Asparagus Bread Pudding w/Porabellos

The other night while having a meal with some friends at a local Italian restaurant a friend bought some of the whole wheat bread they make there and gave me some.  I made a bread pudding with asparagus and portabello mushrooms. Not too many mushrooms though, my sweetie doesn't like them too much.  I make sure they are in very large pieces so he can take them out. 

I started with a recipe from a book I read this year, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It's a food journey of a family who lived as locavores for a year.  They grew their own food and obtained other items they needed only from local sources. The daughter contributed commentary and recipes at the end of most of the chapters.  It was nice of them to post the recipes online.

I made a few changes of course.  I used oat milk and coconut milk, vegan margarine instead of butter, and a chopped portabello instead of morels.  I had a portabello that needed a home. I did use eggs, but I am sure they are from free range chickens. I also used an Almond cheese instead of the dairy Swiss cheese.  The Almond cheese was flavored like pepper jack.

Asparagus Cornbread Pudding with Snap Peas

I've been reading a very fun book I received as a birthday gift, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver.  It's the story of a family who ate only locally for a whole year.  I mean locally, they grew much of their own food and what they didn't they tried to obtain from within their county.  The whole family had a hand in writing this book and the daughter, Camille, has her pieces with a recipe at the end of  her commentaries.  I get kind of hungry reading this book.  Inspired by her Asparagus and Morel Bread Pudding I knew just what to do with the fresh asparagus and the little loaf of jalepeño cornbread I bought at the farmer's market today.  I made a similar bread pudding using her recipe as a guide.

I didn't have the morel's, but that's OK, my husband doesn't like mushrooms much.  (I still cook with mushrooms, but make them in very large chunks so he can pick them out and give them to me.)  I did have the fresh asparagus, the loaf of homemade cornbread which I sliced and toasted in the broiler, the spring onions, fresh parsley and oregano.  I used non dairy milk and omitted the butter used in the recipe.  I gently sauteed the asparagus in a little coconut oil and added some snap peas I had from last week's market.  I did use the eggs, but I do use local eggs.  Eggs are one of those things that appear that I am spending more, I pay from $3.50 up to $5 a dozen for my fresh local eggs, but a dozen will last me a month or more.  The cheese I used is a natural cheddar with wild smoked salmon and chives with a little freshly grated Parmesan.  I thought that would add an interesting flavor.

My husband took the picture and not only ate a piece while trying to get just the right shot, he then ate the piece he was photographing.  This is one of those meals that doesn't look too pretty, but it sure is good, flexitarian, comfort food.