Pecan Butterscotch Bread Pudding Recipe

By Lu

Pecan Butterscotch Bread Pudding

For as long as I could remember, I wasn't a big fan of bread pudding. I just wasn't really into a mushy dessert. However, one day, my friend Tina took me to a restaurant called Markethouse and I fell in love with their Butterscotch Bread Pudding. I wrote about the restaurant and the bread pudding too. Here's the link to that post. It was mushy inside but crunchy outside, and creamy with the addition of ice cream, and richness from the butterscotch. Since then, I am a fan. Nevertheless, time marched on, and I forgot about it.

Until, I was cooking dinner one night and I invited Tina over to join me and the rest of our friends. She told me she would stop at Markethouse to get some bread pudding to bring for dessert. I told her that it sounded good. But then, she texted me to x the plan. Since I was fixated on eating that bread pudding again, I decided to make it myself.

I like to watch this cooking show on Food Network called, "Chopped." I like it because it is less pretentious compared to the other competitive cooking shows filled with celebrity chefs. These are real cooks in Chopped, and they are the people that actually prepare your food if you were to eat at their restaurant. Every time the secret ingredients included bread for the dessert round, they always made either bread pudding or pain perdu (French Toast). I knew then that it was easy to make and can be done in a short period of time since they were only given twenty minutes to make a dessert. Also, from watching Chopped, I knew how to make bread pudding though I have never really attempted to make it before. It's pretty much bread, whipped eggs and milk together. That's it. I looked around a little bit for references, and it was pretty much the same rule of thumbs to make bread pudding.

So, here goes the recipe I came up with:

INGREDIENTS

1 loaf cinnamon raisin bread
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
5 eggs
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 cups milk
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup Pecan, chopped
1 cup butterscotch chips

For Butterscotch Sauce
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
a pinch of salt

METHODS

Cut up cinnamon bread into cubes and place in a big mixing bowl. Add melted butter and two or three table spoons of sugar from the 1.5 cup sugar allotted for the recipe. Set aside.

Cut cinnamon raisin bread into..

cubes, and place them in a bowl

Add melted butter, and sprinkle sugar on it, set aside

Using an electric mixer, add the remaining of the sugar and the eggs. Whip at high speed for about 3 minutes until eggs are light in color. Reduce speed, and add cream and milk. Whip again for a couple more minutes until eggs and milk are well blended in and frothy. Add salt and vanilla, and blend for a little bit more.

Add eggs and sugar into electric mixing bowl

Mix at high speed until light in color

Add cream and milk

Egg and milk mixture should be light in color and frothy

Pour egg and milk mixture over bread cubes. Set aside for a couple of hours or even overnight if you prefer. We need to let the bread to soak in all the liquid.

Add milk + egg mixture to bread

When ready to bake, heat up oven to 375 degree Fahrenheit or 190 degree Celcius. Add pecans and butterscotch chips to the bread Pour mixture on to an ungreased square pyrex or baking pan. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the top is looking golden brown and toasty.

Yummm....

Serve while hot with vanilla ice cream and drizzle the butterscotch sauce on top. To make the butterscotch sauce, all you had to do is cook over medium heat brown sugar, butter, and salt until it became a slurry or thick syrupy liquid. Remove from heat and add cream. Whisk until they blended well together.

I was so proud because the bread pudding turned out really great! I made it a couple of times more after this time, and they're almost fool proof. I made some to bring to my friend, Helen's house for St. Patty's day dinner. I know there's nothing Irish about it but we enjoyed it just the same. If you're looking for a decadent dessert that's super easy to do.....here it is!

The reason I use cinnamon bread was to eliminate two more ingredients to buy: cinnamon and raisins. The flavors of the cinnamon and raisins really come through by using the bread. Some people don't like raisins, but this way, you had a little raisins in the bread pudding, but not a lot. At the same time, you didn't really have to measure the cinnamon to be added to the mixture. The cinnamon in the bread is enough to give that sweet smelling that's so distinctive of cinnamon, yet it won't be overpowering. All and all, I thought it was a good call on my part when I made the decision to buy the cinnamon raisin bread that was on sale to be used for the bread pudding.

Hope you will try it. I can assure you, you will be making it over and over again!

Brunch at Table Fifty-Two

By Lu

The entrance to Table Fifty-Two

Table Fifty-Two is a restaurant owned by Art Smith, better known as Oprah Winfrey's long time personal chef turned celebrity chef. You know, once you worked for Oprah, doors would just open for you. Well, granted if you're good in what you do, of course.

