I love mushrooms.  I love them in soups, in risotto, in salads, in pasta, in spaghetti sauce, and definitely in bread pudding.

This is another one of my favorite recipes that I found from Gourmet magazine when it was around.  I do miss that magazine but there are Gourmet cookbooks out there with some of the compiled recipes of the magazine.  I am not sure if this particular recipe is in them or not.

However, this dish is pretty simple and I like to serve it in individual ramekins.  If you serve this with any type of red meat and have a little of the red meat juices around, this only adds to the wow of the dish.  So, go ahead and serve this Mushroom Bread Pudding up with some Rib Roast or Beef Tenderloin this holiday season.  Your guests will mistaken you for a 5 star chef!  Always remember though, great cooking attracts repeat guests. This is a recipe to save if you don’t want your guests coming back over because they will!

You will need:

Challah Loaf (cubed and toasted in oven for 10 minutes)

2 cups half and half

4 Eggs

2 tablespoons Butter plus more for around pan or ramekins

1.5 lbs Mushrooms- cremini, oyster, and/or chanterelle

1/2 cup shallots

2 cloves of minced garlic

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1/2 cup parmesan

Butter the inside of your ramikens to keep pudding from sticking and preheat oven to 350f. Cook your butter, shallots, and mushrooms until most of liquid has evaporated.  Add in parsley, garlic,  salt and pepper.  Put mushroom mixture aside.  In another large bowl mix half and half, eggs, and cheese with some salt and pepper.  Add mushroom mixture and bread to egg mixture. Soak your bread crumbs and mushrooms in the egg mixture for around 10 minutes in large bowl.  Fill pudding into your ramekins that have been buttered and place in a rimmed bakeware that has hot water filled halfway up. Carefully place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes in ramekins.  Always check timing though because every oven is different.