Breakfast is awesome. Too bad it happens so early in the day. Sugar + Shake rarely eat breakfast at proper breakfast time. It’s either technically breakfast because it’s the first meal of the day, but eaten at lunchtime—Does that make it Elevensies? Actually, it’s more like Onesies or Twosies…—or it’s breakfast-for-dinner.
The first thing I ever cooked was in the 7th or 8th grade—I decided that for Mother’s Day, I would make breakfast for Mom. Bacon omelets, because it was pretty much the standard breakfast in our house. I thought I was being very sly, asking all sorts of questions about how one went about making bacon omelets during the week leading up to Mother’s Day weekend, and I woke up extra early on Sunday to make breakfast all on my own, before anyone else woke up.
“What are you doing?” says Mom.
After this rocky start, it’s not surprising that an enthusiasm for cooking didn’t catch up to me until my late 20s.
So what was the first thing you ever cooked?
This recipe is based off the one I use for my annual Christmas bread pudding bake-a-thon. Shake’s first reaction was, “Is this bread pudding? For breakfast?!” Normally “bread pudding” conjures up thoughts of a sweet dessert, but this is a completely savory dish.
¼ – ½ Maui onion (or other sweet round onion); sometimes these are gargantuan, sometimes they’re tiny. It also depends how much you like onion.
In a sauté pan with a little bit of olive oil, cook the sausage until nicely browned, breaking it into medium-sized bits. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until the onion is soft and translucent. If you’re not using a non-stick pan, add a little bit of chicken broth to deglaze the pan and pick up all those nice crusty bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add half the arugula (1 cup) and cook ‘til it begins to wilt. Turn off the heat and set aside.
In a bowl, whisk the eggs until well blended. Add the butter and half-and-half; season lightly with salt and pepper. Lay the bread cubes in a 9-by-9-inch square baking dish, add the sausage/arugula mixture, then the remaining fresh arugula and gently mix everything together. Be sure to leave some of the arugula at the top of the dish; it will get crispy as the pudding bakes and develops a nice, almost grilled taste. Carefully pour the liquids over the bread.
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Cover the dish with foil and poke holes in it. Bake until the bread begins to swell—it will resemble a soufflé rising—about 40 minutes, then remove the foil. Bake another 10-15 minutes to brown lightly and give the top a nice, crusty texture. You may wish to put a baking sheet underneath the pan, in case there’s any overflow of liquid as the dish cooks.
Breakfast. It’s What’s For Dinner Scenes from a Sugar + Shake Christmas Fried Rice Frenzy Cheeeese, Gromit!
Hmmm your start sounds almost like mine! I had great passion for cooking from my late 20s to 30s, making stuff even like this….now I’m just an eater, alas. I love seeing the stuff you cook, though! Not to mention, you take gorgeous photos.