Think of this as a savoury bread and butter pudding. It's full of all the things we love at breakfast - bacon, eggs, toast and plenty of cheese. It's an excellent option if you're having friends over for breakfast - you can do all the work the night before and bake it in the morning. Salted maple syrup riffs on the classic American bacon-maple combination.
Bacon and egg pudding with salted maple
Think of this as a savoury bread and butter pudding, for breakfast.
- 20 mins preparation
- 1 hr 45 mins cooking plus soaking
- Serves 4 - 6
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Ingredients
- 8 thick slices of sourdough bread or 4 English muffins, split in half
- 20 gm butter, diced, plus extra for greasing
- 1 leek (white part only), thinly sliced
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 2 tsp thyme, plus extra leaves to serve
- 250 gm crème fraîche
- 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 250 ml pouring cream (1 cup)
- 8 eggs
- 250 ml milk (1 cup)
- 1 tsp Tabasco
- 6 rashers streaky bacon, rinds removed, plus extra crisp bacon (optional), to serve
- 150 gm Gruyère, coarsely grated
- 30 gm finely grated parmesan
- Chopped flat-leaf parsley, to serve
Salted maple
- 125 ml maple syrup (½ cup)
- 20 gm butter, diced
- 1 tbsp bourbon (optional)
Method
Main
- 1Preheat oven to 180C and butter a 2-litre baking dish. Place bread in a single layer on an oven tray and bake until light golden (3-4 minutes).
- 2Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat, add leek, garlic and thyme, and sauté until leek is tender and translucent (4-5 minutes).
- 3Whisk crème fraîche, mustard and half the cream in a bowl until smooth. Add eggs, milk, Tabasco and remaining cream, whisk to combine, then season custard to taste.
- 4Layer bread in baking dish, tucking bacon rashers in between, then scatter with Gruyère and pour custard over the top. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours to soak (or overnight).
- 5For salted maple, boil maple syrup in a large saucepan until caramelised (2-3 minutes). Remove from heat, add butter, bourbon and 50ml water (be careful, hot caramel will spit), then return to heat and bring back to the boil. Stir in ½ tsp sea salt, then stand at room temperature until required. Salted maple will keep in an airtight container for a week.
- 6Preheat oven to 150C. Scatter pudding with parmesan, season to taste and bake until golden brown (1-1½ hours). Stand for 10 minutes, then scatter with flat-leaf parsley and thyme, and serve with salted maple and extra bacon.
Notes
Drink Suggestion: Sparkling shiraz. Drink suggestion by Max Allen