, or 5 if you are not big eaters.
.JPG "Irish Blaeberry Pudding")
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE IRISH BLAEBERRY PUDDING
I guarantee you probably have everything you need in your kitchen to make this lovely dessert today. There is nothing out of the ordinary required.
For the fruit:
- 1 cup (225g) bilberries or blueberries, washed, cleaned of stalks and leaves
- 2 heaped TBS of sugar
For the cake:
- 1/4 cup (50g) caster sugar (fine granulated sugar)
- 5 1/2 TBS (75g) butter, softened
- 1 large free-range egg, beaten
- 1 cup less 1 TBS (125g) self-raising flour (see note)
- 2 TBS whole milk
.JPG "Irish Blaeberry Pudding")
Caster sugar is a fine granulated sugar. It is not coarse. I find the granulated sugar here in Canada to be quite comparable. One of the qualities of caster sugar is that it melts quickly into the ingredients of cookies, cakes and bakes.
If you have ever had a cake end up with what looks like brown speckles on top, that is your sugar. It was too coarse and did not completely amalgamate into the batter.
If your granulated sugar is very coarse, give it a few pulses in the food processor to make it finer.
Don't worry if you don't have self-rising flour. I tell you how to very easily make your own in the recipe notes below. It's not hard at all.
.JPG "Irish Blaeberry Pudding")
HOW TO MAKE IRISH BLAEBERRY PUDDING
I can promise you this is a very simple dessert. There is nothing complicated about it. You don't even need any specialized equipment. All you need is a casserole dish, a wooden spoon and a bowl.
.JPG "Irish Blaeberry Pudding")
Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/gas mark 4. Have ready a (7 by 8-inch) deep casserole dish.
Scatter the blueberries in the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle the sugar over top.
Using a wooden spoon, beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy and well creamed together. Beat in the egg a bit at a time until well incorporated.
.JPG "Irish Blaeberry Pudding")
Fold in the flour and the milk to combine well. Drop by dollops on top of the berries in the dish and then spread out to cover, using the back of your spoon.
Place onto a small baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes until the sponge springs back when lightly touched and the berries are bubbling underneath.
Leave to cool for about 15 minutes, then spoon into bowls and serve warm with your desired accompaniment.
.JPG "Irish Blaeberry Pudding")
This pudding (which is a way of saying dessert over there) is a very simple make with beautiful homey, wholesome flavors. It's very similar to the English Eve's Pudding. You could actually mix a chopped cooking apple in with the berries to give you a slightly different but equally tasty version.
Do taste your berries before you start. If they are very tart, you may want to adjust the amount of sugar used.
This is delicious served warm along with some pouring cream, clotted cream, whipped cream, warm custard, or a scoop of cold ice cream. Today I enjoyed mine with a dab of vanilla ice cream. It went down a real treat!
.JPG "Irish Blaeberry Pudding")
If you are a huge fan of blueberry type desserts, then you might also enjoy the following:
LEMON BLUEBERRY TURNOVERS - Delicious. You only need a few ingredients. Puff pastry. Lemon Curd. Blueberries. Blueberry jam. Fabulously simple and so impressive.
LEMON SANDWICHES WITH BLUEBERRIES & CREAM - Slabs of a lovely, moist and delicious lemon cake layered together in layers with a sweet blueberry sauce and a rich yogurt cream.
Yield: 4
Blaeberry Pudding (small batch)
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 40 MinInactive time: 15 MinTotal time: 1 H & 5 M
The original recipe for this served 8 - 10 people. I small batched it. Its an Irish bilberry/blueberry pudding with a sweet fruity bottom and a buttery cake topping. Serve warm with cream or ice cream for a real treat!
Ingredients
For the fruit:
- 1 cup (225g) bilberries or blueberries, washed, cleaned of stalks and leaves
- 2 heaped TBS of sugar
For the cake:
- 1/4 cup (50g) caster sugar (fine granulated sugar)
- 5 1/2 TBS (75g) butter, softened
- 1 large free-range egg, beaten
- 1 cup less 1 TBS (125g) self-raising flour (see note)
- 2 TBS whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/gas mark 4. Have ready a (7 by 8-inch) deep casserole dish.