Art Smith is definitely a great chef in my book. I love watching him doing his things in Top Chef Masters Season 1. Another Chicago Chef (Rick Bayless) beat him; however, he did really well in the whole competition for the most part. Surprised it took me this long to try to eat at his restaurant. It became one of my instant favorites rather easily.

I've been reading this online novel called "South of the Middle Love Story" and the main character of this romance novel loves Table Fifty-Two. In one of the chapters, Sabrina (the protagonist) went there with two of her friends and had an orgasmic experience eating the Pecan Pie. Oh...that was sooo hot! It definitely made me want to keep reading, and made me want to try the damn pie! Oh By the way, if you're into romance, give this online novel a try. It's a cool concept that you are able to follow the story chapter by chapter as soon as the author is done writing it. Yes, at times you have to wait for the next chapter, but that's what makes it interesting! Click here to go to their Facebook fan page, click like, and you will get the news when a new chapter is published. This is the link to the actual novel. Read it - it's light and fun!
 
Anyway... back to Table Fifty-Two, I first came here with Tina, Tina's mom, CK and Sabrina (another one) during Chicago's Restaurant Week last month. They had a special tasting menu for the Restaurant Week and the items were pretty damn spectacular. Tina was the one who chose the place, and I must say I was really glad she chose it. It was a marvelous dinner! First of all, the interior was decorated in a very homey Southern style type of atmosphere. It was mainly sage green color and it exuded a lot of warmth. I felt great walking into the restaurant as I felt welcomed and like I was going to eat dinner at a friend's home.

The interior of the restaurant, very warm and homey!

Oh, before I continued, both time I came here, I wore a skirt. Chicago isn't called the windy city for nothing and both time, my skirt was blown up by the wind and my friends called me "Monroe" since they thought I wanted to impersonate Marilyn. Except, if I did, I didn't do Marilyn's justice. Not at all. It was definitely less interesting under my skirt.

The Cat Fish

For dinner, after we sat down, the chef gave us a  complimentary platter of Deviled Eggs. It was up there on my Deviled Eggs list. It was super creamy and had a touch of acid from tomatoes and olive.  It was delicious! I could eat five more of those!

Then, we had homemade cheesy biscuits that hit the spot right away. For dinner, I ordered the deep fried corn meal breaded cat fish served with cheesy grits, hush puppies, collard greens, and fried okra. I don't eat cat fish usually, but that cat fish was worth eating. We also ordered the jalapeno bacon corn bread that was served with melted honey butter. I loved it. My friends loved it too. Throughout the meal, we kept on looking at the other tables with envy when their orders of fried chicken and mac & cheese were delivered. They looked so good and we all agreed we wanted to come back for those next time.

So, fast forward several weeks, then here came my birthday. I was getting old and I remember I used to love celebrating my birthdays. Now, I just wanted to have a low key meal with close friends. I like to have the one-on-one get together with friends so we could talk and catch up rather than a big hoopla where we couldn't even talk since there would be so many people to talk to. Since we wanted to come back for the fried chicken, thought it would be great to go there again. Found out also they had a brunch menu - perfect! Let's try it!

Well.... CK and Sabrina really wanted to try the fried chicken. Evi and Nate couldn't come the first time we went so they were excited to try. At the last minute, Nicole and Jo wanted to come too. We actually had a pretty good size table now.

The brunch menu was fun! On the menu, we found Chicken and Waffles, Shrimp and Grits, Braised Short Ribs, Crab-cake Benedicts, Short Stacks, to even Oatmeal. I'm sure you guessed that half of the table ordered Chicken and Waffles! Yes, Yes, Yes! Evi, Sab, CK, Jo, and I ordered it. Nate went with the Shrimp and Grits, and Nicole ordered the Crab-cake Benedicts.

When we were waiting for our table downstairs and sitting by the bar, the chef was preparing this scrumptious looking breakfast pizza. It's a flat bread pizza fired up in a brick oven, filled with bacon, and topped with two sunny side up eggs. It looked so good! Too bad, the Chicken and Waffles were too mighty to pass up.

The mouth watering Breakfast Pizza

The service was a little slower at brunch compared to dinner. I think it was because we came later in the day (1 PM) and we had a big table for that tiny restaurant. We were famished and we didn't want to wait so long. They served us a tiny sweet potato bread served with cinnamon butter to start. It was yummy but we wanted Chicken and Waffles! Evi also ordered Olive Oil Cake Donuts that were served with Lemon Curd. That was pretty yummy. It reminded me of a sweet hush puppy. Yet, my friends had Beignets in mind and the donuts definitely weren't close to a Beignet.

