Lenten Friday: Asparagus Bread Pudding with Mushroom Gravy

I love bread pudding, and make some -- if I may say so myself! -- pretty exceptional (and prize-winning) dessert versions, loaded with varieties of chocolate chips and with flavored cocoa mixes added to the custard.

But I was in the mood for a savory bread pudding recently, and also had some roasted asparagus to use up. Well, since bread pudding is a great way to repurpose excess/leftover bread, why not throw some excess/leftover vegetables into the mix, too???

And so, for dinner one night Tom and I took some whole wheat English muffins that had been staring out of my refrigerator for awhile, begging for a reason to justify their existence ... the lingering asparagi ... a small scrap of cheese that had been hanging around since St. Paddy's Day ... and we turned it all into a magnificent feast!

I also had a lot of half-and-half that had originally been intended for some other concoction -- I can't even remember what, anymore -- which never materialized. So it found its way into a gravy that was not only a perfect complement to the pudding, but which would also be exceptional with meatloaf, with chicken, over pasta ... sigh.

This is a quick, easy, and delicious meal whose beauty is completely and totally greater than the sum of its parts.

Roasted Asparagus Bread Pudding with Mushroom Gravy

Pudding:
4 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
4 whole wheat English muffins, halved and cut into 2" pieces
2/3 cup chopped roasted asparagus
1/3 cup grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a 9" glass pie pan.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, salt, pepper, milk, half-and-half and mustard. Add the English muffin pieces and soak for 10 minutes, stirring and pressing down occasionally so that the custard is absorbed a bit.



Stir in the asparagus, and place the mixture into the pie pan. Sprinkle the cheese on top, and bake for 35 minutes until the pudding is browned and puffed up, and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.



Gravy:
5 tablespoons butter, divided
1/2 cup chopped onion
8 ounces mushroom, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons unbleached flour
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup half-and-half

While the pudding is in the oven, make the gravy. Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, the mushrooms, the salt, lemon pepper and pepper flakes; cook for 2-3 minutes until the mushrooms are softening, then add the remaining butter and cook until it melts.

Stir in the flour and coat everything with it. Combine the wine, milk and half-and-half; slowly pour over the mushroom mixture, stirring to incorporate the liquid with each pour, before adding the next increment. When the liquid has all been added, let the gravy come to a boil; then lower heat to medium-low and cook, stirring frequently, until the bread pudding is ready.

Cut the bread pudding into 8 servings, and pour gravy over the top of each portion to serve.