Herbed Sausage & Wild Mushroom bread pudding
Gwynie made this for Christmas. It was so good I thought I'd give it a write up. It's more like French toast than a quiche, with a great contrasting texture of succulent mushrooms and crispy bread. Most of the steps can be done in advance, so it would be a great dish for say a dinner party where you'd rather spend time with your guests. Gourmet magazine talks about using parchment lined ramekins, but I prefer to do it in one large dish. If I were going to serve it in smaller volumes, I'd just use large muffin tins with cupcake papers, and prolly bake for only 10-15 minutes. Alternatively prebake and then broil as discussed below.
Herbed Sausage & Wild Mushroom bread pudding
Ingredients
4 Cups (1/2-inch) fresh bread cubes (Acme herb foccacia- missing 4 slices...)
1 large onion coarsely chopped OR
1/2 Cup shallot finely chopped
1/2 lb sausage meat
2 Tbs butter unsalted
1 1/2 lbs mixed fresh mushrooms (crimini, chantrelle and shitake)
1/2 Cup flat-leaf parsley finely chopped
1/2 bunch sage coarsely chopped
2 Cups half-and-half
4 large eggs
1/2 Cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.
Gwynie started eating the herb slab before making the bread cubes... I think a whole herb slab would have been too much? Bake bread cubes in 1 layer in a large shallow baking pan until golden-brown, about 10 minutes. This can be done ahead and stored in a air tight container.
Tear or cut mushrooms lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick pieces. Sauté shallot or onion in butter until glassy ~3 minutes. Add mushrooms, sausage, salt & pepper and cook until dry ~15 minutes. Add parsley, sage and cook, stirring ~2 minutes. Remove from heat. Sometimes I feel that a cycle of heating and cooling helps to boost flavours, if you want that then this step can be done ahead and stored in the fridge.
Whisk together half-and-half, eggs, cheese, salt & pepper in a large bowl. Stir in sausage, mushrooms and bread cubes until coated well and let stand 10 minutes for bread to absorb egg mixture. Mix again before placing in a shallow casserole dish, sprinkle top with more cheese.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, remove and allow to rest for 20 minutes. The egg continues to cook while waiting, making for a very tender chew. Gwynie likes hers served hot, and if you want more crunch, heat under broiler ~5 minutes for the top to crisp up. You can also bake in a large dish and then when serving individual portions toast under broiler for more of an edge effect.