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plllog

Thanks to Bbstx -- Inspired dinner!

plllog
9 years ago

First off, I hope the delivery went well and without pinholes.

Next, THANK-YOU for posting that revolting recipe for pain perdu with onions. I've been dreaming of caramelized onions ever since. I was just going to make bread pudding to use up ends, but it turned into caramelized onion bread pudding with mushrooms. Somewhere in the middle, when I was getting tired of stirring, I was wondering what the heck I'd gotten myself into and thinking it was going to be obnoxious anyway. Not! OMG!!!! Okay, a big part of the OMG was the mushrooms, but they wouldn't have carried it without the onions.

Edit: I picked it apart, cold, at lunch to see what the OMG was all about. It's not the mushrooms by themselves. Sort of the onions alone, but they have other flavors sticking. The whole wheat sourdough is an important factor, as is the fenugreek. I think the chervil is a little lost, but it whispers too. The pretzel bread is for texture (you could use challah), and also to get it out of my freezer. Definitely greater than the sum of the parts.

BBSTX Inspired Caramelized Onion Bread Pudding with Mushrooms by JC

Approx. 3 quarts dry cubed stale bread, 2/3 whole wheat sourdough, 1/3 pretzel bread
6 large eggs
3 cups 2% milk
ground fenugreek--sprinkled all over...1 tsp?
dried chervil--sprinkled loosely...1 tsp?
S&P, lightly or to taste
4 medium onions, halved and sliced, broken into strings
2 TBSP cooking oil (I use light olive which has a moderately high smoke point)
1/8-1/4 tsp. sugar (optional)
2 tsp. butter
2-3 TBSP Marsala wine
1/2 lb. fancy mushrooms, cut, if necessary, into small chunks
For the mushrooms, I used a box from Whole Foods that needed using up (it was originally going in a dish that never got made). It's Mycopia Specialty Trio: Nebrodini Bianco, Forest Nameko and Velvet Nioppini.

Also, a topping of your choice. Some people like buttered bread crumbs. I used some TJ's Quattro Fromaggio, pre-shredded cheese because I totally forgot. A topping is good because it keeps moisture in, it browns nicely, and it's yummy.

A few hours before you start, cut the bread. In a large, wide mixing bowl, use a whisk to beat the eggs, fenugreek, chervil and S&P until really well beaten.

Keep beating while pouring the milk in slowly so that it combines well and becomes a little frothy, making a nice custard mix.

Put the whole wheat bread in and stir so that all has been well dunked in the custard. Put a plate on top and something heavy on the plate to force the bread down into the custard. Go watch a TV show or two.

About an hour later, add the preztel bread and stir until it's well dunked. Try to get more of the preztel bread on the bottom, replace the plate and weight, and catch up on some reading or laundry (2-3 hrs.).

When you're ready to spend an hour fussing with the filling, heat a pan that's just big enough to hold the onions, preferably flatter than deeper, to the high end of medium. Add the oil, and when that's hot, add the onions. Stir well so that all are coated with the oil. Keep stirring regularly. Reduce the heat to the middle of medium, where you can do something else but guard them.

Heat a small pan to the low end of medium. Stir the onions. Add the butter. When that's melted, add the mushrooms. Stir and coat. Stir the onions!! When the mushrooms seem heated through, add the wine. Stir a bit, or sauté (jump). Stir the onions. When the mushrooms are bubbling nicely, put a cover over the pan. It doesn't have to fit. Let simmer for about 8 minutes. Stir the onions. Uncover the mushrooms and let the liquid reduce, then remove from heat.

Stir the onions.

When the onions are pretty translucent, you can add the sugar to encourage the caramelization, but it's not necessary.

Turn on the oven to bake 350° F, or convection bake 335°

Raise the heat on the onions and keep stirring. Add a drop of wine if they start to stick. Don't stir so much that they don't caramelize, but keep stirring. They're done when they're good and brown (how brown is up to you).

Remove the onions from the heat just long enough so they don't cook the custard when you combine. A few minutes should do.

Stir the onions and mushrooms into the bread/custard mixture and empty the bowl into a large baking dish.

Bake for about 45 minutes.

Cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Edited to fix typo.

This post was edited by plllog on Mon, Sep 22, 14 at 16:27

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