Ham, Cheese and Apple Bread Pudding

 

Ingredients:

• Butter to coat pan
• 4 large eggs
• 375 mL milk
• 2 g sea salt
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 180 g sourdough bread cut into largish cubes
• 1/2 apple, like gala, cored and sliced thinly
• 100 g ham, cut into ribbons
• 70+ g Gouda or Gruyère, divided

Directions:

1. Brush the melted butter along the bottom and sides of a 9” x 9” decorative baking dish.
2. Whisk the eggs, milk, salt and nutmeg.
3. Lay the bread evenly in the prepared baking dish, place the ham and apples evenly throughout, then sprinkle 70g of the cheese over it tucking it into the spaces.
4. Pour the egg mixture over the bread, ham, apples and cheese evenly. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
5. The next day, remove the prepared bread pudding from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature, about an hour.
6. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top and bake for 40-45 minutes or until set. All the bread pudding to sit for 10-15 minutes to fully set.
7. Serve with yogurt and Dijon maple syrup.

Ingredients

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Not Your Ordinary White Bread

This loaf came out of a craving for one of those hot chicken sandwiches smothered with brown gravy that you used to get at those Mom and Pop highway diners in the eighties and nineties. They used horrible white bread that disintegrated into gluey pulp under the gravy, but I wanted something sturdier and with flavour, this loaf hit the spot. It’ll make awesome grilled cheese too!

The butter and egg add structure to the bread so that it doesn’t fall apart with the gravy.

White Bread

A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe

Makes one load about 20 cm (8 inches) long

Ingredients:

• 150 mL warm milk
• 6 g yeast
• 30 g sugar
• 1 large egg
• 40 g unsalted butter
• 390 g AP Flour
• 7 g salt

Directions:

1. Combine the warm milk, yeast, and sugar in the large bowl of your stand mixer and allow the yeast to proof for about 5-8 minutes or until frothy.
2. Using the beater attachment, beat in the egg. Add half of the flour and butter and beat until incorporated. Change to kneading hook and add the remaining flour and salt and knead for 8-10 minutes or until smooth. Cover and allow to rise in a warm area for 1.5 hours or until doubled in size.
3. Butter the sides and bottom of a 20 cm loaf pan. Set aside.
4. Turn the dough out to a lightly floured surface, punch down and roll out to a 20 cm x 30 cm rectangle. Brush off the excess flour from both sides of the dough. If the dough is not sticky, spray with a little water on both sides. Roll up the dough from the 30 cm side, pinching the ends closed. Lay it flat into the prepared pan and allow to rise again, covered in a warm place until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
5. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Brush loaf top with a little milk. Bake loaf for 40-45 minutes or until the internal temperature is 200° F. Cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy.

An old fashioned hot chicken sandwich smothered with gravy. And that damn winter light is sneaking in.

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Roasted Garlic, Cauliflower Gnocchi

We had some friends over for a patio dinner in early September and I made a Barbequed Chicken on the Big Green Egg with Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Purée and a wonderful Fennel salad. Everyone had seconds and maybe even thirds but I still had a handful of the Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Purée leftover. I decided to make Gnocchi out of it. Any purée would work, I’ve made lentil gnocchi and sweet potato gnocchi as well as the traditional potato gnocchi before so I thought, why not? 

The grooves and divots are intentional so that the sauce sticks to them better!

Roasted Garlic, Cauliflower Gnocchi in a Simple Avocado Cream Sauce

A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe

Makes about 2-4 servings

Ingredients:

• 218 g roasted garlic, cauliflower purée (for the purée recipe, please click here)
• 250-270 g “00” flour (depending on how wet your cauliflower purée is)
• 15 g Parmigiana, finely grated

Directions:

1. Combine all three ingredients and mix well. Knead into a smooth, not sticky dough.
2. Allow to rest for 20 minutes. Roll into 1-1.5 cm ropes and cut into 2 cm lengths. Run up the tines of a fork for the traditional grooves or use a gnocchi paddle like this.
3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add salt. Boil gnocchi until they pop up to the surface and remove with a slotted spoon. 

Notes:

• I like to freeze the gnocchi on a parchment-lined sheet and transfer them into a ziplock baggy for future use. They cook from frozen almost as quickly as the fresh ones, so timing is not an issue.
• I bought a Danish Dough Whisk for my husband last Christmas because he often bakes his no-knead bread and I thought it would make mixing the dough easier for him…what I didn’t think was that I would end up using it more than he does, it makes stirring thick batters and doughs a snap! I used it for the gnocchi and it was so easy.

 

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Herbed Bread Knots

I have been following fellow blogger, Lorraine Eliott over at Not-Quite-Nigella on Instagram and in August she posted a photo of the most beautiful bread knots I have ever seen. I knew the moment I saw them, I’d have to give them a go. They are not only beautiful, but they are also very tasty and quite easy to make so I’m sharing the recipe here so that I will remember to make them again.

I made 12 knots but to be honest, they were a little too big so next time, I’ll make 14!

Makes about 12 -14 bread knots. For the original recipe please click here.

Ingredients:

• 6 g instant dried yeast
• 250 mL warm water (around 110° F)
• 400 g flour
• 6 g granulated garlic
• 3 g Salt
• 15 mL EVOO
• 70 g unsalted butter, softened
• 25 g roasted garlic purée
• 100 g Parmesan cheese, grated
• Variety of herbs to make up about 20 g, chopped or julienned
• Eggwash to glaze

Directions:

1. Dissolve the yeast in the water, set aside. In the large bowl of your stand mixer, add the flour, garlic and salt and mix well.
2. Add the yeasty water to the bowl with the flour mixture and knead for 2-3 minutes until it is roughly incorporated. Allow the dough to sit for 20 minutes. Then start the kneader up again and knead until a beautiful shiny dough is achieved (around 10 minutes). Grease the bowl and the dough with the EVOO and allow to proof in a draft-free location for 45 minutes or until doubled in size.
3. Meanwhile, cream the butter, the roasted garlic, the Parmesan cheese and the herbs until well mixed.
4. Once the dough has doubled in size, roll out to 35 cm x 50 cm. Spread the butter mixture all on the dough, right to the edge. Fold it length-wise into thirds (like you would making croissants) and lightly roll out to a slightly larger rectangle (careful not to put too much weight in rolling, otherwise the butter mixture will ooze out).
5. Cut the dough into 12-14 equal widths and make an additional length-wise slit down each width without going right to the edge. Lift by each end and roll into a beautiful knot, carefully twisting each roll so that the cut sides are exposed and you can see the herbs. Tuck each end into the knot and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Make all of the knots and allow the knots to rest for 30 minutes covered with a clean cloth.
6. Preheat the oven to 375° F. Bake the knots for 18-25 minutes or until the centre registers about 200° F. Serve immediately, but they also freeze beautifully. Reheat in a 350° F oven for a few minutes until they are warmed through.

They are a cross between bread and a laminated dough, the layers are scrumptious!

Notes:

• Any herbs would work, I used basil, parsley and thyme.
• I may not chop the herbs as finely next time.
• I can’t wait to try sundried tomatoes and basil with mozzarella cheese or a sweet treat of cinnamon butter and sugar.

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