Italian Bread Pudding

You wouldn’t know it from many of my blog posts, but I am Italian both in terms of nature and nurture.

Pasta is the name of the game in my family and on Christmas we’ve never had a ham or turkey or whatever it is most people eat at this time. Instead, we gather in my nana’s kitchen to make ravioli.  My nana makes the pasta sauce, I prepare the dough, and my mother makes the filling.  Then friends and family gather to put them together, boil them, and enjoy another Italian Christmas.

For me, what makes a dish Italian goes beyond the tomatoes, oregano, and romano cheese in the dish.  Italian food is communal, rustic, family food–certainly true of this bread pudding.

Like pasta, fresh, homemade artisan bread is a staple in my mother’s house and it just so happened that she had some left over artisan bread (seasoned with olive oil and rosemary) that had gone stale.

What to do? (Italians certainly don’t waste their food!) Bread pudding.  And sure, you could load this baby with a cup of extra cheese and a bit more oil, but it’s a weeknight.  So pull out that leftover bread, pop open the oven and enjoy this weeknight feast!

Italian Bread Pudding

• 1/4 lb stale artisan bread (cut into 1″ cubes)
• 3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 lb tomatoes, sliced
• 2 large eggs or 3 smaller farm eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tbsp fresh thyme
• 2 tsp fresh rosemary
• 1/3 cup parmesean cheese