Ha ha I kid… Just wanted to bring you, our faithful readers reader up to date on where we left off… bread wise…

But a quick question… why is it we baked our tookus off in the hot summer months, but winter hits and we get lazy? Must have something to do with that abuse we so love… Anyone else like this or am I just missing all your BBA posts? Anyway, we picked back up with the Potato Rosemary Bread. And you all thought we forgot about it. We are very devil may care. We don’t follow the rules here. We bake what we want, when we want – so if we are all willy nilly bouncing from like page 234 to page 240 and back to page 236 then that is the kind of mad cap behavior we are going to do ALL RIGHT? (The page numbers I used are not the actual page numbers we bounced too and fro from just an example so don’t send me an email saying that the potato rosemary bread is not on those pages… I don’t know what page it is on. Check the TOC. I am in Chicago and the book is in Indiana… being crabby…)

It was really a very good bread. I found that – I don’t know – due to the potato it didn’t get crispy on the outside like some of my favorite breads have. Of course if memory serves me it wasn’t hearth baked. (If I am wrong, someone kindly chastise me in the comments. Thanks in advance!) SO if I made it again, I may attempt to do it like that so that I can get that crunchy crust, as opposed to the soft doughy one we achieved. It was really tasty none the less.

It made a lot so I schlepped a loaf back to Chicago with me. And then I made croutons with that loaf. AND THEN I made the most delicious savory bread pudding out of those croutons, thus making it less about the bread, and more about my complete prowess in the kitchen… hells yea!

This recipe calls for the use of four 6 – 8 oz ramekins. And is realllllly easy.

Ingredients to collect

4 eggs
1 1/4 c whole, yes whole, milk (Add 1/4 c more of you want a more gooey pudding.)
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1 c grated cheddar
2 cups potato rosemary croutons (See note)
4 scallions, diced
optional: 3/4 c cooked and crumbled pork sausage, bacon, chicken, etc.

What to do what to do…

In a bowl, whisk eggs, milk, salt and pepper.

In another bowl, combine croutons, scallions, cheese and meat o’ choice.

Place ramekins on a cookie sheet, and spray or butter each. Next, over fill each with the crouton cheese scallion meaty mixture.

Slowly and as evenly as possible, pour the egg mixture over the croutons in the ramekins till full. Gently push down the croutons. Let sit for 20 minutes.

While waiting for the croutons to soak up the all that yummy egg, preheat your oven to 375°. Gently push down the croutons again, and then place in oven. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden and set. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

Chow down.

Oh wait! Note: You can use any bread you want. Just rip or cut it into bite sized pieces and allow to dry out in the oven till crouton-ey. If you use a non-herbed bread, the incorporation of say 2 t of herbs such as chives or parsley or rosemary or whatever you like, is a good idea…

The really nice thing about these is that once cooled, they pop so nicely out of the ramekins and you have this portable breakfast muffin of sorts. I would ASSUME you could make these the night before and then refrigerate and take them to work for breakfast on the run. I have not tried this as – ha ha – get this – I make ONE at a time and presently work in my skivvies. But when I DO start needing breakfast to go, which is hopefully nearer then I think, I will give the ole’ make in advance trick a try.

Be careful tho, one peek of these by a co-worker and I bet you are expected to bring enough for the whole class…

And for those of you who want to bake every bread known to man and keep King Arthur flour in business, pick up a copy of The Bread Bakers Apprentice by Peter Reinhart and bake along with us as part of the Bread Bakers Apprentice Challenge.

I work In Chicago. but I live life in Indiana. I find that when I am holed up in my mini mansion the last thing I want to do is anything that requires more then 5 sq inches of counter space because – hello – my kitchen is only 4 feet! And it is a mighty small 4 feet… Serious I made cookies over the holidays in it and almost died from flour inhalation.

It isn’t really conducive for much more then frying up eggs for breakfast or pouring a cocktail, but a girl still has to eat even when she leaves her most favorite cook all alone in the wilds of Indiana…

One of my favorite cuisines in which to eat is Asian. Sushi, Hot Pot, Fried Rice, Tom Yum, etc… it’s light (Perfect for that 10 in 10 I signed up for while swilling wine and eating cheese… um hello!?!), it is spicy… which keeps me warm when my radiator goes all ADD and forgets what he is supposed to be doing… (sounds like someone I am dating…) and mostly. Freaking easy AND so yummmmmy!

It should be made with thinly sliced rib eye. Get a rib eye, par-freeze it and then take it out and slice very thinly while the meat is frozen enough to stay firm but still pliable enough to get that dull blade thru that you have been meaning to sharpen but still haven’t, you know who you are… This is the absolute best way to make this… However. Rib eye can be pricey and we are supposed to be talking easy here. So. What I did for this exciting (insert cricket sounds here) presentation was get simple stir fry beef, and beat the crap out of it.

Actually, tenderized it so it could soak up all this marinade of awesomeness…

Whatcha need:

1 # of good beef. (chicken or pork, yes honey I said pork, also work wonderfully here) sliced thin
4 T soy sauce
1 T sugar
1 T rice wine
1-2 cloves garlic finely minced
2-3 scallions, thinly sliced
2 t sesame oil
1 t sambal
white pepper

The Hard Part

Now after you have sliced up and/or beaten your meat… oh geez all the censer-sensors just went off… place it in a large zipper bag. Mix all the marinade ingredients together and pour over the meat. Squish it up good, suck out the air, seal that baggie and toss it in the fridge overnight. Yes, I said over night. Can you do this without the overnight bath? Sure, for a minimum of 2 hours, but it wont be as goooood.

Next day, pull out the baggie o’ meat and the gather ye following:

More of Whatcha Need:

1-2 scallions, sliced haphazardly
sesame seeds
lettuce (for wrapping)
prepared white rice or rice noodles
more sambal, because you can never have too much…

The Tricky Part

Heat 1 T of oil in your pan over medium heat. Cook the meat until desired doneness.

Top with sesame seeds and scallions and serve with rice and lettuce for wrapping. Yes I know the photo doesn’t show any lettuce… wow you guys are so smart. I took this after I ate and well, it took a lot just to make sure I had enough meat and rice for photos. The lettuce, poor lettuce, sacrificed itself.

If Jeff was here I would have had to beat him off with a frying pan just to have meat left over so thank that lettuce… aaaannnd the censor sensors are buzzing again… damn.