Seafood Bread Pudding

This is the last of the bread puddings, and by far the best! After about 20 minutes of baking, the aroma that filled the house was absolutely mouth watering. Blockette even came up to me and said, "Mommy, what smells sooooooo good?" I replied, "Dinner!"
I had to make a few substitutions to use what I had on hand. I used imitation crab meat, 1/2 Tablespoon each dried parsley and tarragon, A mix of white, wheat and rye bread cubes, and all milk (no cream). I also roasted the red pepper under the broiler to bring out more caramelized goodness.

You really know the recipe is good when you can swap out milk for cream and have the whole family still rant and rave about how good the meal is.

The only bad part about this bread pudding is that it doesn't taste nearly as good the second time around. The leftovers were still good, but just not AS good. Next time, unless I'm making this for company, I'll only make a half batch.

Head over to Tasty Kitchen to find the recipe for: crab and fontina cheese bread pudding .
4 Tablespoons Butter
1-½ cup Lump Crab Meat, Picked Over
2 cups Fontina Cheese (shredded)
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
2 Tablespoons Chopped Fresh Herbs (like Chives, Parsley And/or Tarragon)
8 cups Day Old Italian Bread, Cubed Into 1" Pieces
6 whole Eggs
1 cup Milk
1 cup Heavy Cream
½ cups Red Pepper, Diced And Seeded
¼ cups Celery, Diced
1 whole Shallot, Diced
1 clove Garlic

Grease a medium gratin dish with two tablespoons of butter. In a pan, combine the other two tablespoons of butter with red pepper, shallot, celery and garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat until soft and fragrant. Allow vegetable mixture to cool, and combine with the crabmeat, lemon juice, and herb mixture. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, and combine with milk and heavy cream.

Place a layer of bread cubes, then a layer of the crab mixture, and sprinkle with fontina cheese. Repeat until all of your ingredients are used, and finish with a final sprinkle of fontina cheese. Pour egg mixture over the entire gratin dish. You can do this the night before, but let the egg mixture soak into the bread mixture for at least 10 minutes before putting it into a preheated 350F oven. Bake for 45-55 minutes until set, puffed and golden brown. Serve immediately.