- Scatter the blueberries in the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle the sugar over top.
- Using a wooden spoon, beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy and well creamed together. Beat in the egg a bit at a time until well incorporated.
- Fold in the flour and the milk to combine well. Drop by dollops on top of the berries in the dish and then spread out to cover, using the back of your spoon.
- Place onto a small baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes until the sponge springs back when lightly touched and the berries are bubbling underneath.
- Leave to cool for about 15 minutes, then spoon into bowls and serve warm with your desired accompaniment.
Notes
You can easily make your own self-raising flour. Measure your flour into a container. For each cup of flour whisk in 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt. Store in an airtight container for up to three months. (I never make more than 2-3 cups at a time.)
Thanks so much for visiting! Do come again!
No doubt about it when it comes to the weekend, most people like to pull out the stops a bit when it comes to breakfast and brunch. There is no better way to do this than to prepare your loved ones a delicious hearty breakfast with French Toast and some bacon, or sausage or both. A bit of Maple Syrup on the side and you can't ask for a more delicious breakfast!
French toast at its very basic is a dish composed of stale bread soaked in a sweet, rich, eggy custard and then fried in butter until crisp and golden brown on the outside. Kind of like a fried bread pudding. The insides all soft and soufflé like. The outside crisp and buttery. Altogether, the combination begging for lashings of some sweet syrup drizzled over top.
Its been called Eggy Bread, Pain Perdu (lost bread), Bombay Toast, Gypsy Toast and Poor Knights of Windsor. A rose by any other name, it doesn't really matter what you call it, its delicious! And relatively simple to make as well!
Sweet or savory, it appears in the cuisine of almost every culture and is much beloved by all. When I was growing up it was a delicious alternative served for lunch on Fridays when many families did not eat meat. My children looked forward to having it for a weekend breakfast. There are some who enjoy it for dessert.
It is a really fabulous way to use up stale bread of any kind. You can turn almost anything into French Toast. French or Italian Bread, Brioche, Croissants, buns, biscuits, etc. I have even turned donuts into French toast with success. In short if it is even close to bread and stale and can soak up an egg custard easily, and lends itself to frying in butter, you can French toast it!
Today I am sharing my Ten Favorite Ways to make French Toast. All are simple. All are delicious. All are weekend worthy, or even holiday worthy! Enjoy!
BUTTERMILK FRENCH TOAST -Crisp on the outside and rich on the inside with a soufflé-like buttermilk custard that is oh so delicious! Thick slices of bread are soaked in a lemon and vanilla buttermilk custard and then left to sit on a wire rack over a baking sheet so that the custard has time to settle before frying in butter. Once fried to a crisp golden brown, the toast is baked for a few minutes longer in a moderate oven,
FRENCH TOAST FINGERS - you can use any kind of crisp breakfast cereal to coat them. Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Captain Crunch, Cookie Crisp, etc. If it is crisp and be crushed it is perfect for this use. Using cereal like this to coat the French Toast Sticks also has the added appeal of being a tad bit naughty. Children love dipping these.
.JPG "small batch oven french toast")
SMALL BATCH OVEN FRENCH TOAST - Perfect for serving with crisp bacon or breakfast sausage, or (dare I say it?) both! Not too sweet and perfectly spiced, this delicious recipe is sized for the smaller family. Small families deserve to eat delicious things without any waste!
LEMON FRENCH TOAST WITH STRAWBERRIES & MAPLE SYRUP - Lemon is a wonderful fruit enhancer. I adore the flavour of lemons and I try to incorporate them in a lot of my cooking.French toast, nicely flavoured with lemon and topped with delicious summer berries. This is quite simply fabulous!
