Bleu Cheese and Onion Bread Pudding

Once you give savory bread puddings the benefit of the doubt, you'll no doubt be as entranced with their creamy goodness and endless adaptability as we are at Cafe Drake. Below we supply a back-to-basics recipe, but consider it a starting point only for your own creative interpretations. Tomato and cheddar also makes a fine pudding, though you'll want to work with either tomato paste or sun-dried tomatoes; the fresh variety release too much water during the cooking process. Also amazing is a combo of grated Gruyere and stir-fried mushrooms, again, just make certain the 'shrooms have been fried in olive oil and garlic till quite dry before adding to the egg and milk mix.

BLEU CHEESE AND ONION BREAD PUDDING

Makes a lovely vegetarian entree, served with a salad or cooked greens (as in photo above), or as a side dish to roasted chicken or even beef or pork stew.

1/2 white flour baguette or loaf of French bread, cut into 1-inch cubes / 1 1/2 cups milk / at least 1 cup crumbled bleu cheese of choice / 1 small red onion, thinly sliced / 3 eggs, beaten / 1 t. Worcestershire / salt and black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Butter a 1 quart or larger baking dish.


2. Heat the milk then remove from heat. Whisk in the cheese then the eggs and finally the onions and Worcestershire sauce.


3. Season well with salt and fresh ground black pepper.


4. Pour into a casserole dish.


5. Top with bread cubes, pushing most of them in to the egg mixture to moisten.


6. Bake for 40 -50 minutes until firm and browned on top.