Just to demonstrate the versatility of many of my recipes, a few days before Christmas I thought I’d do a savoury version of my Bread Pudding. We had lots of spare “yesterday’s” bread, and this is one of those recipes which will use all the savoury odds and ends in the fridge, as well as all that spare bread. It really is very forgiving.

This is (roughly) what I did, but you can vary the “flavouring” ingredients depending on what you fancy or what you have to hand.

I used…

• 500g white bread (without the crusts)
• 3 large banana shallots, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 bulb fennel, finely chopped
• end of a packet of ham, chopped
• 6 mushrooms, finely chapped
• 200g cheese, grated (reserve 50g)
• end of a piece of parmesan, finely grated (reserved)
• 400g tin of kidney beans (mine were in a horrid chilli sauce which was washed off)
• 1tbsp dried mixed herbs (be generous)
• 1tbsp freshly ground black pepper
• 600ml milk (reserve 50ml)
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1tbsp double cream (again, be generous) (optional)
• 130g butter, melted; plus some for greasing
• 2tsp baking powder

I did …

1. Combine the milk, eggs, cream, herbs and pepper and mix well.
2. Tear the bread into pieces and put in a mixing bowl; pour over the milk mixture; and leave for 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile sauté the onion, garlic and fennel until softened.
4. Butter and line a shallow 20cm square tin.
5. Heat the oven to 190°/170°.
6. When the 30 minutes is up, melt the butter.
7. Dissolve the baking powder in the reserved milk (it will start frothing, so don’t leave it standing).
8. Now mix all the ingredients (except the reserved cheese & parmesan) into the bread, being sure to mix thoroughly; pour the mix into the tin and smooth it over.
9. Cover loosely with foil (it will rise a bit), sit it on a baking sheet, and bake for about 60 minutes until a skewer comes out hot.
10. Sprinkle over the reserved cheese and parmesan; and return to the oven for about 15 minutes to melt the cheese.
11. Serve with homemade tomato sauce and a glass of red wine.

Notes …

1. This quantity will feed six as a main course with accompanying veg or salad. Or cool it and cut into small pieces as party finger food.
2. If you eat this hot, straight from the oven, it will be very soft; but leave it to cool and it will be very firm. We tried it both hot from the oven and cold the next day. For me it was better hot; when cold it was very solid and the flavours didn’t come though so much.
3. Obviously the bread, milk, eggs and butter are essential. Pretty much everything else, except probably the cheese, can be substituted: any onions; cooked meat or not as you choose; celery instead of fennel, or leave it out; spinach, chard, or diced bell pepper instead of mushrooms; fresh herbs instead of dried; any beans or not as you wish. You could add tomatoes, olives, chilli – the world is your oyster!
4. The uncooked mixture will be soft and gloopy; it should not be of either a dough consistency or a very wet slurry.