Mmmm, GOOD! Wednesday, September 22, 2010
What goes better together than listening to your favorite jazz and cooking up some great food from New Orleans? I’m going to share with you a great bread pudding recipe from one of my favorite N’awlins restaurants, The Court of Two Sisters on Royal Street.
Suggested listening:
Louis Armstrong and His Hot 5 and Hot 7 1925-1928
Suggested sheet music:
West End Blues
Potato Head Blues
The Louis Armstrong Collection
Louis Armstrong Plays Standards
Also check out the Jazz Icons DVD, Louis Armstrong Live in ’59.
Now for the recipe…
Recipe for Courtyard Bread Pudding
3 cups milk
1 24†loaf of day-old French bread; cut into 1½ to 2†cubes (12 cups bread cubes)
2/3 cup raisins
¼ cup salted butter, melted
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
¾ tsp. ground nutmeg
½ tsp. salt
Scald the milk in a heavy 4 to 5-quart saucepan. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 5 minutes. Then add the bread, raisins, and melted butter and mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and add the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Mix until thoroughly blended. Then add to the bread mixture and blend well.
Butter a 3 to 4-quart earthenware or china casserole thoroughly on all inner surfaces (or use a baking dish about 3 to 4 inches deep). Pour the mixture into it and stir to distribute the ingredients evenly. Bake uncovered in a preheated 350-degree oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean and the tip begins to brown and form a rough crust. Allow to cool to room temperature. Serve warm or chilled with Whiskey Sauce. Yields 8 or more servings.
Now for the kicker… (hint: add the Bourbon to your own taste)
Whiskey Sauce
1 ¼ lbs. butter
1 lb. sugar
9 egg yolks
½ cup half and half
4 tsp. corn starch mixed in ½ cup of cold water
2 ½ oz. Bourbon
Melt butter and dissolve sugar over double boiler. Add egg yolks and whip vigorously so that egg yolks do not curdle. To this mixture add half and half and corn starch mixture. Let cook over double boiler for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add whiskey. Serve
2 oz. per serving of bread pudding
All you jazzers out there should also plan to attend the 2nd Annual Jazz Education Network Conference to be held in New Orleans in January. Those of you in the know are hip to the fact that NOLA is beautiful that time of year!
Enjoy!
The Jazz Guy