midwest neurotica

One highlight of my weekend is curling up on the sofa with fresh, hot coffee and my friends, Nigella and Jamie. I don’t watch that much Food Network anymore, save for these trusted cooks and my favorite comfort-food-on-speed-host Guy Fieri. Somehow they snuck in an old episode of Nigella Bites into the Nigella Express lineup. This one featured her childhood favorites, such as bread and butter pudding. I had never heard of this dish, but it seems to be bread pudding plus butter - what’s not to love?!?

Photo courtesy of Cook (almost) Anything

I set out to make my rendition with pretty decent results, for it being lower in fat and sugar. Using her instructions and my ingredients, I made 2 sandwiches of Ezekiel bread, Smart Balance light and sugar free peach preserves. I sliced these on the diagonal and placed in a small Pam-ed ramekin. I made a light custard with 2 egg yolks, 2 T splenda for baking and 3/4 cup light vanilla soymilk. (Given that I didn’t know if this was going to work - I didn’t want to make too much of the sauce.) I poured this over the bread and let sit for about 40 minutes. I then baked the dish for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. I served a heaping spoonfull with a few T of fat free vanilla ice cream, which got all nice and melty next to the hot pudding.

I think using a tangier preserve or marmalade would enhance the flavor and maybe fat free non-dairy instead of soy to increase the richness. But overall, this was a pretty good interpretation.

• One of my childhood (non-edible) favorites
• Cook (almost) Anything’s even-simpler rendition