Olive Oil Cake Donuts

Finally the food came! Nate devoured his shrimps and grits. He thought it was great! Nicole enjoyed her Crab-cake Benedicts as well. The Chicken and Waffles.... I loved it! I thought the chickens were quite juicy and the seasoning tasted nice. The waffle tasted like waffle and I never really gotten the concept of serving fried chicken and waffle, but they both hit the spot for me. CK, however, had too much expectation of the fried chicken. He thought it was just ok. He was expecting something totally out of this world and he apparently liked super crispy Popeye style chicken. He didn't get that. However, the rest of the party seemed to really enjoyed it.

Shrimps and Grits

Chicken and Waffle

The mac & cheese was another high note for me. It was just so creamy, cheesy, and rich! I love all those burnt cheesy melts that dripped over the sides of the cast-iron pan they served it in. OMG, it was delish! I would come back just for that. I sent the picture of the Mac and Cheese to Tina who couldn't join us and she was mad that we came back without her. I guess I have to go there again with her. Twist my arm!

Mhhhh Mac and Cheese

We didn't have the Pecan Pie this time; however, we did have it last time when we were there for dinner. We didn't really need dessert this time as we had plenty of sweet from the maple syrup and waffle. They gave me the Hummingbird cupcake with a candle so I could make a wish and a great wish I made. Hope it would come true.

The foodgasmic Pecan Pie

I didn't expect to have such a great time on my birthday downtown with my friends. We really didn't plan anything but it turned out to be such a pleasant day. Afterward, we walked around Michigan Avenue and shopped for a little bit. Then the day continued with more eating at my friends' house with Malaysian delicacies I had been craving: Chicken Curry, Sambal Udang (Shrimps cooked in Chili Sauce), and Nasi Lemak. It was just a perfect day.

If you're into trying comfort food or Southern style cuisine, go to Table Fifty-two! You would leave feeling satiated, comfortable, and loved! Yum!

TABLE FIFTY-TWO
52 W. Elm Street Chicago
Reservations 312.573.4000

Monday-Saturday  5pm-9:30pm

Sunday  4pm-8:30pm

Sunday Brunch  10:30am-1.30pm

Beef Stew with Burgundy Reduction

By Lu

My pot of Beef Stew

Slow cook foods have to be my all time favorite things to eat. The wet cooking methods done slowly such as stewing and braising are also my preferred ways to prepare a meal. To me, soups, stews, fricassee, and blanquette de veau are so comforting and packed with flavors. The meats are cooked until fork tender and I can't think of anything better than that other than sex.

Anyway, before I went on a tangent about sex - let's go back to stewing. Beef Stew is definitely a comfort food, so good that they can them in America. But just imagine eating something that's supposed to be hearty and cooked by mom, from a can. Yeah, it doesn't do it for me. I love love eating Beef Stew if it's done right. It is so easy to do really and it doesn't take much efforts. I know a lot of people like making beef stew in a crock pot and they just put everything in, and plug in the pot hoping by the time they come home from work the stew would be ready. However, usually they would get slow cooked beef with overcooked everything else. One rule of cooking - not every ingredients needs the same cooking time. They all cook at different pace. Thus why, I never cook anything in a slow cooker. If I didn't have the time to really cook and give the ingredients the time of day, then I will make something else.

So if you would like to try my recipe, please make sure you  have ample of time to make this. This will be a great dish to make on a lazy Saturday or Sunday and to share it with your friends and family. Make it soon when it is still somewhat cold outside because there's nothing more comforting than a bowl of hot stew in a cold day.

However, of course stewing is not limited for countries with cold climates. Many tropical countries have their own version of stews. One of my favorite Indonesian dishes is a version of beef stew as well; however, this one is cooked in coconut milk and spices. It is called "Rendang." It was so good that it helped the latest Top Chef Master, Floyd Cardoz, to win the title.

So are you ready for some Beef Stew? Yum Yum..Yes!! Oh, this is a "throw-this-throw-that" type of food, so don't expect exact measurements. You can't go wrong. Use your instinct and taste the damn food!

