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From The Desk Of Dean & Britta: Bread Pudding

deanbritta120f1Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips are New York City’s most effortless mod couple, a duo whose sleek, icily romantic pop can serve as both sophisticated art-gallery soundtrack and lovey-dovey fireplace music. In the four years since the breakup of former band Luna, Wareham and Phillips have pursued boutique careers in the best possible sense: in literature, film, fashion and the music business. Fittingly, their latest project, 13 Most Beautiful … Songs For Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests, sets a series of Warhol’s short films to music. The couple will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all this week. Read our Q&A with Dean & Britta.

bread_pudding365Britta: Bread pudding has become a specialty of mine. Whenever Luna played in New Orleans, we always found time to eat at Mother’s. And we’d always end the meal with their delicious bread pudding. At the airport on our way out of town one time, I found myself in the bookstore fingering through New Orleans cookbooks. I found a recipe for bread pudding with bourbon sauce that looked like it would taste pretty great and copied it quickly onto a piece of paper. (I didn’t have much use for any of the other recipes.) When I got home, I tried it out, adding the zest of a lemon. It was a hit. Recipe after the jump.

Bread Pudding With Bourbon Sauce
6 cups stale French bread (sliced into small cubes, around 1/4″ to 1/2″)
1 quart milk, scalded
4 eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup bourbon
1/2 cup raisins
2 tsp. vanilla
grated lemon rind (use a very fine grater)
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Soak bread in the scalded milk (I microwave the milk one cup at a time for 2 minutes). Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs. Stir in rest of ingredients. Pour into a casserole dish. Bake 40 to 50 minutes.

Bourbon Sauce
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup bourbon

Melt butter and sugar over double boiler (I’ve never used a double boiler but I probably should). Remove from heat and whisk in egg; keep whisking until it becomes smooth and creamy like butterscotch. Cool slightly. Add bourbon. Add more bourbon if you like. Top with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Serve warm.