Savory Bread and Cheese Pudding

Sprouted wheat and wild yeast sourdough bread, pastured eggs, fresh milk, spinach, onions, garlic, sweet peppers and aged cheeses..

Savory Bread and Cheese Pudding

Savory Bread and Cheese Pudding

A riff on a recipe by the Moosewood Collective

1 cup fresh whole milk
3 pastured eggs
2-3 pieces stale sprouted wheat bread
2-3 pieces stale wild yeast sourdough bread
1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
1/2 small yellow onion, chopped
2 sweet peppers, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups grated aged white cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated Grana Padano cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse-grain mustard
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
butter

Whip milk into eggs, stir in mustard and season with cayenne, sea salt and black pepper. Set aside.

Tear bread into 1-inch cubes and place into a bowl. Sauté onions, peppers and garlic in butter over high heat until slightly browned, about 2 minutes.  Scrape into bowl with bread.

Cook spinach until wilted, about 1 minute.  Squeeze out excess moisture, then add spinach to the bowl with the bread and onions. Add grated cheeses and toss all by hand to combine.

Transfer bread mixture to a buttered skillet and pour milk mixture over the top, pressing down with a spoon to coat the bread.  Top with sliced Roma tomatoes, then cover and bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, then uncover and cook until golden brown, about 15 minutes more.

Allow to cool 5 minutes before serving.

This post is in support of Meatless Monday, whose goal it is to goal is to help reduce
meat consumption by 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.


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Corn Spaghetti with Duck Egg Aioli

Gluten-free, 100% corn spaghetti with fresh herbs, roasted vegetables and a rich duck egg aioli..

Corn Pasta with Egg Sauce

Corn Spaghetti with Duck Egg Aioli

Make a traditional aioli, substituting pastured duck eggs for chicken eggs, and using a bold garlic such as Chesnok red.  Add minced fresh opal basil, oregano, frisée (curly endive), a tiny bit of fresh lemon juice and plenty of sea salt and cracked pepper.  Set aside.

Boil one quart of filtered water with one teaspoon sea salt for every 4oz of corn spaghetti.  Swirl the water, add the pasta and cook al dente, about 7 minutes. Drain, but do not rinse.  Keep warm.

Broil 3/4 inch-thick slices of heirloom tomato seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper until brilliant red and blistered. Hold in warm oven.

Meanwhile, quickly sauté onions and Italian roasting peppers in a bit of oil over high heat until just softened.

Toss the pasta with the sautéed vegetables, then stir in the aioli.

To serve, arrange pasta in the middle of a large plate and use a spatula to place the broiled tomato on top.  Shave a little Pecorino over all and garnish with additional minced herbs.


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Mayan Banana Bread

(you might also like this recipe for Maya Nut Cake)

With sprouted spelt flour, roasted Maya nut, mashed bananas, fresh milk, pastured butter and eggs, this moist, delicious bread looks, smells and tastes like chocolate and coffee although it contains neither.

Extremely high in Fiber, Calcium, Potassium, Folate, Iron, Zinc, Protein and Vitamins A, E, C and B, it is also high-fiber, low-gluten and easy to digest.

Try it with a little sweet, cultured butter, raw honey or Crème fraîche..

Mayan Banana Bread

Mayan Banana Bread

For one loaf

6 oz. (by weight) sprouted spelt flour
2 oz. (by weight) organic, roasted Maya nut powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 oz. rapadura or other non-refined sweetener
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
6 oz. fresh whole milk
2 medium bananas, mashed
2 large pastured eggs
4 oz. pastured butter, melted

Combine the wet ingredients (whisked) and the dry ingredients separately, then fold the two together until just combined.

Pour batter into a buttered loaf pan, sprinkle with crushed Maya nuts (raw, soaked and dried) and bake on the middle rack of a 350 degree oven until a thin knife blade inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 40-45 minutes.

Allow to cool on a rack at least 25 minutes before slicing.

Learn more about the benefits of Maya nut



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Salsa de Tomate Verde Asado

Time was when I’d come home at the end of the work week and just pull out a frozen pizza or microwave dinner and plop down in front of the TV.

Not anymore.  Even when I don’t much feel like cooking or fiddling around with the camera or the blog (i.e., tonight), a simple, comforting meal is within reach because I only keep fresh, whole foods on hand.  The TV?  Gave it away years ago.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa..

Salsa de Tomate Verde Asado

Husk, rinse and halve fresh tomatillos.  Place cut side down in a heavy skillet along with a few cloves of garlic, a jalapeño and a poblano chile.  Brown well on both sides.

Seal the peppers inside a paper bag and allow the steam 15 minutes.  Peel away most of the skin (leaving a few charred bits), split and remove stems and seeds.

Transfer peppers to the bowl of a food processor along with tomatillos, garlic and a handful of cilantro.  Moisten with 1/4 cup or so of filtered water and pulse into a coarse puree.

Stir minced onion into the salsa and season to taste with sea salt and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.

Leftover salsa will keep 2-3 days in the fridge.

Bacon & Eggs

Fry uncured streaky bacon or pork belly with yellow onions until the onions are brown and the bacon is crisp.

Pour off all but a teaspoon of fat, then crack eggs directly into the pan and allow to set for just a moment.

Spoon roasted tomatillo salsa over the eggs and toss in some chopped cilantro.  Stir and scramble to your preferred degree of doneness and serve with frijoles and fresh tortillas.

This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays

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Eggs Toscana

Tuscan Fried Eggs

Eggs Toscana

Fresh local eggs fried in a bit of cultured butter with chorizo, Italian grilling peppers, red & green onions, flat-leaf parsley and roasted salsa.  Sea salt and freshly-ground pepper.

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