Our household could survive on bread and cheese, with some fruit thrown in for nutritional purposes. This past week is a case in point.
On Monday I bought a baguette as part of our favorite Valentine's Day dinner: cheese fondue. Several years ago we decided that, instead of participating in the consumerist side of this Hallmark holiday, we would stay at home and enjoy each other's company at our own dining table. I received a fondue pot as a birthday gift from my sister and our menu has been set since then: a rich fondue of Emmenthaler cheese accompanied by blanched vegetables, apple chunks, and two kinds of bread. We drank a dry white wine (that also went into the fondue) and had salad on the side and lemon mousse for dessert.
Sorry, there aren't any pictures -- when the fondue is ready, you just dive in!
The problem with a baguette is that there's too much bread for two people. We never finish one before it gets hard and dry. This week I have been determined not to let that happen. So we had a nice light dinner on Wednesday evening: our favorite tomato soup along with a cheese plate featuring brie and pepper cheese (from Costco) and leftover Swiss from the fondue piled onto baguette slices.
No pictures of that, either, although J is a veritable master of the cheese plate.
Of course there was still some bread left over on Thursday, including about two cups of cubed baguette that hadn't made it into the fondue. I also had leftover veggies and cheese from earlier in the week. After a little web surfing I decided to combine them all into a savory bread pudding, cobbling a recipe together from a number of sources.
For the two of us, I put about four cups of bread cubes into a 1.5 quart casserole. I steamed the broccoli and cauliflower and put them on top of the bread. I made a custard of four beaten eggs, half a cup of milk, and half a cup of plain yogurt, seasoned with salt, pepper, and a little Dijon mustard. I stirred about half a cup of shredded Swiss cheese into the egg mixture, then poured it over the bread and veggies. Then, since I had a little time, I covered the casserole with a small plate, weighted it down (with the peanut butter jar, if you must know) and let the ingredients get to know each other for about 20 minutes. I baked the dish, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. The key was to let it sit for a few minutes after it came out of the oven to give the custard a chance to firm up. I think it could have used more time in the oven, but it was very tasty as it was, and we had a lecture to get to.
If one didn't happen to have a refrigerator full of leftover fondue ingredients, I imagine this recipe would be just as tasty with any leftover vegetable and any type of cheese. It might even be better if one had some bacon to go in there. Next time we have a baguette...
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