Lingering

And here she comes...strolling back in after being AWOL for a little over a month...just like that.  ::Snap::  Just like that.  There isn't even a good excuse behind my absence.  I wasn't walking the streets of Rome or hiking through Denali National Park.  No, no, it was nothing like that.  It was just another one of those 'in a rut', 'no focus', 'all I want is a sandwich for dinner' and throw in a dollop of anxiety couple of weeks.

But here we are.  Halloween is four days away, which means that November is right around the corner.  Half-way down the next block is Thanksgiving, with the 'baking like crazy, drag out the box of decorations, and "holy crap, did you know there are only 26 shopping days this year between Thanksgiving and Christmas?!?!"' holiday season.  And it's barreling down the roadway like an 18-wheeler that's lost its brakes.

So before the insanity begins, let's linger on Fall.  Let's take the time to watch the change of colours in the trees, enjoy the days with a nip in the air (I have worn long sleeves, a jacket, and a scarf already--all on the same day!) and even enjoy the Indian Summer weather (like today's 90 degrees).  I went to the farmers market in Burbank last Saturday morning.  It was lovely.  I hadn't gone in awhile.  It felt good getting up early and heading out in the morning chill, even before my first cup of coffee.  By late morning, that chill was replaced by an absolutely gorgeous Saturday of bright sun and blue skies.  I ended up at Granville Cafe, having brunch with the woman that knows me best (pegging my menu choice before I uttered a word), where we enjoyed a patio table, eavesdropping on conversations from the next table, and totally digging on the Dutch pancake with prosciutto and Gruyere in front of me.  A thin, dinner-plate sized pancake with slivers of ham and cheese speckled in the batter.  Some of the prosciutto pieces were a little crunchy from settling to the bottom while on the griddle, some bits of cheese were just perfectly melted.  I left exactly two bites on my plate after coming to the realization that I was just shy of eating the whole thing.  You cannot say I don't have a hearty appetite.

I spent the next couple of days fixated on those tastes.  While I considered making my own Dutch pancake, I opted to use the baguettes that had veered down the stale path and made a bread pudding, though I swapped out the Gruyere with smoked Jarlsberg and a bit of cheddar.  It felt practically decadent buying prosciutto, since it's not something I buy all that frequently.  A savory bread pudding is one of those foods that screams Fall to me.  It's a perfect dish when the weather begins to turn cold.  It's also easy as pie to whip together.  You'll probably have left-overs.  This is just as delicious for the next day's breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Prosciutto and Smoked Jarlsberg Bread Pudding

Serves 4-6

5 cups bread, cubed (i.e. baguette or sourdough)

½ cup onion, sliced thin

1 cup white mushrooms, sliced thin

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 ½ cups half and half

3 eggs

¾ cup shredded smoked Jarlsberg

½ cup shredded smoked Cheddar, plus ¼ cup additional Cheddar

1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

¼ tsp garlic powder

2 oz prosciutto, chopped

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  In a skillet, over medium heat, sauté mushrooms and onions in butter and oil until onions turn translucent, about 5-7 minutes.  Set aside.  In a bowl, whisk half and half, eggs, 1 cup cheese, salt, pepper, parsley, and garlic powder.  Add cubed bread and toss to coat evenly.  When thoroughly combined,  add prosciutto, mushrooms, and onions.  Turn into a 2-quart baking dish (I used a round casserole), sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup cheese over top and bake for 50-60 minutes.  Remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes before serving.    

Burnt Muffins

Sometimes when you try to make something good, it turns out less than spectacular.  The plan seemed relatively foolproof, but the result...well, not so much.  I made cranberry orange muffins.  Kind of a no-brainer, right?  It's not like I was trying to make French macarons and was worried about perfect 'feet.'  Flour, sugar, milk, and cranberries.  But in my attempt to not poke my head in the oven every 5 minutes to check (a bad habit of mine), I let them go a little too long.  I thought, 'oh well, the tops are a little over done, no big deal.'  Then I flipped them out of the muffin pan.  When your baking cups (you know, the cute blue ones with the little green flowers) are a little on the burnt side, you know it won't be pretty.  Peeling the baking paper off the muffin was another experience, as most of the cake was sticking to the paper.  They tasted good, if a tiny bit crunchy around the edges.  The centers were perfect.  It was a bit like searching for treasure.

So, there I was....with a dozen well-done muffins in front of me.  I hated the idea of throwing it all away.  I peeled the paper off another muffin, thinking maybe it was a one-off deal.  No.  I waited until they cooled completely.  Granted, less of the muffin stuck to the paper, but still it wasn't looking good.  Then....two words came to mind:  Bread Pudding.  Easy to put together, and more importantly--it saved my less-than-spectacular cranberry muffins.  The bread pudding went to work with me the next day, where it got the thumbs-up.

Lessons learned:

1. When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.  More accurately, when you burn the cranberry muffins, make bread pudding.

2.  Celebrate the failures in the kitchen, it's not all that bad.  Clean it up and move forward.  [Note to self--apply that mantra to your daily life.]

3.  Go out and buy an oven thermometer.  (Purchased one that night and have since discovered that my oven runs about 25 degrees hotter than selected temperature.  Something I've suspected for awhile.)

Cranberry Muffin Bread Pudding
(Adapted from The Caramel Cookie)


8-10 well-done cranberry muffins (cut into cubes)
1 1/2 cups milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar
cinnamon


Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly spray a baking dish with cooking spray.  (I used a 4-quart Pyrex dish.)  In a bowl, combine milk, egg, extract, and sugar.  Whisk until well-mixed.  Add muffins and stir to coat.  Let sit for about 20 minutes, until most of the liquid is absorbed into the muffins.  Put into baking dish. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon and bake for about 45 minutes.  

Not bad from a distance.