Do you know something? We almost never eat bread as a main evening meal in Malaysia but in the Netherlands, it’s a common evening meal, especially amongst the farming community.

Dunster’s traditional Saturday evening meal would always be something with bread; it could be just cheese and ham, peanut butter jam, nutella and sometimes, something deep-fried like frikandel, croquettes or cheese souffles.

Just to change and have a different variety of “bread”-fasting on Saturdays, I’ve started making bread puddings.. savoury bread puddings. I’ll never get used to eating sweet bread puddings and I won’t be making any too.. So, it’s always savoury in my kitchen.. 😀

The recipe is adapted from Simon Rimmer’s recipe in Something for the Weekend. According to Simon Rimmer, bread pudding would make a fantastic brunch but it was also great as a light dinner. Yes, I LOVE it, just love it!!! I’ve made it a couple of times already in just weeks and in 2 different variations.

You can prepare it the day or night before to make it even easier, leaving it to soak overnight in the fridge. So, here’s the basic recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 200g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 onion, sliced #
  • 1 loaf thick-sliced white bread, crusts removed
  • 200g thick-cut ham, cut into chunks #
  • 250g mature cheddar, grated (I used old or matured cheese)
  • 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley or 1 tsp dried parsley
  • 100g green peas
  • 3 free-range eggs, plus 3 egg yolks
  • 500ml double cream (I used semi-skimmed milk)

# for another variation, replace with red onion and bacon pieces.

Tip from Simon Rimmer: The bread crusts could be made into bread crumbs for other uses.

Preparation:

    1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a large oven proof dish with butter.
    2. Heat oil in a frying pan and fry onion for 4-5 mins, or till soft.
    3. Meanwhile, cut slices of bread into triangles and butter them.
    4. Layer half the buttered bread, onion, ham, cheese, parsley and peas into dish, then repeat with the remaining ingredients. Reserve a little cheese to sprinkle over the top.

  1. Whisk eggs and egg yolks together in a bowl until well combined.
  2. Heat cream in a saucepan till just boiling (I did mine with the microwave), then pour onto egg mixture and whisk till well combined. Pour mixture over bread and set aside for at least 30 mins.
  3. Bake in oven for 40-45 mins, or till golden brown on top.
  4. Serve with fresh green salad.

I’ve replaced double cream with semi-skimmed milk to make a lighter bread pudding. Nevertheless, it was delicious. I’ll surely be making Simon Rimmer’s version of bread pudding for a long time to come and this recipe well worth keeping. 🙂



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