Berkshire Eagle Column: Edible Gifts

I am sure it’s no surprise that I love getting edible gifts! And two such gifts this month – pears and cheese –inspired the column that was in the Berkshire Eagle this past week. (Click here for link.) This savory bread pudding was such a success that I’m already thinking of other versions. Of course, I also loved putting some of the cheese I got as a gift on a juicy burger, and cutting it small pieces to put on a salad. With the pears, I also made a pear upside-down cake and a pear yogurt cake with chocolate chunks. For me these are gifts that bring many joys: the joy of cooking something interesting, of enjoying fantastic ingredients, and of sharing what I’ve made with family and friends.

GIFTS AND REGIFTS

by Elizabeth Baer

They arrived on the same day: a gift of assorted cheeses from Consider Bardwell Farm in Vermont, not too far north of here, and a box of pears from Harry & David. So often this time of year gifts of edibles show up on the doorstep – although for me, any time is a good time for an interesting food gift!

My late father used to send pears every year, and my sister and I have kept up the tradition as a sweet memory of him, each sending the other a box of pears. After all these years, I have plenty of pear recipes in my repertoire, both sweet and savory. Getting an assortment of cheese was a real treat, especially from one of the many farms that commit themselves to producing handmade cheese from happy cows! I would certainly be happy to eat most cheese simply on good crackers or a slice of homemade bread, and I also have been enjoying some of it melted into a sandwich with savory spreads, like the tomato jam I canned over the summer.

But because they arrived on the same day, I was inspired to find a way to use them together. Not to say I couldn’t have just made a salad adorned with both (which I also did). But I wanted to come up with something different. I love using fruit in savory dishes, and thought it might be interesting to take what is most often a sweet dish, bread pudding, and turn it into a savory side with the addition of this special artisanal cheese.

I tried this recipe twice, once with Rupert and once with Pawlet, the two different hard cheeses from Consider Bardwell Farm. If you can find this cheese, it really is a treat, but other flavorful hard cheeses that grate well (such as Gruyère) would work too.

More wonderfully, this recipe gave me the chance for a special kind of “regifting” by sharing this dish with others, once with a friend whose wife was out of town (and he had a cast on his arm, so cooking was a challenge for him), and once with college friends who were in town after their father’s passing, and needed some time away from all the tasks.

So no matter what food gifts you may receive, making something to share with others is the best kind of regifting there is!

SAVORY BREAD PUDDING WITH CHEESE AND PEARS

Serves 2-4

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cups (about 7-8 ounces) ¾-inch cubes of stale bread, preferably with a fairly tight crumb

• 1 medium onion, sliced thin into half moons

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

• Pinch fresh ground pepper

• 1 cup milk, low-fat or whole

• ½ cup heavy cream

• 2 large eggs

• ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

• 1 pear, about 8 ounces, ripe but not too soft, peeled, cored, and cut into ½-inch cubes

• 2 ounces (about 1 cup) grated Consider Bardwell Pawlet or Rupert cheese or other hard, flavorful cheese, such as Gruyère

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly coat a gratin dish or other baking dish with cooking spray, oil, or butter to make clean up easier. Spread the bread cubes evenly in the pan.

Melt the butter along with the olive oil in a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, lowering the heat to medium if it’s cooking too fast, until onions are nicely browned and caramelized, about 10-12 minutes. Deglaze the pan with a splash of water to release any bits stuck to the bottom.

Combine the milk, cream, eggs, and nutmeg in a mixing bowl and whisk until well combined.

Scatter the pear over the bread, add the chopped rosemary, and toss to combine so that the bread and the pear are well interspersed throughout. Arrange the caramelized onion and the shredded cheese over the bread and pear, and then pour the milk mixture over everything.

Bake for 45-50 minutes. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.