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This Month's Recipe
October 2021
This Month’s Recipe
Croque Monsieur Savory Bread Pudding Recipe
Is there anything in the world better than a classic ham and cheese sandwich? Well, if there ever was a contender, it'd be this recipe for Croque Monsieur Savory Bread Pudding.
You see this recipe is a twist on the delicious classic French recipe croque monsieur but it's turned into casserole form. Yes, yes, for the semantics expert, a savory bread pudding is known as strata. But we say call it whatever the heck you want to call it because it all translates to delicious.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon unsalted butter plus extra for coating pan
1 yellow onion roughly chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
4 garlic cloves thinly sliced
1 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh thyme leaves plus one teaspoon for garnish
8 large eggs
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce plus more for garnish
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt divided
1 pound loaf French bread stale or toasted, cut into 1-inch dice
2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese (about 4.5 ounces)
1 pound Canadian Bacon cut into 1/2-inch dice
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 ounce)
Instructions
Saute The Onions: Coat a 2-quart (about 11-by-7-inch) baking dish with butter and set aside. Place a large frying pan over medium heat and add butter. When it foams, add onion, season with salt, stir, and cook until just softened, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Add garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook until beginning to soften and fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in thyme.
Make The Bread Pudding Custard: Whisk eggs, half-and-half, mustard, hot sauce, and salt in a large bowl until evenly combined. Arrange half of the bread in bottom of prepared dish. Sprinkle with 1 cup of the Gruyere and half each of onion mix and ham.
Repeat layering with remaining bread, onion mixture, ham, and Gruyere cheese. Pour egg mixture over top.
Push to ensure bread is submerged in egg custard, cover with plastic wrap, put a plate and a 1-pound weight on top (a large can of tomatoes or rice in a re-sealable plastic bag works well), place in refrigerator for 3 to 12 hours.
Bake The Bread Pudding: When ready to bake, heat oven to 325°F and arrange rack in the middle. Let strata sit at room temperature while oven heats, at least 20 minutes.
Bake for 20 minutes, then increase temperature to 375°F. Sprinkle parmesan over the strata and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes until puffed and edges pull away slightly. Remove from oven and sprinkle over remaining thyme.
Cool for at least 5 minutes before serving. Serve with hot sauce on the side.
https://saltandwind.com/recipes/186-croque-monsieur-savory-bread-pudding-recipe
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Manual Appliances
The main idea of using "manual" appliances should be self explanatory...not needing to use ELECTRICITY! I have found that there is great satisfaction to not having to be "plugged-in". Meaning that Boondocking places are far more available and being off-the-grid saves those dollars for more food, fuel and entertainment.
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FoodSaver Tips
FoodSaver’s® FreshSaver® has been one of the best product I have ever discovered. I have been using this product since February 2014. It is more convenient than the original FoodSaver® because of its size and because this is a perfect fit due to the available space. It is so much more useful when living on a boat or in any size kitchen.
One of the best things about this product are the bags being used rather than the rolls that have to be cut and tossed after use. The bag with the two-way valve makes it more useful because after opening the bag and taking what you need out of the bag can be resealed. Making what food products you buy last so much longer, due the absence of oxygen inside the bag that can make food spoil more quickly.
Tip 1
When buying large or somewhat large quantities of lunchmeat, separate lunchmeat into amounts usable for short periods of time. Using regular size zipper sandwich bags, place separated lunchmeat into the bags, zipping almost all the way closed. Place two of these packages into a one-quart FreshSaver® bag, place a folded paper towel inside with the bags, closing the bag securely and apply FreshSaver® to evacuate air. This technique will not only keep your food from spoiling but the paper towel will absorb any excess liquid. After opening each time to use the lunchmeat replace with a fresh dry paper towel and reseal. If planning to freeze the lunchmeat a paper towel will not be needed until thawing out. Then, a paper towel will be considered necessary.
The refrigerated lunchmeat can last up to two to three weeks using this method in the refrigerator. The frozen will last months and will be as fresh as the day the lunchmeat was purchased. My personal experience with the refrigerated lunchmeat has lasted well over 3-4 weeks and was just as fresh.This also applies to fresh sliced deli meats and cheese.
Tip 2
When buying large quantities of cheese, the FreshSaver® is by far one of the best products to use insuring the long lasting freshness of your cheese product. What I have done is to take packaged sliced cheeses, after opening and placing them into a FreshSaver® bag and evacuating the air. For large quantities, the cheese can be frozen. To thaw the cheese place in the refrigerator overnight. The cheese will be as fresh as before frozen. Suggestion: buy the cheese that has paper between slices. For cheese that is refrigerated always evacuate air after each opening. For block cheese place in FreshSaver® bag, evacuate the air after each use. The cheese will last longer than using regular Ziploc bags because air in the bags causes the cheese to not last so long.
Tip 3
FreshSaver® bags used to keep onions will amaze you as not only will the onion stay fresh, but it will also not emit any odors into the fridge. As for lettuce, Romaine or Iceberg, rinsing the lettuce and wrapping in paper towels then placing in a gallon size FreshSaver® bag, removing the air, will make the lettuce last much longer than normal. Suggestion: when ready to use, take the lettuce leaves for use and prior to returning the lettuce to the bag, trim a small edge from the core of the lettuce and replace with dry paper towels. What I have learned and started doing is to remove the large iceberg lettuce leaves to be used for burgers or sandwiches and wrap them in a couple of paper towels, place them in the large FreshSaver® bag and seal. Use what I need and reseal the bag, replace the paper towels as needed. I am amazed at how long those lettuce leaves last and are as fresh as the day I put them in the refrigerator. Some have lasted longer than 2 weeks and were still crisp!
Although some people may not want to, the FreshSaver® bags are reusable if washed and dried thoroughly. I am so impressed with this product that I use it daily. I have used these bags to keep butter fresh, sauces and soups fresh (after frozen then air removed), even for brown sugar. The uses seem to be endless.
Flour and corn tortillas*
Amazing as it may seem, but there is no need to refrigerate both store bought flour and corn tortillas.
Suggestion: when buying fresh corn or flour tortillas always separate them prior to storing. Not only will they stay fresher but the ease of separating them prior to consuming will be easier…a trick I learned from my friends in Popotla, Baja California!
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Collapsible Silicone Coffee Filter Cone
1 each regular size high temp spatula* (pancake turner), spoon*, slotted spoon*, ladle
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