Cuisine: Bread

Make-Ahead French Toast Casserole with Caramel-Hazelnut Topping

While on the east coast, one of my best friends Jessica and her husband Marc just happened to be visiting her mom for the weekend, who lives not far from me, and invited me to brunch. She made this fantastic Make-Ahead French Toast Casserole with Caramel-Hazelnut Topping. It is a delicious and easy-to-make breakfast dish that can be prepared ahead of time. It is made with day-old bread, eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. The bread is soaked in the egg mixture overnight, which makes it soft and custardy. The casserole is then baked until golden brown and topped with a caramel-hazelnut topping. You can use pecans or walnuts if you prefer.
This recipe is perfect for busy mornings or when you want to make a special breakfast for guests. It can be made up to 24 hours in advance and stored in the refrigerator. When you are ready to bake, simply remove the casserole from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature for about 30 minutes. Then, bake according to the instructions.

By Leslie Blythe

Egg Boats

I often have random leftover ingredients from various catering events. These Egg Boats are a product of that. I used goat cheese, but you can use your favorite cheese.

By Leslie Blythe

Black-Eyed Pea Ribollita

Ribollita is a Tuscan bread soup that is traditionally made from the previous day with stale bread and leftover vegetables. I made this Black-Eyed Pea Ribollita for New Year's eve. Eating black-eyed peas is meant to bring good luck for the year, and I think we could all use some. This soup is outstanding and I will be making it again. You can use any kind of beans, like cannellini beans, which are often used in Tuscan dishes.

By Leslie Blythe

Mushroom & Leek Bread Pudding

This make-ahead Mushroom & Leek Bread Pudding from Ina Garten is a great side dish for any holiday meal or brunch. Bread pudding is typically a dessert, but this is a savory version. It sits overnight in the refrigerator and is baked the next day.

By Leslie Blythe

Margherita Pizza Beans

I love this recipe for Margherita Pizza Beans. If you have lots of tomatoes from your garden, this is a great way to use them. It's basically an Italian "beans on toast". Serve it with a fresh green salad and you have a meal your family will be asking you to make again.

By Leslie Blythe

Hot Brown Turkey Casserole

My Dad grew up in Pittsburgh and one of his favorite things a called The Turkey Devonshire Sandwich, which is a hot open-faced sandwich on toasted bread with hot turkey, bacon, tomatoes, and a cheese sauce. This sandwich was first served at The Stratford Club in Pittsburgh's Shadyside neighborhood in 1930.
I decided to make him (actually, I had my husband make it!) a Hot Brown Turkey Casserole. This also originated as a sandwich called the Hot Brown and was invented in 1926 at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky to absorb the bourbon that guests had the night before. The 2 sandwiches are very similar, though I think the chef in Pittsburgh obviously copied it and changed the name!. Anyway, this is the casserole version, which is much easier to make and feeds a hungry or hungover crowd!

By Leslie Blythe

Beans with Leeks, White Beans and Cheddar on Toast

So, this Beans with Leeks, White Beans and Cheddar on Toast is a recipe that I adapted from a recipe from Nigel Slater. It was posted in The Guardian and it's basically "posh beans on toast". Beans on Toast is a British institution. The reason I made it is because I had the ingredients on hand and because I love leeks. Leeks are massively underappreciated and really add so much so many dishes. It was delicious and I initially thought I would have to serve soup with it, but that was not the case. You can adapt this recipe to ingredients you have.

By Leslie Blythe

Caraway Rye Bread (bread machine or by hand)

I bought a loaf of bread the other day and it was terrible, so I made croutons out of it. I happened to have some rye flour and a lot of yeast on hand. I dusted off my Williams-Sonoma bread machine that my late mother-in-law Jerry bought me years ago. I chose this Caraway Rye Bread recipe and it was absolutely delicious. I have also included the instructions to make it by hand.

By Leslie Blythe

Italian Style Soffritto Garlic Spread

I happen to love crushed red pepper flakes, so much so, that I have many packets in my purse at all times. I literally can't eat pizza without it. I recently bought Trader Joe’s Italian Style Soffritto Seasoning Blend* and love it. My husband Eric made this Italian Style Soffritto Garlic Spread on some leftover dinner rolls the other night. It was SO good, actually a little too good!

*If you do not have access to a Trader Joe's you could make your own Soffritto. The mixture consists of dried minced onion, tomato flakes, sea salt, dried minced garlic, crushed chili peppers, parsley flakes, crushed red pepper, dried sage leaves.

By Leslie Blythe

Lemon Rosemary Zucchini Bread

You turn your back on the garden for a day and then find a 5-pound zucchini the size of a baseball bat! I decided to make some zucchini bread, but I wanted something a bit different. I found this Lemon Rosemary Zucchini Bread. It has great flavor. I love to put it in the toaster.

By admin