Bacon, Egg and Cheese Bread Pudding

We created this amazing brunch concoction over Christmas break, when we had lots of time to rest, relax and enjoy time in the kitchen. Its inspiration, in fact, was a Christmas gift from Amy's bestie Karen - a piece of  "Temp-tations" cookware. Isn't it gorgeous? Not only is it non-stick, but it can go straight from the  fridge to the oven to the table. We especially love the pretty glass trivet (also serves as a lid!) and the iron rack that come with it, making it so very table-ready. 

Since Karen is in New Orleans, we wanted to make something inspired by the Big Easy. After plenty of consideration and exchanging various ideas, the two of us finally came up with this: Bacon, Egg and Cheese Bread Pudding, a play on the ubiquitous sandwich. This savory bread pudding is fluffy and custardy, with salty and smoky bites of bacon and tangy cheese. Loved it, and it was perfect for our new cookware! Perhaps we'll make it again today, since we have a SNOW DAY! 

Bacon, Egg and Cheese Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

3 large eggs

4 slices bacon

1 shallot, minced

5 cups cubed day-old French bread

4 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated

1 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley

kosher salt and ground white pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 and spray the baking dish with cooking spray. Whisk together milk, cream, eggs, salt and white pepper in a large bowl; set aside. Cook bacon until crisp, remove from pan and drain on paper towels, then chop into bite-sized pieces. Cook shallot in bacon fat over medium heat until golden, only about one minute. Add bacon, bread, cheese, cooked shallots and dried parsley into custard mixture so that all bread is covered; allow to soak for about 1/2 hour. Transfer mixture into baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove foil and bake for additional 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Bourbon Smoked Paprika Pork Chops

We are back from Maine where had perfect weather (warm and sunny all day for the beach, cool and breezy at night for sleeping), lots of lobster and steamers, and plenty of relaxation time. We will tell you about it once we get ourselves organized. For now, we have a recipe we made the week before we left. Back in July, Chris took a vacation from our New Orleans vacation and went with friends J and L to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. He's a huge bourbon fan, so this was a real treat, and since then, we've both had a better appreciation for America's spirit. So much that we decided to play around with it in the kitchen a little bit.

This recipe not only uses bourbon, but also a bourbon-smoked paprika we got in one of our Foodzie tasting boxes. This spice mixture is made by Bourbon Barrel Foods and has the flavor of sweet paprika mellowed with the oakiness of bourbon. Perfect for seasoning pork, right? So we created a marinade with the paprika, brown sugar for extra sweetness, and bourbon, then grilled our marinated pork sirloin chops with some cipollini onions that we threw onto the grill grates for a simple but delicious side dish.

Kudos to Chris for those TV-worthy grill marks, huh? Nicely done!

Bourbon Smoked Paprika Pork Chops with Grilled Cipollini Onions

Ingredients:

2 boneless pork sirloin chops

kosher salt to taste

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/4 tablespoon Bourbon Smoked Paprika

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 ounce bourbon

1 lb. cipollini onions

Season the pork chops with salt and pepper and place in a large zip-type bag. In a small bowl, mix together the paprika, brown sugar, bourbon and additional salt and pepper. Pour the mixture into the bag with the chops and allow to marinate for at least one hour. Place the pork chops and cipollini onions on a heated grill. Grill the pork chops on both sides until cooked through, with the length of time depending on size of chops. Grill the cipollini onions until they are soft and start to caramelize.