Simple, Seasonal, Feast-worthy

Last night I attended a potluck hosted by the Syracuse Real Food Co-op.  What a night!  It was everything a potluck should be--tables laden with dishes of every kind representing a multitude of cultures and cuisines; a room packed out with people from every age--infants on up; a jovial spirit where connections and friendships were quickly made and reestablished.  Some folks had never been to the Co-op but heard about this great community dinner, made a dish and showed up.  Much of the food was made with local or Co-op purchased ingredients and one brilliant participant suggested a Co-op cookbook--now we're talking.

This is the dish we brought to the feast.  It was my foray into a cookbook called:  Simply in Season:  Recipes that Celebrate Fresh Local Foods in the Spirit of More-with-Less.  This is very of the moment for me.  I was tempted to make an elaborate mushroom lasagne dish which called for white truffle oil and some other things in my pantry.  Based on the photo I'd seen and the trusted cook who blogged about the recipe, I was already to try it.  But that will wait for another day because it occured to me about midday yesterday that I should flip through the Simply in Season cookbook.  In doing so, I discovered that I had all the ingredients in the house (except I needed another baguette) including the squash grown in the backyard aka my beloved "Dorset Harvest Farm". 

This recipe for Savory Squash Bread Pudding was delicious.  For a twist on the original recipe I used our local Syracuse Stretch bread and added some Gruyere cheese.  The results were a nice combination of crisped yet soft cheesy bread studded with onions and sweet butternut squash.  If you don't have 60 side dishes to choose from (like we had last night) this bread pudding will go nicely with sauteed greens.

Savory Squash Bread Pudding

• 3 cups butternut squash (peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces)
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 3 large eggs
• 2 large egg whites
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese (divided), freshly grated
• 1/2 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 9 cups day-old French bread

Arrange squash in a single layer on jelly roll pan coated lightly with olive oil.  Sprinkle squash with salt.  Bake in a preheated oven at 400F degrees until tender--about 20 minutes.  Remove from oven; reduce temperature to 350F degrees.

In a skillet or saute pan, saute onion in 1 teaspoon of olive oil over medium-high heat until tender, about five minutes.  Add garlic and saute one minute.  Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

Whisk togethre in a large bowl the eggs, egg whites, milk, half of the Parmesan cheese, Gruyere cheese, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  Stir in squash, onion and garlic.

Add and stir gently to combine the bread cubes and let stand for 10 minutes.  Spoon into a greased 2 Quart baking dish.

Sprinkle the remaining half cup of Parmesan cheese on top and bake in the preheated oven at 350 degrees until custard is set and top is lightly browned--about 45 minutes.  Serves 4-6.

Note:  In addition to the squash, this dish was made with other locally grown ingredients including:  bread from Pasta's Daily Bread, onions from Green Rabbit Farm, milk from Evans Farmhouse Creamery, eggs from Two Hearts Farm, and garlic from Dorset Harvest Farm.

Comments

[weekendwino]

It looks incredible! What's not to like? I love squash and I love bread pudding. I will definitely try this recipe.

[Jen]

mm, that's gotta taste good in this cold weather. Looks delicious!

[Jennifer]

Weekend Wino--I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Jen--welcome! All this snow really has me missing the Bay area--but you're right, this is a great comfort food dish for taking the chill off.

[mary g]

I love bread pudding, but I've never had a savory one and I've been meaning to try a recipe. This looks like the one.

[stephen]

Hey there...that looks great! If you like savory puddings, look in on my Roasted Tomato Bread Puddng... http://www.stephencooks.com/2005/09/roasted_tomato__1.html) ...and let me know how it comes out if you do make the mushroom lasagna...

Have fun...!

[Alanna]

I'm all over this -- just beautiful! AK

[Cathleen Hockman-Wert]

Great to see that you've discovered Simply in Season, and three cheers for your commitment to local food! Thanks for everything you're doing to help spread the word.

I'm a big fan of winter squash myself, and two more Simply in Season recipes I tell my friends to be sure to try are (for vegetarians) "Butternut Sage Orzo" (200) and (for meat-eaters) "Liberian Pumpkin" (213).

If anyone is interested in further tastes from the cookbook, you can sign up to receive a recipe each week at:
http://www.worldcommunitycookbook.org/season/index.html

All the best --
Cathleen Hockman-Wert
Simply in Season co-author

[Jennifer]

Cathleen--Welcome! I'm so honored that you have stumbled upon my blog and posted a comment. I love your cookbook and want to thank you for all the ways you and the other contributors have inspired me!