BourbonBrdPudding

Slice the bread into ½ inch cubes and toast in a 325 degree oven until very dry but not brown. Set aside. Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees to preheat.

Put the eggs into a large mixer bowl and beat until very frothy and full of very tiny bubbles. Add the sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, bourbon and butter and beat until well blended. Beat in the milk and stir in the raisins and pecans.

Place the bread cubes into a well-buttered Pyrex loaf pan (or an 8 x 8 glass pan if you prefer) and pour the egg mixture over the cubes. Allow the bread to soak up the custard mixture for about 45 minutes, occasionally pushing the cubes down into the wet mixture. The bread should soak up nearly all of the custard mixture until you can see only a fine bead of custard around the edges of the pan.

Place the pan into the 350 degree oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 300 degrees. Bake the loaf pan for 40 minutes or the 8 x 8 for 35 minutes. Increase the temperature to 425 and bake for 15 minutes or until brown and puffy.

Lemon Sauce
1 lemon
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla

Cut lemon in half and squeeze out 2 tablespoons of juice. Put the juice and the lemon halves into a small saucepan. Add water and sugar and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the cornstarch slurry and the vanilla. Return to heat and stirring constantly, bring the mixture back to a boil until thick. Cool until the lemons can be handled and ream out all the contents of the halves into the sauce. Strain and serve warm.


	Bourbon bread pudding with lemon sauce
Sue Kleber As for food trends, I saw a return to homey, comfort foods, made with top quality produce, beautifully prepared: berry fools, apple tartlets and all sorts of puddings and crumbles. This bread pudding would be very fashionable and is something we have made many, many times. This is really Ed’s specialty and he usually makes it when I make gumbo. To serve, put a portion of this very rich pudding in the center of the plate, spoon the lemon sauce to one side and fill the other side with sweet vanilla whipped cream. Last weekend, Ed and I made our annual end-of-the-year trip to San Francisco. While he is in business meetings, I hit the Ferry Building and Saturday morning we both do the farmers’ market. Slurping down oysters for breakfast is about as decadent as we can handle these days, but they are s-o-o-o good. During those two days, I check out all the new foodie trends, stock up on Acme bread that I freeze as soon as we get home and usually buy some totally irrelevant kitchen gadget that I will look at lovingly and someday even use.		Bread Pudding 3 large eggs 1 1/4 cup sugar 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1 tsp nutmeg 1 1/4 tsp cinnamon 2 TB Jack Daniels bourbon 1/4 cup butter, melted 2 cups whole milk 1/2 cup raisins 1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted (optional) 5 cups Challah, sweet French or firm Italian bread, cubed Slice the bread into ½ inch cubes and toast in a 325 degree oven until very dry but not brown. Set aside. Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees to preheat. Put the eggs into a large mixer bowl and beat until very frothy and full of very tiny bubbles. Add the sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, bourbon and butter and beat until well blended. Beat in the milk and stir in the raisins and pecans. Place the bread cubes into a well-buttered Pyrex loaf pan (or an 8 x 8 glass pan if you prefer) and pour the egg mixture over the cubes. Allow the bread to soak up the custard mixture for about 45 minutes, occasionally pushing the cubes down into the wet mixture. The bread should soak up nearly all of the custard mixture until you can see only a fine bead of custard around the edges of the pan. Place the pan into the 350 degree oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 300 degrees. Bake the loaf pan for 40 minutes or the 8 x 8 for 35 minutes. Increase the temperature to 425 and bake for 15 minutes or until brown and puffy. Lemon Sauce 1 lemon 1/2 cup water 1/4 cup sugar 2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup water 1 tsp vanilla Cut lemon in half and squeeze out 2 tablespoons of juice. Put the juice and the lemon halves into a small saucepan. Add water and sugar and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the cornstarch slurry and the vanilla. Return to heat and stirring constantly, bring the mixture back to a boil until thick. Cool until the lemons can be handled and ream out all the contents of the halves into the sauce. Strain and serve warm.
Courtesy of: Real Estate & Living www.somocorealestate.com