PEACHES & CREAM FRENCH TOAST - Nothing could be simpler or more delicious. You can also use sliced apple if you don't want to use peaches, or if you want a Peach Melba kind of finish, sprinkle it with a few fresh raspberries to serve.
HOT CROSS BUN FRENCH TOAST - Oh my goodness. Rich and fruity, with a touch of orange liqueur. This is fabulously fluffy and delicious served with sausage, bacon and of course lashings of maple syrup.
BERRIES & CREAM CROISSANT FRENCH TOAST FOR TWO - Croissants, jam, cream cheese, eggs, fruit . . . what's not to love about that! You get flaky butter bits of croissant . . . along with souflee-like bread pudding bits . . . interspersed with pockets of wild blueberry jam and nuggets of rich cream cheese . . . oh my goodness! Add a dollop or two of x-tra thick cream and some maple syrup to serve and you have died and gone to heaven.
RASPBERRY BAKEWELL FRENCH TOAST - A delicious breakfast take on the always popular Bakewell Tart. Almond flavoured French Toast made with buttery croissants, topped with sugar crusted flaked almonds and served with a raspberry syrup. Delicious!
PAIN PERDU WITH CREAM CHEESE & BLUEBERRY SYRUPS - A delicious Pain Perdu with Cream Cheese and Blueberry Syrups . . . the Pain Perdu, all crisp and golden on the outside . . . but creamy and custardy inside . . . served up hot and gilded with not one . . . but two fabulicious syrups. YES!! not just one . . . but TWO tasty syrups
LEMON RASBERRY FRENCH TOAST - Quite simply delicious with a lemon cream cheese and fresh fruit filling. This fabulous version of French Toast is perfectly sized for just two people but can easily be multiplied to serve more.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan@aol.com
Thanks so much for visiting! Do come again!
What is Pain Perdu. Translated from French into English, the words mean Lost Bread. It is a fancy name for French Toast, which was a great way of using up stale bread in the past. French toast is normally seen as a breakfast dish, and this certainly could be served for breakfast, but when you choose to make it with Brioche bread it becomes a bit more special and actually makes for a very fine dessert.
Brioche bread is rich and sweet and lends itself beautifully to dishes like this. Soaked in the egg and milk it takes on an almost custard-like texture, very similar to bread pudding . . .
But of course, cooking it this way is a lot faster than making a bread pudding. So, if you are looking for a hearty dessert that is quick and easy, as well as being delicious, this is the dessert for you!
Our Brioche bread here in the UK is actually only about 4 inches square in size, so when sliced the slices are not overly large. I cut my slices about 1 inch thick to use, which was absolutely the perfect size of thickness for this.
They were dipped in a simple mixture of eggs, milk and vanilla paste. I toasted each triangle on both sides in foaming butter, and I confess, I also toasted the cut edges as well, along the centre, for an even nicer finish. Not necessary of course, but I thought it looked pretty.
You could serve this with syrup or chocolate sauce if you wanted to. Chocolate sauce with vanilla ice cream would be very nice. In that case I would use sliced bananas instead of berries.
We enjoyed it just plain with a dusting of icing sugar and a mix of blueberries and raspberries.
You could use sliced peaches and a raspberry coulis sauce, which you could call Peach Melba Pain Perdu.
Caramel sauce would also be nice, again with bananas, resulting in an almost Banoffee-like touch!
Of course a dusting of icing sugar really sets it off nicely.
I can't think of too many people that would turn their noses up at this dessert. Of course, it goes without saying that it is a semi-hearty dessert, which makes it the perfect dessert to serve after a light supper.
And yes, it would also make for an excellent breakast. Personally speaking, I coud eat this any time of day or night.
You can save any leftovers, wrapped up, and stored in the refrigerator, simply reheating them briefly in the toaster. You can also freeze them for serving at a later date. Just thaw and warm through gently in a frying pan. Easy peasy.
