Auros ([info]auros) wrote,
  • Mood: pleased

creative ways to empty the fridge

I was trying to decide what to make for dinner, last night, and nothing was particularly catching my fancy, when I realized we had some slightly stale herbed breadsticks from some previous takeout, as well as the heels from a loaf of cheese bread we'd gotten from Whole Foods at least two weeks ago. It seemed like a shame to waste them, so I thought, what could I do with stale bread? The traditional way to rescue stale bread is to soak it in a custard and cook it. I suppose I could've gone with something like a savory french toast, and topped it with veggies. But instead, I cubed the bread (roughly 1-2cm), tossed it with some sauteed veggies (with some sweet balsamic and additional herbs and spices) and grated aged asiago, poured over the custard (five eggs thoroughly beaten, with a roughly equal volume of whole milk whisked in) and then baked the whole thing at 350F for 40 minutes. Basically a savory trifle, or a hybrid between a quiche and frittata (using the bread where we'd usually use potato).

It was really quite good -- the bread in the bottom was all soft and custardy, while the cubes that stuck out the top were lightly browned and crunchy.

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  • 7 comments

[info]cyan_blue

June 11 2011, 16:09:55 UTC 11 months ago

Cool! :)

[info]auros

June 11 2011, 17:22:56 UTC 11 months ago

And we still have half left over, which we'll probably have for dinner tonight. :-)

[info]auros

June 11 2011, 17:24:15 UTC 11 months ago

Oh, and the basic concept would work just as well for making a dessert; I'm thinking we should get some kind of sweet-ish bread (like a honeyed challah), and some fresh cherries and cheery preserves, and do that... With things just being tossed, rather than layered, it's not as elaborate as a traditional British trifle, but still tasty...

[info]plymouth

June 11 2011, 18:06:45 UTC 11 months ago

I still think it seems more like bread pudding than a trifle. Bread pudding you just toss the bread cubes in the custard (ok you usually soak it a while but then you usually also start with much staler bread so it needs more soaking) and mix in the fruity bits.

[info]linley

June 11 2011, 20:28:54 UTC 11 months ago

I agree--it sounds a lot like the savory bread pudding recipe from The Greens Cookbook, which I love as a way to use up odds and ends of bread and cheese.

[info]auros

June 12 2011, 17:47:15 UTC 11 months ago Edited:  June 12 2011, 17:48:24 UTC

I generally think of a bread pudding as ending up with the ratio of bread to custard being such that you end up with a solid mass of bread, soaked through with custard. Whereas in what we made the other day, it's a bit more like cubes of bread baked into a quiche/frittata thing. And that's more how I think of trifle -- it has bread or cake bits, and other bits (fruit, in the standard sweet version), suspended in layers of custard.

I haven't had the Greens bread pudding, of course, so maybe they're pushing more in that quiche-y direction. Would love to try it some time, since everything I've ever had at the restaurant was superb.

[info]rebbyribs

June 12 2011, 00:14:40 UTC 11 months ago

The other things I do with stale bread are make croutons or turn it into breadcrumbs and stick them in the freezer (for the next time I make a casserole or veggie burgers).
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