Tomato Bread Pudding

Cheese, tomatoes, herbs and bread...summertime finest.

Ok, I'm addicted; I'm obsessed; I'm just crazy...for bread pudding. We got our twice-a-month delivery from Farm Fresh To You, the Capay Valley CSA and all summer it's included the largest, most juicy varieties of tomatoes ever witnessed. We cut up two large sunrise-red beauties this past Friday for a Caprese salad - drizzled balsamic and UC Davis EVOO, and generously added SnP, pungent leaves of basil and oregano from the garden and sliced buffalo mozz (so excited the Co-op started carrying this even though it's $6.65 for 4oz).

Michael said I would bore my blog audience by doing bread pudding again, but I'm just hooked. I had to share this recipe with you that I adapted from Gourmet magazine - generally replacing a lot of the fat with more herbs and soy milk instead of whole milk and heavy cream. I hope you won't be bored with this recipe...I couldn't think of a more perfect way to use up those last summer tomatoes.

Tomato Bread Pudding
Adapted from a recipe in Gourmet June 2005

Servings: 6

Time: 35 min active; 2 1/2 hrs total

Type: Vegetarian; to make vegan, use your fav egg replacer and omit cheese or use a good, soft, melting vegan cheese

Price: ~$15.50 total; $2.60 per serving

Nutrition (per serving):

Calories: 344

Protein: 16.8g

Fat: 18g

Saturated Fat: 6.1g

Cholesterol: 165mg

Sodium: 666mg

Carbohydrates: 31g

Fiber 4.3g

1 1/2 lbs tomatoes, plum are easiest to use, but you can really use whatever you want; halved or quartered depending on size

2 1/2 Tbsp fresh herbs; I used basil and oregano, but you could also throw parsley and thyme in there

2 Tbsp EVOO, divided

1 head garlic

8-9 oz whole wheat bread, from a baguette or use an unsliced loaf, cut into 1" cubes

1 1/2 cup plain soy milk; use can use low-fat milk, but soy milk has a deeper, nuttier flavor

4 large eggs

4 oz Italian or French fontina, not the Danish stuff, grated

1 3/4 tsp SnP each, divided

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Toss tomatoes with herbs, 1 Tbsp EVOO, 1/2 tsp SnP each.

3. Arrange tomatoes, cut side up, in a casserole pan or line a sheet pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.

4. Cut off the top of the garlic head, about 1/4" down. Put on small sheet of foil and drizzle with about 1 tsp of EVOO and 1/4 tsp SnP each. Wrap foil around garlic so none is exposed.

5. Put foil-wrapped garlic on pan with tomatoes and roast both together in oven for 50 min.

6. Meanwhile, toss bread cubes with last Tbsp of EVOO until coated. Spread out on foil-lined baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Give the bread a quick spray of spray as well. Bake in oven with tomatoes and garlic for 20-25 min.

7. Remove from oven and let cool. Turn heat down to 350.

8. Whisk soy milk, eggs, 1 tsp SnP each. Add grated cheese. When garlic head is cooled, squeeze out all the cloves into the milk mixture. They will be soft and slide out easily. Don't worry, garlic mellows greatly when roasted.

9. Transfer milk mixture to cooking-spray-coated 13x9 casserole dish. Add bread cubes and tomatoes and spread out evenly without breaking them up. Make sure to push bread and tomatoes down into milk mixture so they absorb liquid and will set together when cooked.

10. Bake at 350 until firm and golden brown, about 50 min.