Pain Perdu with Mixed Berries
Yield: 4
Pain Perdu makes a great breakfast but with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of Greek yogurt and some fresh berries, it also makes a great dessert!
ingredients:
- 4 thick slices of sweet brioche bread
- 2 large free range eggs
- 6 TBS whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- butter for cooking
To serve:
- Icing sugar to dust
- vanilla ice cream or Greek yogurt (optional)
- fresh berries
- Maple syrup (optional)
instructions:
How to cook Pain Perdu with Mixed Berries
- Cut each slice of brioche in half diagonally into triangles. Beat together the eggs, milk and vanilla paste in a shallow bowl with a fork.
- Heat a knob of butter in a large skillet or griddle pan until it starts to foam. Working quickly, dip each side of the brioche bread into the egg milk mixture and then pop them onto the hot griddle pan. (Mine fits all of it at once, if yours is smaller you will have to work in batches.) Cook until golden brown on the bottom side, then carefully flip over and cook until the other side is golden brown.
- Arrange two triangles on each dessert plate, top with some yogurt or ice cream if using, sprinkle with berries and dust with icing sugar. Serve immediately.
NOTES:
For a delicious variation: Simmer 1 cup (150g) ready to eat dried apricots with the juice of one orange and 120ml of water (1/2 cup) for 10 minutes until tender. Cut the bread as above. Add 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon to the egg mixture. Dip and fry as above. Serve hot with Greek yogurt and a spoonful of Apricot compote.
We are bracing ourselves for yet another wind and rain storm this weekend. My heart goes out to all who are affected and living in flood zones. I am not sure how much more we can cope with this. Thankfully where I live in Chester we are quite high up. My back yard however is a quagmire. I am not complaining. Better that than that our house be under water.
There is something just so wonderfully warm and comforting about a steamed pudding (dessert). They are so homey, just like a warm hug from a much beloved Gran.
I don't know what it is about them . . . stodgy, yes . . . filling, yes . . . simple, yes . . . there is nothing complicated or fancy about them, but somehow they always come across really well. They are a bit like the country cousin at a city ball . . . you can't help but really warm to them and want to spend time with them, even though there are much fancier puds to be had.
Somehow I ended up with an outrageous amount of marmalade in my larder. The Toddster LOVES marmalade on his toast. I like it too, but not as much as he does. If I see it on offer I will pick up a jar. I have yet to make my own, but perhaps this winter I will give it a go. We'll see.
Sooooo . . . anyways, I have ended up with something like 4 jars of it and so I thought I would use some of it up today to make the Toddster one of his favourite puddings . . . Marmalade Pudding.
It's very old school dinnerish really, but he has very fond memories of his old school dinners, and I confess to having a certain fondness to the pudding side of things myself.
Served warm, cut into wedges, and embellished with lashings of a deliciously rich custard flavoured lightly with Grand Marnier, it went down a real treat for both of us. I cut the recipe in half and made a smaller portion as I don't have a 3 pint pudding basin and it turned out beautifully.
It's nice to know that you can cut things down and they will still work fine. But if you are game, do make the larger one as this freezes beautifully, cut into individual portions and wrapped for the freezer. That way you can always have a tasty pudding at the ready.
*Marmalade Pudding with a Grand Marnier Custard*
Serves 6
3 large free range eggs
1 rounded TBS of bicarbonate of soda
For the Custard:
275ml of full fat milk (1 1/4 cup)
275ml double cream (1 1/4 cup)
six egg yolks (you can freeze the whites to use for meringues at a
later date)
100g caster sugar (generous half cup)
2 TBS Grand Marnier
Butter a three pint pudding basin. Place the bread crumbs, flour and soft light brown sugar into a large mixing bowl. Melt the butter over gentle heat along with the marmalade. Pour the butter mixture over the dry mixture and blend thoroughly. Whisk the eggs until they are frothy and then whisk them into the crumb mixture. Stir together the bicarbonate of soda and the cold water. Whisk this into the pudding mix. It will increase in volume, but don't be alarmed. Pour this mixture into the prepared basin. Cover it with two pieces of grease proof paper which you have pleated in the middle and buttered. Tie securely around the rim of the basin.
