Never Too Late For Lemon Bread Pudding

For all of you expecting a recipe on yesterday's Ruler Blog Hop, well here it is - one day late.
(If you are commenting for the Ruler Give-away.... please comment on the post below to qualify)

I sort of thought the recipe was a suggestion and not a requirement. We HAVE recipes. I just didn't want to be accused of being verbose in yesterday's post. Too well fed, yes, but not verbose. But I digress.....

This has become a Simpson Family Favorite. Simpson's get to choose the menu on their birthday, and more often than not, this is the dessert. I was never a fan of bread pudding until this recipe came along. I got this from a Chef Camp I attended about 15 years ago. The chef camp was put on by a distinguished restaurateur in a fabulous place in Northern Michigan. Just outside Charlevoix, by coincidence. The restaurant was called Tapawingo, and sadly it doesn't exist anymore. It was a 4 star restaurant and the chef won a James Beard Award. We had the best time. Four days of mincing, sauteing, chiffonade-ing, and eating. He ran the camp in the off season of late winter and early spring to keep his staff on the payroll. On the last day we all made a dish to serve at our buffet style last feast. He made this. It is heavenly.

Lemon Bread Pudding

Lemon Curd:

3 egg yolks

¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

6 tbls. Granulated sugar

2 tbls. unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

In a small, heavy bottomed saucepan, combine egg yolks, lemon juice and sugar. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, for 7 minutes, or until mixture coats the back of a spoon. DO NOT BOIL. Remove mixture from heat and add butter and zest. Set aside. If curd is not going to be used right away, lay a piece of plastic film on surface to keep a skin from forming.

For The Pudding:

¼ cup brown sugar

8 cups brioche or challah cut in 1 inch cubes

½ cup dried cherries

1 ½ cups milk

1 ½ cups heavy cream

1 tbls. Lemon zest

3 whole eggs

3 egg yolks

1 cup granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter bottom and sides of a pyrex loaf pan. Sprinkle bottom with brown sugar and set aside.

Toast bread cubes on a sheet pan for 10-15 minutes, or until golden. Allow cubes to cool, and then combine with dried cherries in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

Make a custard by heating milk, heavy cream and lemon zest to almost boiling in a medium saucepan over medium heat. In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks, whole eggs and sugar. Slowly add heated milk-cream mixture and whisk until combined. Pour warm custard over bread cubes and cherries and let mixture rest 5-10 minutes until bread cubes absorb custard. Ladle half of bread custard mixture into prepared loaf pan. Spoon lemon curd, spreading to even distribution, and top with remaining bread-custard mixture.

Prepare a water bath by placing loaf pan in a larger baking pan filled with 2 inches of hot water. Bake pudding for 60 minutes, or until a thin bladed knife inserted into the middle of dish comes out clean. Remove loaf pan from water bath and cool to room temperature. Flip pudding onto platter and slice. Refrigerate remaining bread pudding.

Bon Appetit

Laurie