Thanksgiving was more than a week ago, so technically, any remaining leftovers probably should have gone into the worm bin or the trash long ago. But the bread has been in the fridge and, while it's dry, its still usable, as far as I'm concerned. On Thanksgiving morning, I made Deborah Madison's Classic Sandwich Bread from her Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. This is a wonderful book - possibly my most frequently visited. Her recipes are just right - the right amount of salt, the right baking time. Considering the variables in ingredients and environment, I don't know how she hits it so spot-on every time, but she does. I've never been disappointed.
This particular recipe makes two loaves. My twist was to make one sweet and one savory. I rolled the dough for each loaf into rectangles. On one, I spread a filling of almond paste mixed with apricot preserves and sprinkled over with finely chopped almonds. The other dough rectangle was spread with a filling of sauteed garlic, some finely chopped fresh rosemary and sage, and grated parmesan cheese.
Both doughs were rolled up and placed into loaf pans. After their last rise, they each got an egg wash and the sweet loaf was dusted with more chopped almonds and the savory, with cheese. They turned out well and made wonderful toast the next day. But the day after, and the day after that, even homemade bread starts to lose its appeal.
So what did I find in the refridge today, but some leftover Thanksgiving bread. There was only a heel of the savory, so small cubes of that went onto my lunchtime tomato bisque. There was more of the apricoty-almondy sweet bread though, and that has now become bread pudding. I had enough bread cubes to comfortably fill 3 1-cup ramikans. Tossed in with the cubes are some chopped dried apricots and even more finely chopped almonds. In a separate bowl, I mixed 2 slightly beaten eggs and 2 cups of milk. To this I added about a teaspoon of vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, and 1/2 cup of brown sugar. This custard was poured over the bread cubes in the ramekins to cover them. And because I still had the smell in my nose from buying it yesterday, I dusted a tiny bit of ground cardamom over top of each one.
The ramekins went into a baking pan and hot water was poured into the baking dish to make a bain marie. Baked for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees, slightly puffed, beautifully scented, these overlooked leftovers, which were on the verge of being tossed, have been resurrected.
I don't know how it is in your household, but here it is dangerously easy to waste. So we make an effort to avoid this and we try to reuse or use up. I am a spicy, savory breakfast lover. (You all know about my thing with frying an egg and putting it on leftovers of every sort.) I take my lunch to work - another great way to use up; and at least one night a week, Kurt and I have some incredibly disjointed meal of leftover this with leftover that. Worst case scenerio, my pet worms (I keep thousands of the little darlings in a bin out by the garden) will get what we just plain don't want to eat or shouldn't.
Don't get me wrong: I don't advocate eating anything that would no longer taste good or would be unhealthy to eat. And I am not likely to care too much about the occasional prepared food leftover. But that which I cook or bake, if it was good to start out, may well have a second life as a leftover.
Know what else I have left from Thanksgiving? Whipping cream. Just enough to whip and top that bread pudding! Cheers!