INGREDIENTS

2 lbs stewing beef (or any type of beef that are tougher cuts like round or shank)
32 oz good quality beef stock. If don't have any and don't want to make, you can use beef broth (about 2 cans)
1 cup of all purpose flour for dusting
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 stalks of celery, medium dice
2 carrots, medium dice
2 medium yellow onions, large dice
1 bottle of good red wine such as Burgundy or Cabernet
1 can of San Marzano canned plum tomatoes
10 to 15 small fingerling potatoes/new potatoes/red potatoes (any small size boiling potatoes)
1 small bag of baby carrots
1 bag of pearl onions, skinned.
a handful of fresh green beans, trim the edges
a bag of fresh or frozen peas
1 packet of cremini or portabella mushroom
bouquet garni of parsley stems, bay leaves, and peppercorn
Salt and Pepper


METHODS

In a bowl, add the cubed meats. Season the meats with salt and pepper thoroughly, then dredge with flour. Make sure to shake excess flour from the meat. Meanwhile, also heat a skillet with some oil to coat the bottom of the skillet.

Dredge the meat with flour, season with salt and pepper

When the oil is hot, add the meat and sear. Do not overcrowd the skillet. If you have to do it in two batches, do it. We need to get a good color and crust on the meat so they will seal in the juice. Once seared, put them aside.

Once done with searing, increase the heat on the stove, Then, using a wooden spatula, start scraping the leftover brown bits on the bottom of the pan (fond). These bits are yummy and would help flavor your stew. Use some of the wine for deglazing as you scrape.

Sear the meats

In a stew pot that is big enough to contain the stew, add some oil and let it get hot. Once hot, sweat the garlic until it becomes aromatic. Add onion, celery and carrots. Sautee them for a little bit of time until they become somewhat soft. Add the seared meat. Now you have two choices - you can either add the stock and let it reduced before adding wine, or you can reduce the stock separately until half to create demi glace. If you choose to make demi glace, you will have a really fantastic beef flavor that's beyond belief! But, it also takes extra time and effort. If not, add the liquid (stock and wine) and the bouquet garni. Rule of thumbs according to my chef in culinary school, you don't want to submerge the beef while stewing. Just add enough liquid to cover. However, if you are like me, and love a lot of gravy, you want extra sauce. So, really - it is up to you. Nobody will police you if you don't do it according to the book.

Glaze the pan with wine and scrape the brown bits

To make the bouquet garni, you can just tie everything with twine and let peppercorn loose, or you can put all in a cheesecloth. If not, just dump them in. It'll be fine.

The flour on the beef would help as thickening agent; and, as the liquid reduces naturally, it will also get thicker. You want to reduce the heat as well to low and let it simmer for 1.5 to 2  hours. Check periodically and stir so it won't burn on the bottom. Around the 1.5 hour mark, check the tenderness of the beef. Skim the surface for any scums periodically throughout the process. If not tender yet, let it cook. It can take between two to three/four hours depending how slow you cook it. The most important thing is that your meats are cooked until tender and the wine reduces naturally and you can't taste that raw wine flavor.

Let stew cook slowly...

When stew is about 3/4 done, if you don't mind the mire poix (celery, onion, and carrots) flavoring being there, then it's fine. I mind because these veggies would be quite cooked by this time and wouldn't be nice to eat. However, they're necessary to add flavoring. So, I usually transfer them to a new pot, and run the liquid through a strainer. Then, I will get a clean and nice sauce. Once done, then, add tomatoes. It is also up to you how much tomatoes you want to add. If you don't want it to be too acidic, then don't add the whole can. However, adding the acid really helps in balancing the flavor.

Add the tomatoes..see, I just dumped my bay leaves

Next, I can start adding my vegetables. Add the hard vegetables first that will take the longest to cook - like the potatoes and the pearl onions. To skin the pearl onions, just blanch  them in boiling water real quick. Then it will be really easy to peel. You don't have to skin the potatoes, just wash them clean.

Once the potatoes have been cooked for a little bit (about 10 to 15 minutes), add baby carrots. Mushrooms, green beans, and peas can be added the latest as they take almost no time to cook. Cook until meats are tender, and all veggies cooked. Oh, you don't have to use the whole bag of carrots, or peas. Just add however you want. You can't go wrong. Make sure you season them with salt and pepper as needed. Then, serve while hot! You can add some chopped parsley as garnish.

I love eating Beef Stew while hot with some warm bread. Bread is a great vessel for dipping and to soak in the gravy! I also like to eat it with a sunny side up egg. The runny yolk with the tender meat are just a great combo. You can also serve the stew with rice pilaf.

Hope you will try this recipe and let me know if you like it than the stew in a can! If you say can, I'm going to can you!