Cornbread Pudding

This past New Year's Eve we got together with family for a late dinner of barbecued ribs with corn bread and slaw. There was a lot of cornbread leftover, so I decided to turn some of it into a bread pudding type side dish for another night.

A little milk, egg, bacon and cheese later and we had the best leftover cornbread. It's sweet with a hint of smokey saltiness from the bacon. The custard keeps it wonderfully moist. The only things I might add to it next time are some frozen corn kernels and maybe some scallions.

We had two different kinds of cornbread to start, one was plain and the other had green chiles and spices in it. Both were great in the puddings.

Cornbread Pudding
This recipe makes about 3 cups of pudding. You can easily adjust it to make more.

2 sliced bacon, chopped
3 c pieces of torn cornbread, packed
2/3 milk (or half and half for extra richness)
1 egg
2-3 T grated smoked gouda or cheddar (we used a smoked gouda because we had it on hand, but it was the least smoky gouda I've ever tasted)
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Cook the bacon until crisp. Drain and set aside.

Divide the cornbread between two 1 1/2 cup ramekins.

In a small bowl whisk together the milk and egg. Stir in the cheese and bacon. Season with a little salt and pepper. Check to see how salty your cheese is before adding too much salt.

Pour the liquid mixture over the cornbread. Mix lightly to incorporate. Press down a bit with the back of a spoon. Let sit for 5 - 10 minutes for the bread to absorb all the liquid.

Bake for about 30 minutes until puffy and golden.

Makes 2 servings.

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