Offering to host a get together for your cousins or your best friends leaves the major responsibility of preparing and serving a fantastic meal to your guests on your apron. So after four trips to the butcher, the grocery store, the liquor store, and the florist, who really wants to stand in line at the bakery? While the slice and bake cookies from the frozen section of the grocery store may seem like an easy out for dessert, especially since you’ve already spent hours in the kitchen perfecting your grandmother’s manicotti recipe, why stop wowing your guests at dinner? Dessert does not have to be from the baker’s case or a four-hour labor of love rolling out dough. You can make a fast and delicious dessert with the stuff that’s lying around the kitchen.

Bread pudding originally came about because frugal cooks in the 11th and 12th centuries grew tired of wasting the stale bread that was left hanging around the kitchens. Which was something like the “cucina povere” I speak about all the time-invented from the “kitchen of the poor” who tried to make good use of every last morsel of food and not waste any. However, many recipes from this era are now made in the poshest restaurants.

By the way in December, check back for a similar recipe that I put together using the Italian Holiday bread-panettone..but for now bread will do just fine..

Instead of throwing it out, the cooks soaked the bread in water and mixed it with a variety of other ingredients, forming the “poor man’s pudding.” Bread pudding can be made pretty much any way you like, using varying ingredients from different types of bread to a melody of nuts and fruit. Not only is bread pudding cheap, it is considered a great comfort food by many, and is thus an easy crowd pleaser.

This past weekend, after making meat balls, my mother stood in front of a sink of stale, wet, bread crusts. Normally, she would toss the soppy mess into the trash. This time, instead, she tossed it into the bottom of a well-greased pan, and added eggs, cream, fresh ricotta, sugar, cinnamon, almonds, and butter. By the time that the whipped cream was chilled and ready, about a half hour, we had a delicious and economically friendly dessert that took less than ten minutes to beat up.

Bread Pudding

Ingredients

• About 6 cups of bread crusts or bread squares soaked and squeezed well
• 1 cup ricotta
• 4 eggs
• ¾ cup butter
• ¼ cup slivered almonds
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 cup sugar

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Grease a baking pan well. Add bread.
3. In a bowl mix eggs, ricotta, almonds, cinnamon, and sugar.
4. Pour mixture over the bread and mush around so everything mixes and gets coated.
5. Cut butter into thin pats and arrange over the top. Sprinkle with a little more cinnamon.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or until golden on the top.

For more great recipes and tips, get your copy of the best selling book at The Basic Art of Italian Cooking