Savory Vegetable Bread Pudding
There is something so magical about a savory vegetable bread pudding, and when you add a delicious blend of Cacique® cheese into the mix it becomes euphoric. I am a huge fan of the sweet variety as well, but have been in the mood to cater to my savory cravings.
With Thanksgiving behind us and Christmas around the corner, I wanted to create a bread pudding with stuffing–like tastes. I used sourdough bread as my base, loaded it up with veggies, enhanced the flavor with a blend of Cacique® cheese, and drenched the whole thing in a creamy Cacique® Crema Mexicana mixture. I baked it in the oven in a bain marie, the same way I would a sweet bread pudding and the results were reminiscent of a soufflé like bread pudding that had a run in with holiday stuffing and could easily pass as a strata. This may be my new favorite holiday dish… for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
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WHAT YOU NEED
- 2 – small loaves of sourdough bread (should make about 6 to 7 cups of cubes)
- 4 – tablespoons of butter (plus a little extra for greasing the baking dish)
- 2 – onions (sliced)
- 10 – mushrooms (sliced)
- 7 – stalks green onion (sliced)
- 1 – bunch of baby asparagus (blanched- just the heads)
- 1 – package Cacique® Quesadilla Jalapeno cheese (grated)
- 1 – package Cacique® Oaxaca cheese (grated)
- 3 – eggs
- 3 – cups milk
- 1 – 15 oz. container of Cacique® Crema Mexicana
- 1/2 – teaspoon ground mustard
- 1/2 – teaspoon chili pepper flakes
- 1/2 – teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 – teaspoon Lawry’s seasoning salt
- 1/2 – teaspoon black pepper
HOW TO MAKE IT
- Preheat oven to 373 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Cut sourdough loaves into 1 inch cubes. Place sourdough cubes on a cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Mixing cubes at the 10 minute mark will prevent them from burning on one side.
- In a large frying pan over a medium flame add in butter, and allow to melt. Add in onion and cook for 30 minutes. Stirring every so often. The onions need to be browned and caramelized. Set to the side.
- Butter a 9×13 glass baking dish. Then line glass baking dish with toasted bread cubes. Make sure to leave 1/2 of bread behind for a later use. Layer the caramelized onions on top of bread cubes. Then layer in mushrooms, green onion, and asparagus. Top with Cacique® Queso Quesadilla Jalapeno cheese. Place remaining bread cubes over the top of the cheese.
- Lower the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a separate bowl whisk eggs, milk, Cacique® crema Mexicana, ground mustard, chili pepper flakes, garlic powder, Lawry’s, and black pepper together. Then pour creamy mixture over the top of the bread pudding. Push the top with your hands to ensure all bred cubes are soaking up the creamy mixture. Cover the top of the bread pudding with Oaxaca cheese.
- Place the bread pudding dish into a larger pyrex baking dish. Pour hot water into the larger pyrex baking dish to fill up half way. Making a bain marie. Place the entire thing in the oven, and bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven, then remove the bread pudding dish from water bath. Let cool for 20 minutes.