Place the basin in the top of a double boiler over quickly simmering water. Cover the pot and allow to steam for about 2 hours. Check periodically to see if the water needs topping up so that the pot doesn't go dry. When it is done a toothpick inserted into the centre should come out clean.
Make
the custard during the last half hour of the pudding steaming. Whisk
the egg yolks together with the sugar in a saucepan with a heavy bottom,
until pale, slightly thick and creamy. Warm the milk and the cream
together in another saucepan, just until bubbles appear around the
edges. Slowly whisk this mixture into the beaten eggs and sugar.
Bring to the boil very slowly over medium low heat, whisking
constantly. It is done when it just begins to coat the back of a wooden
spoon. Do not over cook or it will curdle. Remove from the heat
immediately and whisk in the Grand Marnier. Keep warm.
Run
a knife around the edge of the pudding basin and invert over a plate to
remove. Cut the warm pudding into wedges to serve along with the
warm custard. Delicious!
Alternately you can flavour the custard with some vanilla extract of paste, 1 tsp should do the trick.
Whenever I have stale bread I want to make one of two things . . . either I want to make a bread pudding, or I want to make French Toast. Today the French Toast won out, but it's not just any French Toast . . . its Lemon Stuffed French Toast!
Lemon Curd is something I always have in my larder. It is considered a store cupboard essential! I also make my own quite often, especially in the winter months when lemons are in season! Oh to have my own lemon tree . . . sigh . . .
Yes, I am a Lemon lover of the utmost extreme! If it is lemon. I am on it!
This is so simple to make. You just make your traditional French Toast egg batter . . . you cut a pocket into thick slices of stale bread, fill the pockets with lemon curd, soak the slices in the egg batter and then cook it as per normal.
It goes very well with berries . . . strawberries, blackberries, raspberries . . . frozen or fresh. You decide!
*Lemon Stuffed French Toast*
Serves 4
Serves 4
Printable Recipe
A wonderful way to use up stale bread, with a tangy lemon curd filling. Serve with some golden syrup and fresh berries for a delightful breakfast treat!
One (16 ounce) loaf of french bread, unsliced
295ml of milk (1 1/4 cup)
3 large free range eggs
1 TBS sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
a jar of lemon curd
unsalted butter and vegetable oil for cooking
To finish:
Icing sugar to dust
an assortment of fresh berries
golden syrup (optional)
A wonderful way to use up stale bread, with a tangy lemon curd filling. Serve with some golden syrup and fresh berries for a delightful breakfast treat!
One (16 ounce) loaf of french bread, unsliced
295ml of milk (1 1/4 cup)
3 large free range eggs
1 TBS sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
a jar of lemon curd
unsalted butter and vegetable oil for cooking
To finish:
Icing sugar to dust
an assortment of fresh berries
golden syrup (optional)
Preheat the oven to 150*C/300*F/ gas mark 2. Butter a baking sheet. Set aside.
Cut the bread into 8 equal slized, each about 1 inch thick. Cut a pocket into each piece of bread, using a serrated knife, carefully slicing into, but not all the way through. Spoon about 1 dessertspoon full of lemon curd into the pocket created in each piece of bread.
Whisk together the milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt. Dunk the stuffed slices of bread into the egg mixture, allowing them to soak it up for several minutes, turning to coat it evenly on both sides. You want it saturated, but not falling apart.
Warm 1 TBS of butter and 1 TBS of oil together in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Cook the slices of stuffed bread in the heated fat until golden brown and lightly crisp on one side, flip over carefully and brown and crisp the other side. Place them onto the prepared baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while you cook the remainder, using more butter and oil as necessary.
When all the toast is ready, place it onto heated plates and dust lightly with icing sugar. Serve immediately with some fresh berries and golden syrup (if desired.)
Happy weekend and Bon Appetit!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Social Icons