We are all familiar with bread pudding for a dessert but until recently I had never experienced savory bread pudding and can’t believe I hadn’t tried it sooner.
A mushroom forager came by the restaurant the other day with some nice, fresh, local morel mushrooms. I had some asparagus and was looking for a new dish to put on our menu and this is what I came up with.
It makes an amazing side dish for any meal and is guaranteed to impress your guests at your next dinner party!
Before getting started you will need to gather the following ingredients:
- 1 1-pound loaf French bread, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces?
- 1 pound fresh morel mushrooms, cleaned & rough chopped
- 1 pound asparagus, trimmed, cut into 1 1/2 -inch lengths
- 6 large eggs?
- 2 cups milk?
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper?
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley?
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh marjoram (optional)
Place bread on a baking sheet and let stand overnight to dry out.
Cook the asparagus in a medium pot of boiling salted water until crisp tender, about three minutes.
Drain and rinse under cold water to cool. Drain well to reduce excess moisture and set aside.
Whisk eggs, milk, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Mix the cheese and herbs in a medium bowl.
Place half of the bread in a 13x9x2 glass baking dish or in individual ramekins.
Sprinkle with half of the asparagus, half of the mushrooms and then half of the cheese mixture.
Pour half of the egg mixture over.
Repeat with the remaining bread, asparagus, mushrooms, cheese mixture and egg mixture.
Let stand 20 minutes, pressing with a spatula to submerge the bread pieces.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and bake the bread pudding until golden brown and puffed, about 45 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!