Savory Whole Wheat Bread Pudding

In lieu of Financial Friday, I wanted to share with you my recipe I created with Nature's Pride bread for Foodbuzz. Foodbuzz is running a contest for their publishers where six people who make the tastiest, most creative recipes out of Nature's Pride bread will be crowned Bread Ambassadors, and will serve their innovative dishes at the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival in November. For this recipe, I was able to use Nature's Pride bread courtesy of FoodBuzz.

Earlier this week, my co-worker had generously given me some of the excess produce from her farm share, including fresh leeks. I'd never cooked with leeks before, so I was excited to incorporate them in a new recipe. I knew that for this Foodbuzz contest I wanted to make some sort of bread pudding, so I figured the leeks would be great to add to a savory bread pudding. So that's just what I made.

First, I picked up some whole wheat Nature's Pride bread at the grocery store.

I used this recipe as a starting point, but pretty much changed it entirely. For instance, I cut the recipe in half, replaced some of the ingredients with other things, and also added some of my own. My version ended up coming out fairly healthy, too, as I used soy milk and whole wheat bread, versus challah, heavy cream, and whole milk.

Savory Whole Wheat Bread Pudding

Yields: 5 servings

-10 slices Nature's Pride whole wheat bread, cut into 3/4-inch dice

-3 tbsp. unsalted butter

-4 large leek leaves, sliced 1/2-inch thick

-1 large clove of garlic, minced

-1/2 medium white onion, diced

-1/4 cup white whine (I used a viognier)

-1 tbsp. dried parsley

-1/2 tsp. dried thyme

-1/2 tsp. cayenne (optional)

-Salt and black pepper, to taste

-2 eggs

-2 cups soy milk

-1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions: Preheat oven to 350°. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the whole wheat bread with 2 tablespoons melted butter and bake for 20 minutes, or until golden and crisp. Let cool, and turn oven up to 375°.

Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in a large frying pan. Add the leeks, onion and garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook over moderate heat for 5 minutes, then uncover and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes longer. Add the wine and cook until evaporated, then remove from the heat and stir in the parsley, thyme and cayenne; let cool.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the soy milk. Add the leek mixture and season generously with salt and pepper. Stir in the bread and Parmesan cheese. Toss the bread to make sure it's evenly soaked. Transfer the mixture to a buttered casserole dish. 

Cover with a buttered sheet of foil and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until just set. Remove the foil and bake for 15 minutes longer, or until the top is golden and crisp.

Before:

After:

Not to brag or anything, but this was one awesome dinner. I even went back for seconds - and I rarely go back for seconds, unless it's at the Thanksgiving dinner table. I was way over tired, and ended up using the darker green portion of the leeks - which still came out edible and delicious - but definitely use the whiter parts of the leeks when you make this dish. 

This was also a great, comforting meal to make at home before we leave for Italy!!! Today is my last day at my current job, and my last day before vacation. I'll post one more time before I leave, and share with you some genius - and rather embarrassing - ways I made some quick cash before our trip.

Have a happy Friday!

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