French Onion Bread Pudding
This is so scrumptious, that it will soon be a favorite at your holiday dinner! French Onion Bread Pudding is everything you love about french food in general. Rich, decadent, delicious beyond expectations. This is the perfect dish for the vegetarians at your party, as unlike true French Onion Soup, this has no beef broth. This dish is not the dish for dieting, and I find when you use whole ingredients, you actually eat much less, just like the skinny french women! I originally saw this on food network about 5 years ago, but changed it here and there and made it my own… because I am a cooking rebel!
This recipe will serve 12. You may divide in half. For a fun individual twist, may be evenly divided into large ramekins.
Cooks Note: Onions can be caramelized ahead of time, and sealed in the fridge. Bread can also be prepped, and stored in ziploc in the fridge. You can just add everything on the day of and serve piping hot!
Ingredients
12 eggs
1 Quart of Heavy Cream
2 Large French Bread Loaves (or 3 medium Artisan of any flavor).
6 Jumbo Onions ( you can’t go wrong on this if you do 8 medium size.)
2 packages of pre-sliced mushrooms
4 cups of grated Gruyere Cheese ( This is just over 1/2 pound by my measure)
You will also need on hand
Salt
Butter
Black Pepper
Worcestershire Sauce
Marsala Wine ( found near the Sherry, and least expensive at Trader Joe’s) Burns off in cooking.
Herbs de Provence (If you don’t have, Thyme is just fine)
Dijon Mustard
Here we go! Let us talk caramelizing of onions. Done right, this is one of the most versatile ingredients to have in your fridge. They taste great on just about everything, but especially green beans on your Thanksgiving table. I always do these up to three days ahead, because I do a lot of them, and patience is key in their deliciousness! However, if you want fast caramelized onions, you can do so over a medium heat, stirring frequently. I just know for sure, the best flavor is low and slow!
Step 1: Cuisinart is king in this one! Hardly a tear and 6 onions done in 5 minutes flat with the slicing blade!
Step 2: My favorite method for this many onions is a slow cook in the crock pot! But in this case, I used a big pot and got it done in 3 hours with a shortcut; I will show you at the end. I have also done them in a dutch oven at 300 in the oven. Times vary based on volume.
To this pot, I added one stick of butter, 1/4 cup Marsala Wine, 2 Tablespoons of Sugar, and 1 Tablespoon of Herbs de Provence, a pinch of kosher salt, and a splash of Worcestershire sauce.
Place on low heat, and cover. LOW AND SLOW. If you use the crock pot, the 8hour low works great. So you can leave it while you sleep!
Here is what mine looked like at 2 hours
PREHEAT OVEN TO 375. WHEN IT REACHES 375, TURN OFF ( you will see why in a minute).
Meanwhile, prepare your bread by slicing off the crust. Don’t toss the crust! It makes a fabulous breadcrumb for another use!
Chop the bread into generous chunks
At this point, your oven should have heated, and been turned OFF. Take these bread chunks and place on cookie sheet. Put in oven to dry, but not color. Take a look after a few minutes… just to be sure your oven is not cooking the bread. The bread will feel “stale” when dry but gives if you squeeze it. Let cool.
At this point, you do not have to go any further until your onions are caramelized, and ready. A lovely shade of caramel is what you are aiming for. If you want to stop at this point, place your dried bread into a Ziploc and store in fridge, and come back later. If you don’t have all day to let your onions cook low and slow, let me show you the short cut. Just as the onions are turning a light tan, I heated up a skillet on high for a few moments to get it good and hot. I transferred the tan onions and finished caramelizing in about 30 minutes. When your onions are ready, don’t wash the skillet quite yet, as we need to saute the mushrooms, and the onion coating just helps layer the flavors!
Now that all of your ingredients are ready to go, the rest of the recipe goes pretty fast!
Using your cuisinart, shred the cheese and set aside You can use a conventional shredder, but I love how fast the cuisinart is!
Combine eggs and cream in large mixing bowl. Add two tablespoons of mustard. More if you love mustard! Add two teaspoons fresh ground pepper, and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. Mix well.
Fold in the cooled dry bread into the mixture. Make sure all of the bread has coated, and soak for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, spoon bread into large pan sprayed with your favorite nonstick.
Cooks note: Lasagna pans work well, but if you don’t have large pans, you may divide into two, or divide evenly into ramekins.
Once the bread has been divided evenly into pans, pour the remaining egg mixture evenly over the bread.
Next, using a fork, cover with carmelized onions. They tend to stick to one another but worry not. The fork helps.
Spread the top evenly with the shredded cheese.
Bake at 350 for at least 35 minutes. The larger portion usually takes a bit longer. You want the eggs to set, and the top to become a glorious dark golden brown. YUMMO!
The beauty of this dish is that it tastes so good piping hot, but can also be served warm or at room temperature! The only warning I give you is that you may skip the meal and want to eat only this!
Bon Appetit!