Day 294: my sentiments exactly

I actually wanted to open this with the very same words used by Nigella in the recipe intro - “There are no versions of bread pudding I don’t like…“ - because they are my sentiments exactly: there really isn’t (to my knowledge) a model of bread pudding I don’t love. When I was younger, it was all about the jiggly, custardy centre of the pud; now, it’s about the crisp, chewy edges and golden crust. I’ll take mine with either vanilla ice cream or a happy pouring of double cream (as pictured).

Day 294 is Nigella’s Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding, or at least a version of it anyway: in absence of a few things, I used a stale cranberry and pumpkin seed loaf (which I rescued from the yellow sticker shelf a few weeks back and froze), dark muscovado sugar, marsala dolce and an Easter egg I found on top of the wardrobe the other day, chilled and smashed into shards.

Nigella’s Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding

I had no idea cubing the bread was the US way; I often do this when I have a bag of random offcuts of all shapes and sizes in the freezer (which I collect over a period of time and which need using, to make room for more, every month or so; with a full house, it’s not often I have enough stale bread at once to make a pud, so freezing the odd end as it appears is the best way forward. And, it ensures even a lone bit of knobbly crust isn’t wasted). Saying that, it was the introduction to American Stuffing/Dressing (a bake consisting of chunks of bread with various seasonings - and other things - and stock, often served at Thanksgiving) a few years back, that inspired me to make bread puddings this way.

The recipe for this can be found in Kitchen. Though if you have a subscription to The Times online, I believe you can find the recipe for it there too (link below).