Blueberry Bread Pudding

Chef Fraser MacLeod,
529 Wellington

This classic recipe yields a sweet, dense dessert. Change it up by subbing chocolate chips for blueberries.

Ingredients
Bourbon Caramel Sauce
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup white sugar
2 Tbsp whipping cream
1 Tbsp of bourbon
A pinch of salt

Créme Anglaise
1 vanilla bean
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup white sugar
5 organic eggs
1 cup homo milk

Bread Pudding
3 cups bread, diced
2 ¾ cups rich whipping cream
3 organic eggs
3/4 cups white sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp nutmeg, ground
3/4 cups frozen blueberries

Method
Bourbon Caramel Sauce
1. Melt butter in small sauce pot over medium heat. Whisk in the remaining ingredients.
2. Simmer until thickened, about 3 minutes, whisking often.

Créme Anglaise

1. Combine 1/4 cup of the sugar with the milk and cream in a sauce pot.
2. Slice the vanilla bean in half and scrape out seeds. Add the seeds and pod to the pot. Heat on low until mixture reaches a simmer (don’t let it boil). Remove from heat.
3. Crack eggs into your fingers one at a time over a bowl and separate the yolks from the whites. Set whites aside. Place yolks in a bowl with remaining sugar, mix until smooth.
4. Slowly temper egg yolks and sugar by adding the hot milk mixture to the bowl. Pour back into the sauce pot and mix together.
5. Return the pot to low heat and stir until thickened, about 5 minutes (165-175ºF). Mixture will curdle if over heated (185ºF.) so be careful.
6. Strain through a fine sieve and cool in an ice bath immediately.

Bread Pudding

1. Dice bread into 1” cubes and place into a large bowl. In a separate container mix together whipping cream, eggs, sugar, honey and nutmeg.
2. Pour the cream mixture over bread cubes and toss together by hand until bread is completely saturated. Allow mixture to sit overnight in the fridge.
3. Preheat oven to 300^F. Line a deep casserole dish with parchment paper and spray with non stick cooking spray.
4. Mix frozen blueberries into the bread mixture and place into the baking dish immediately to prevent the berries from colouring the bread.
5. Cover baking dish with tin foil and bake in oven for about 1 ½ hours or until the centre reaches 165 F.
   Remove tin foil and let set, in oven, for 15 minutes.
6. Let chill for a few hours before cutting. Bread pudding can be refrigerated for up to 6 days, or frozen.
7. Serve warm with a drizzle of créme anglaise and bourbon caramel sauce.

Yields 4 servings