This bread pudding is earthy, comforting, and perfect for a relaxed brunch at home.
To make sure this casserole came out rich and satisfying but not overbearing, we chose leaner (but still flavorful) turkey sausage instead of pork and banned soggy bread by toasting torn baguette slices, enriching their flavor and ensuring they would stand up to the custard.
To add even more depth to the pudding while further preventing a wet texture, we microwaved kale with some aromatics and oil to jump-start its cooking and eliminate excess water in our finished dish.
We stirred the toasted bread into a simple custard, prepared with 3 parts cream to 2 parts milk for measured richness. To prevent curdling, we stabilized the custard by using just yolks rather than the traditional whole eggs.
Once the bread had absorbed some of the custard and the kale was mixed in, we layered the custard-bread mixture with sausage and topped it all off with Parmesan. From there, all we had to do was bake it, covered at first to set the filling and then uncovered for the last 20 minutes to generate some appealing browning.
SAVORY BREAD PUDDING WITH TURKEY SAUSAGE AND KALE
Servings: 4-6
Start to finish: 2 hours
1 (18-to-20 inch) baguette, torn into 1 inch pieces (10 cups)
1 pound kale, stemmed and chopped
4 shallots, sliced thin
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
8 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 pound turkey sausage, casings removed
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives
Nutrition information per serving: 809 calories; 554 calories from fat; 62 g fat (34 g saturated; 1 g trans fats); 462 mg cholesterol; 657 mg sodium; 41 g carbohydrate; 5 g fiber; 12 g sugar; 27 g protein.
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