Cooking Up Custard

Take Two



At it's simplest, custard is a cooked mixture of egg and dairy. It can be baked as in a flan or boiled as in Chocolate Pudding. It can be a savory quiche or a sweet clafoutis. It can be the main ingredient -- Pots de Crème -- or an accompaniment -- Crème Anglais. But whatever it's form and function, it's rich, satisfying, and easy to make.

The theme of this month's Sugar High Friday is "Cooking Up Custard."

I've had a yen for another bread pudding since first making one last spring. This time I decided to uses the last of the season's peaches and, just to be perverse, I substituted dried blueberries for the raisens most bread puddings contain.

Peach Bread Pudding

3 slice French or sourdough bread
2 ea peaches -- peeled and sliced
2 tbsps sweet butter
3 ea egg
1/4 c dark brown sugar
1/4 c bourbon
2/3 c milk
2/3 c half and half
1/2 c dried blueberries
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardomom
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Toast bread on both sides until browned and cut into 3/4" cubes. You should have 4 - 5 cups.

Heat oven to 350F. Melt butter in a shallow 9x9 casserole in the oven.

Lightly whip egg and brown sugar together in a large bowl. Mix in milk, half & half, vanilla, and spices then mix in bourbon. (Note: Bourbon is added last to avoid curdling eggs.) Add bread, peaches, and blueberries and stir. Pour into casserole.

Place casserole in a larger pan in the middle of the oven and add enough boiling water to large pan to come half way up the sides of the casserole. Cook for 70 minutes, checking toward the end to be sure water doesn't boil away.

Topping:
Add sugar and a bit of bourbon to whipped cream.