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Baked eggs and savory bread pudding combine to make a special dish for breakfast or brunch.

I have a confession. I save every little bit of leftovers or scraps from cooking. If you ask me, my refrigerator is like a treasure chest filled with little plastic-wrapped surprises. Other people in my family may not have the same opinion of my scrap hoarding and I'm okay with that.

This also applies to my pantry cabinet. I definitely do not apply a Kondo technique when storing a few tablespoons of sesame seeds or snack-sized ziplock bag of chopped pecans. How can I choose what stays and what goes when I love all the little bits. Finding that perfect ingredient for a recipe will always give me a spark of joy.

These little edible jewels can easily form the basis of a recipe. Many times all that is needed to give a punch of flavor to a recipe is in a 4-ounce storage container in the back of the cabinet. Doing a deep dive into the refrigerator, I will run across ⅓ cup of roasted peppers or a few tablespoons of brown butter and start to brainstorm. Leftovers from last night are reimagined in a pasta or a soup.

Making the savory bread pudding

This what prompted the baked eggs and savory bread pudding. I always seem to have a stale butt end of a loaf of bread taking up valuable real estate in the refrigerator. Not needing any more bread crumbs, ( I have many bags in the freezer), I begin to come up with a plan.

My son loves caramelized onions on the smash burgers that were last night's dinner. Just enough onions are left over and get thrown into a bowl. The sausage links forgotten at breakfast get a quick chop and in they go. With some eggs, cream, milk, garlic, cheese, and a few random herbs, there is now a savory breading pudding where there was once some sad little bundles of bits.

So do a little exploration in your refrigerator and pantry. I bet you will find the ingredients that can make a savory bread pudding worthy of the boast that this recipe was your plan all along. No one needs to know your secret.

Elevating with Eggs

As a final step, add your favorite style of egg. For a hands-off approach, I like baked eggs. The creamy yolk coats all the savory bread goodness. But whether crispy-edged fried, or lightly scrambled, or gently poached, any egg will elevate your bread pudding.

Recipe

Baked Eggs and Savory Bread Pudding

Course: Breakfast, Brunch, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 30

Cook Time: 45

Total Time: 1 15

Servings: people

Calories: 548kcal

Author: Julie Swift

Baked eggs and savory bread pudding combine to make a special dish for breakfast or brunch. The recipe can be started the night before.

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Equipment

7x11 baking dish, 6 ramekins or mini cocottes

Ingredients

8 cups bread, cubed and toasted
6 breakfast sausage links, sliced into ½-inch pieces
⅓ cup caramelized onion
½ cup pecorino romano cheese
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
10 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons parsley minced
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Many of the steps can be done the night before.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
The best bread to use is one that has a soft texture. The bread cubes should be about ½-inch in size. These can be prepared the night before and left out to dry. If need be, place in a 350-degree oven for until dry and toasted, about 12 minutes.
Combine the bread with the sausage, thyme, onions, and cheese. In a separate bowl, combine 4 eggs, heavy cream, milk, and garlic. Pour the wet ingredients into the bread mixture and toss to coat. Make sure all of the bread is being mixed with the egg mixture. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
Coat your baking dish with cooking spray and add the bread mixture. Make sure that the bread pudding is a consistent thickness in the pan. Put in a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, take the pan out of the oven and crack 6 eggs on top. Make sure to place the eggs apart from each other if using a 7x11 baking dish so that each serving will have a 3 ½" square piece of the bread pudding. Place back in the oven and bake for approximately 12 minutes. Serve immediately.

Notes

The sausage links and the caramelized onions can be cooked the night before. For the caramelized onion, dice about ½ of a large onion. Over medium heat, add 1-2 tablespoons of oil and add the onion. As the onion starts to turn brown at the edges and there is browning on the bottom of the pan, add ¼ cup of water. Saute until the water has been cooked away. Keep doing his process until the onions are the desired degree of caramelization.