WFD : Chicken Tikka Masala and Berry Bread Pudding w/ Walnuts

We had some berries about to go bad, tons of farm fresh eggs and a loaf of stale bread so how could I not make bread pudding????? I was going to make steak and fava beans to go with it but the pudding took us so long that I had to make a quick dinner. We love eating indian food (as long as it's mild) so I thought I'd whip up a quick Chicken Tikka. I like making curries because you can throw a bunch of veggies in and it's still really yummy. Yummy and healthy, you can't go wrong there! I do admit to using store made curry mix but I think this will be my last one. I might venture to the local Indian store and make my own curry from scratch. Wish me luck!

Here's the step by step on these two dishes which were both out of this world! Enjoy!

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Butter or spray your pan. Use a 9x13 baking dish or a pretty one like this one I have.

Cut up 3/4 loaf of stale bread - I used TJ's Mom's Bread (or whatever it's called, their WonderBread knock off). Put into pan. You might need more bread depending on your pan, just fill it up.

Gather up your ingredients - I subbed rice milk for regular milk and coconut milk for the heavy cream because of Delilah's milk allergy. I like to let my ingredients sit out so that they are all room temperature. I'm sure Martha taught me that. I also used 10 eggs because they were medium sized and I like my pudding extra "smooshy".


Whisk everything together. Delilah was very helpful in this task.


Pour the egg/milk mixture over the bread evenly.

 Gather up the topping ingredients. Make sure your butter is cold. I used the soy butter because of Delilah. And I also used candied walnuts because that's what I had on hand. We used a mix of raspberries and strawberries because they needed to be eaten. Use whatever berry/fruit you like or none at all. Go crazy!

My sous chef caught eating the berries.

Isn't she just the cutest sous chef alive?

Put your cold butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in the bowl.

Blend it up with a pastry blender or two knives. The dogs loved this part because Delilah was a little crazy with her pastry blending and a lot of sugary buttery goodness ended up on our floor. And in the dog's bellies.

Chop up your nuts. Feel free to use any nuts you have laying around. I wouldn't advise using your husband's nuts though.

Throw the nuts on top and follow those with the berries. I cut up the strawberries but left the raspberries whole. 

Isn't that a beaute! Pop that sucker in the oven. You should put a cookie sheet on a rack below it to catch drips. I learned this lesson the hard way when the smoke detector blasted off. Learn from my mistakes, people.

Okay, now onto the curry!

Chop up some boneless skinless chicken. I used tenders but you could use anything you want -- breasts, thighs, whatever you've got on hand. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat your skillet over medium heat and throw some olive oil in it. Throw the chicken in and cook it up.

Gather up your ingredients - this is where you can be creative. AKA clean our your fridge!!

I am using frozen peas, some leftover baby food (zucchini), and some leftover rosemary potatoes from Monday.

At this point, start throwing stuff in. I threw my taters in first.

 Next, the zucchini. In the future, I'll add more because you couldn't taste it at all. And I have tons of frozen zucchini because my baby hates being fed and will only eat big girl finger foods. I'm so glad I spent a whole Saturday peeling, steaming and pureeing my brains out. A memo would be nice next time Quinn!

After that, I poured on that yummy Curry Simmer Sauce by Trader Joe's. 

 Oh! I forgot I had these in the pantry. Woo, let's toss these bad boys in!

I added in half a can of coconut milk (leftover from the pudding). Doesn't that look delish?

Last but not least, pour the peas in. Now if you like spicy stuff, don't add these because they are sweet. But I'm a southern gal, through and through, so my tongue is more suited to sweet and deep friend flavor profiles.

Simmer that goodness until y'all are ready to eat. Total you should have it cooking for about 25 minutes -- longer just makes it yummier. While cooking this, I usually make a pot of basmati rice to accompany.

Bon appetite!



My little curry baby.

Here's the finished pudding too. Man, that was sinfully delicious. Mark ate half of it!!!

Berry Bread Pudding w/ Walnuts
Print Recipe 

Ingredients

• 1 loaf or less of stale bread (Challah works nicely)
• 8 whole Eggs
• 2 cups Whole Milk
• ½ cups HeavyCream
• ¾ cups Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract

Topping

• ½ cups All-purpose Flour
• ½ cups Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
• 3 teaspoons Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 1 stick Cold Butter, Cut Into Pieces
• Fresh Fruit (Whatever you have on hand or you like, cut into bite sized pieces)
• 1 cup chopped Walnuts

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Grease 9 x 13-inch baking pan with butter or spray. Cut bread into chunks and dump in the pan. Smoosh them into place.

Mix together eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla. Pour evenly over bread. If you want, you can cover tightly and store in the fridge several hours or overnight.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add butter pieces and blend with pastry cutter until mixture resembles fine pebbles. If you want, you can store in a Ziploc in the fridge.

Sprinkle walnuts first, then the fruit, then the crumb mixture over the top.  Bake for 45 minutes for a softer, more bread pudding texture. (My preferred method) Bake 1 hour or more for a firmer, less liquid texture. (AKA not as good hahaha)

Scoop out individual portions. Devour.