B Happy, B Pudding

ramps, my dears, ramps!

It looks like a nice weekend for a drive, no? Choose wisely and head down to the historic LeDuc Mansion in Hastings for a little food festival sponsored by the Northern Heartland Food and Wine Learning Center.

Check out wine and cheese pairings with Nan Bailly of Alexis Bailly Vineyards and Patrick the Cheeseguy (he’s funny). Get into the kick of Spring by sampling some local wild edibles (I’m thinking ramps and morels), maple syrup, duck eggs, honey, herb plants and more. Saturday from 1pm – 4pm.

If you’re going to stay metro, you can at least rejoice that it’s an open weekend for both the Mpls and St. Paul Farmers Markets. Even if you’re only buying flowers, at least you can start the season off right with freshly squeezed lemonade and a Polish for breakfast.

I plan to muck around the yard this weekend. I stopped by Lucia’s Take Home the other day, and the fresh bread of the day happened to be the Aztec loaf: slightly laced with chili spice and dotted with nubs of dark chocolate. It’s that earthy/spicy chocolate and heat combination that I love. Two loaves please.

The first, I turned into a bread pudding. Not too sweet, just custardy and dusky enough to hit the spot. If you lean on the sweeter side you can either add more sugar or pair it with freshly whipped cream touched with Kahlua. It may not seem Springy, but thankfully there is no season for bread. The second loaf is destined to become Sunday morning’s French toast.

Aztec Bread Pudding
1 loaf Lucia’s Aztec loaf, ripped into 1 inch pieces
5 eggs
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 T Penzey’s pie spice
1/4 cup sugar
sprinkling of brown sugar

Butter a 13×9 baking dish, pre-heat oven to 350.
Rip or cut bread into hunks and set aside in a big, big bowl.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, cream, vanilla, spices, and sugar. Dump over the bread hunks and mix thoroughly, bread should soak up much of the liquid and look plump and squidgy. Pour into pan, cover and refrigerate for a couple hours. Uncover, sprinkle with brown sugar, and cook for about an hour or until the custard is set and the top looks crunchy.