Delicious savory bread pudding for Easter

Posted by Dana McMahan on March 23, 2008

I recently read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. While many of the recipes in the book appealed, out of all of them I most wanted to try Asparagus and Morel Bread Pudding. Morels were a rare springtime treat for me growing up. It was a lucky day indeed when my uncle, dad or grandpa found some of these "dry land fish" and brought them home to be pan-fried.

I don't know anyone in my city who forages for morels so now I have to settle for dried morels from Whole Foods. And it's not quite asparagus season here yet, but I saw them earlier this week in the Paris markets. That's all I needed to whet my appetite for this dish.

We foraged at the grocery today and made this fairly labor-intensive dish for our Easter dinner for two. We had it with a side of balsamic glazed carrots (very simple: add 2 Tbs butter and enough balsamic vinegar to cover your diced carrots and simmer vigorously while you're baking the pudding)

I have modified the version of the recipe in the book to account for using dried morels. The original recipe calls for a pound of fresh morels which would translate to one ounce of dried, reconstituted. At $20 an ounce, we cut back to a 1/2 oz package. If you've got the extra cash, go for the full ounce. I think it would give the dish a more pronounced morel flavor. I used truffle salt to add another layer of flavor.

2 cups milk
1 cup chopped spring onions with green shoots

Add onions to milk in sauce pan and bring to a boil, set aside to steep

1 cup milk
1/2 or 1 oz package dried morels

Simmer morels 20 minutes. Carefully strain, reserving milk. Set morels aside.

1 loaf stale or toasted multigrain bread broken into crouton sized crumbs

Pour the onion-steeped and morel milk over croutons and allow bread to soak

1 lb. asparagus
Chop into ½ inch pieces and simmer in skillet full of boiling water until bright green

2 tbs. butter
Quickly sautée morels in butter, salt and pepper to taste and set aside,

4 eggs
1/3 cup chopped parsley
3 tbs. oregano
3 cups grated Swiss (or Gruyere) cheese

Break eggs into a very large bowl and beat until smooth
add herbs and plenty of salt and pepper
add bread crumbs with milk, asparagus and mushrooms
add 2/3 of the cheese

Mix thoroughly and pour into a buttered 8x12 pan
sprinkle remaining cheese on top and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes (until puffy and golden)

This dish would easily serve six as a side dish or four as a main course.

TAGS: Asparagus, Bread Pudding, Morel
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