You might ask, “What is ‘fig season’?” Fig season (for me, at least) is that space between late summer and fall. The kids are back in school, the sunflowers are blooming, and it’s still very warm, but you can see the sun shifting to the south. It’s a little bit bittersweet, but there are a few silver linings. Fresh, ripe figs are one of them.
Figs are very photogenic, so I keep trying recipes with them. Here’s another one:
Bread Pudding
I sometimes find myself with a large part of a loaf of stale sourdough bread. I want to try something, and then my weekly cooking plans get waylaid, so I need to change direction. This happened to me recently, around the same time I had too many figs. Of course, the first thing I thought of to make with stale bread was bread pudding. Making it with figs was a whole new thing for me, so here we are.
This is a very loose recipe, because that is the nature of bread pudding. You can make it with almost any fruit, any type of sweetener, and any seasoning. You could even make it savory, if you wanted to. The main ingredients in making bread pudding are bread, milk, and eggs. I almost added thyme to this, but changed my mind and used cardamom.
If you decide to try this and want to use cardamom, I recommend using whole pods and grinding them yourself. Using pre-ground cardamom is relatively flavorless compared to making it yourself.
Fig Bread Pudding with Cardamom
Ingredients
- Butter (for greasing the pan)
- 1-½ cups whole milk
- 3 eggs
- A pinch of salt
- ½ tsp cardamom (ground from ~10 pods)
- ½ cup honey
- 3 cups of stale bread crumbs, cubed
- ⅓ cup chopped walnuts
- 10-20 fresh figs, quartered
Preheat oven to 350º F.
Prepare an 8” x 8” baking pan by greasing it with butter. Set aside.
Beat the eggs with the milk, salt, ground cardamom, and honey.
Place the bread cubes in a large bowl with the walnuts and fig pieces, then pour the milk mixture over them. Stir and allow the bread to soak for at least 15 minutes. Once the bread is saturated, spoon the mixture into the prepared pan.
Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the pudding indicates that the eggs have fully cooked. Cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. Serve warm or cold.
Refrigerate any leftovers; they should keep for at least 3 days. This makes about 6 servings.
