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I've been having a series of lunches for slackers. Whoever cooks typically does a multi-course meal from scratch. Dishes range from souffle to fried turkey.
My Mardi Gras week lunch featured pane'ed shrimp, tilapia and okra (with light coating of Cajun spiced breading) over roasted corn/lime salsa and brown rice with a splash of fish stock, and a dab of remoulade on the side. But the star was the dessert.
Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding
serves 15
- one loaf sweet french bread, stale, crust removed, cut into 3/4" cubes
- eight eggs
- one pint skim milk, one pint heavy cream
- 1 lb Scharffen Berger semi-sweet, chopped into chips
- 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1/2 cup Gran Marnier
- 1/2 cup Irish whiskey
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp cocoa
- unsalted butter
- melt 1/3 of chocolate chips
- let milk, cream and eggs reach room temperature, let chocolate cool
- whisk melted chocolate into eggs until smooth
- whisk liquor, sugar, nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon into mixture until smooth
- whisk milk and cream into egg mixture until smooth
- fold bread cubes into mixture, let stand for 30 minutes
- pour mixture into large deep pan, or several smaller deep tins (large pan yields custardy center with more cake-like exterior, smaller pans yield more consistent texture)
- while pouring mixture, add layers of the remaining chocolate chips
- sprinkle cocoa on top
- bake at 350 until set in the center, 50-60 minutes
- finish under broiler for 5 minutes, about 4" from hot broiler
- let cool for 5 minutes
- serve with vanilla ice cream, raspberry sorbet, whiskey, or whipped cream
- make note to self about increasing aerobics for a couple of days