Chilaquiles

I find that when I need to get back into the groove of cooking, I pick up one cookbook and find lots of recipes in it that I want to make. My go-to book right now? Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express - a cookbook I've expressed my love for before. Because I'm trying to finish up the things in our freezer and pantry, I'm not looking for recipes that require me to buy new things - and the flexibility of the recipes in this book give me the perfect way to do that. 

This morning, to use up some tortillas and a few pickled jalapenos in the fridge, I made his recipe for Chilaquiles. P loves anything spicy - me, I'm more of a bread-products-for-breakfast girl (French toast, pancakes, cinnamon buns...the list goes on), but that sort of thing can be heavy on a humid day like today. This was so easy that we'll definitely be making it again.


Chilaquiles
1 tbsp oil
2 tortillas, sliced into strips (flour or corn - we used flour, but corn would have been tastier)
a few pickled jalapenos, chopped (or fresh; the more you use, the spicier this will be)
4 eggs
a splash of milk
salt and pepper to taste


Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Saute the tortillas and jalapenos until crisp. Meanwhile, blend the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper until well-blended. Add egg mixture to tortillas when they are crisp; stir constantly until eggs are cooked to your preferred dryness. Serve with fresh tomatoes, avocado, sour cream, cheese, or anything else that sounds nice to you with something like this.

Bread pudding

Clearly I've been working too hard - was it really February when I posted last? I'll be making up for it this week; I'm taking this next week off, and will have lots of time to cook (and write about it!) 

Today I made bread pudding. We're moving soon, so I'm loathe to buy new ingredients for cooking - I have a very well-stocked pantry that's going to fill a few boxes already. 2/3 of a loaf of bread was leftover from P's parents coming for dinner earlier in the week - the obvious dessert: bread pudding!  

Bread pudding is one of my favorite desserts. P likes it, but he's not wild about it, so for a week where I won't be bringing leftovers to work, it has to be something he'll eat, too (unless my goals are to throw it out, or to gain 10 pounds in a week). The recipe below, modified from The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion, is easily malleable to the individual likes and dislikes of the eater. I've added some notes at the end about using your favorite fillings.


Bread Pudding


32 ounces milk
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
9 - 10 cups (9 - 10 ounces) cubed stale bread
1 cup brown sugar, honey, sugar, molasses, golden or maple syrup
1 cup (6 ounces) raisins, dates, dried cranberries, dried cherries
3/4 cup (3 ounces) chopped walnuts or pecans
4 large eggs
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch cake pan (a 9-inch Pyrex pan will not be big enough - you need the height of the sides to hold it all). 


Heat the milk and butter together over medium-low until the butter has melted. Mix the bread cubes, sweetener, and dried fruits/nuts in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, salt, spices, and vanilla extract together. Mix the heated milk mixture into the egg mixture until well blended; then stir into the bread/fruit/nut mixture. Distribute the liquid evenly, and pour into greased pan.


Bake for 40 - 45 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center doesn't reveal a pooling of milk mixture. The pudding won't be dry, but you don't want uncooked milk/egg mixture in it. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Serve warm or cool - great for breakfast!


Some additional thoughts: 

 - My combination of things was dried cherries and cinnamon - I omitted the nutmeg because I don't have any in the house, and I don't like nuts in bread pudding. Instead of the nuts, I substituted the near-equivalent amount of cherries for the nuts. 
 - You can also add chocolate chips instead of the dried fruit. I'm not personally fond of a cinnamon-chocolate flavor combination, though, so instead of that I would have added 1/2 tsp almond extract. 
 - You can be adventuresome. Think about what flavor combination you like - this doesn't have to be cinnamon-centric (think cardamom or ginger...mmm).