On Sunday I stared at 2/3 of a loaf of stale sourdough bread and wondered if I could combine it with enough vegetables to make a satisfying Meatless Monday dinner. After realizing that the vegetable drawer held an excess of red bell peppers my first idea was to go Spanish, but after realizing I had ten big white mushrooms that I'd bought for a salad that never got made and a little tub of leftover sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, I realized that the contents of my fridge offered all the flavors of my favorite veggie pizza combo (okay, it's usually green bell pepper instead of red, but hey), it was obvious that I had to go Italian.
The result was, hands down, the best savory bread pudding I've ever eaten, and it's worth sharing. Here's what went into it:
About 6-8 cups of torn sourdough bread, or about 2/3 a large loaf
2 red bell peppers cut into bite-sized dice
2 shallots, sliced
3 ribs celery, diced
3 heaping tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil, chopped
10 large mushrooms, cleaned and sliced thinly
1 handful roughly chopped parsley
1 generous tablespoon dried oregano
Several grinds of black pepper
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, divided
1 14 ounce can chicken broth (okay, okay, so it's not 100% vegetarian)
1 cup whole milk
2 eggs
Tear the bread into a large mixing bowl. Prepare the vegetables as above, then sweat the shallots, bell peppers, celery and mushrooms together. Add to the bread along with the sundried tomatoes, parsley, oregano, and black pepper (between the sourdough bread, the chicken broth and the parmesan cheese, my pudding did not need additional salt). Separately, beat two eggs then combine with the broth and milk. Add the liquid to the bread-vegetable mixture along with half the parmesan cheese. Allow to stand for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until all the bread is moistened. Then pour into a baking dish whose sides and bottom have been greased. If there's standing liquid in the bottom of the bowl, discard, the bread didn't need it. Sprinkle the remaining parmesan over the top. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight or at least eight hours.
Bake cold from the fridge with foil cover at 400 F for about an hour, then remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes until the top has acquired a crisp golden crust. Serve immediately. And though I generally don't approve of serving salad on the same plate as the main course, here's an instance where a salad should be part of the main course. We plated ours with mixed garden greens tossed in a simple dressing of oil, vinegar and dijon mustard.
