5/26/14

Video Attempt: Lettuce and Hot Bacon Salad & Spiced Bread and Butter Pudding with Fried Bananas

Matt and I just got home from a weeklong family vacation in Kiawah, South Carolina (we'll have more on that next week), and though we're happy to be home, we're also fairly depressed that the trip is over and normal life is about to resume. At least we can drown our sorrows in hot bacon salad and bread pudding?

Lettuce and Hot Bacon Salad from Nigel Slater's Notes from the Larder
serves 4

For the dressing:
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
the juice of half a lemon
12 large basil leaves
2 egg yolks
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 handfuls of mixed salad leaves
8 slices of smoked bacon

To make the dressing, put the mustard, lemon juice, basil, and egg yolks in a blender and blend for a few seconds. Slowly add the oil until the dressing has the consistency of heavy cream. Season to taste.

Gently rinse the salad leaves in cold water, checking them carefully as you go, then drain them and dry in a salad spinner.

Broil or fry the bacon till crisp. Drain briefly on paper towels to remove any excess fat, then snip into short pieces.

Put the leaves in a salad bowl and add the bacon and dressing. Toss the ingredients gently together and eat immediately.

Spiced Bread and Butter Pudding with Fried Bananas adapted from Nigel Slater's Notes from the Larder
serves 4-6

14-ounce can of coconut milk
1 2/3 cup milk
6 cardamom pods
scant 1/2 cup of sugar
a knife point (Oh, Nigel!) of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
butter
12 small slices (about 8 oz.) of bread
a little demerara (or regular) sugar

for the bananas:
4 bananas
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons golden baker's sugar
a small orange

Pour the milks into a mixing bowl and whisk briefly. Crack the cardamom pods open and remove the black seeds, then crush them to a coarse powder with a heavy weight or grind them with a mortar and pestle. Add them to the milks with the sugar and cinnamon.

Preheat the oven to 325F. Stir the vanilla extract into the milk mixture, then beat in the eggs and yolks. Set aside.

Butter a dish about 9 inches in diameter. Butter the bread generously and remove the crusts. (Or don't. I liked the added texture of the crusts.) Cut each piece into triangles. Lay the slices of bread, slightly overlapping, in the buttered baking dish. Pour over the milk mixture. Sprinkle over the demerara sugar.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until the custard is just set. It should quiver when the dish is gently shaken. Remove and leave to cool a little.

Peel the bananas and slice them into thick rounds. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the bananas, and fry for a couple of minutes, till they start to soften and take on a little color. Add the sugar and continue cooking till it starts to caramelize and the bananas, given the occasional gentle stir, become golden and sticky. Finely grate the set of the orange on top. Serve with the pudding.

16 comments:

  1. Awesome Anniversary meal xoxo Also, happy that Teddy and Mavis are getting themselves more involved in our shoots!

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  2. I really like your food taste. And your videos. And Teddy is amazing!

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  3. Your little baby boy is so sweet!! He steals the show, sorry :)
    I love Nigel and his knife point measurements... Great dishes both.
    Happy anniversary!

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  4. That baby is more delicious than bread and butter pudding.

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  5. I hope every bonus shot after the credits will now feature smiles from Teddy. :)

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  6. Teddy is maybe the cutest baby I have ever seen. Also, I love Nigel Slater, and that salad needs to happen soon.

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  7. Awwww, thanks, everyone!! Hearing about how adorable my baby is simply NEVER gets old!! xoxoxo

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  8. I wasn't prepared for how funny this was going to be! awesome video.

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    1. Thanks, Sylvie! But next time, prepare yourself! ;) ;)

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  9. I CANNOT handle your baby. It's too much! He's too much! Give him to meeeeee!

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    1. hahahahaaaha Maybe you can swing by and babysit??

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  10. Love bread pudding but can't stop watching Teddy Mom

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  11. awe man! i wish i had known you guys were here… i want to meet you and take some family photos!!! next time? <3

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    1. awww, that would have been sweet! Next time for sure! (though I'm not anxious to get on another cross-country flight with child anytime soon.) ;)

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  12. Great vid!!! After I watched it once I skipped through again to all the Teddy shots and exclaimed things like, "OMG ADAM HE IS SO CUTE". I think we need a Teddy highlight reel pretty soon!

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