Turkey, Apple, and Gruyere Bread Pudding

I found myself a good man when I married The Beard. I was working last week when I got a text message from him letting me know that he was baking more bread for us. My thoughts went to dreams of what we could make with it. More chicken Caesar grilled cheese?  Another round of savory French toast?  I wanted to try something a little out of our collective comfort zones, and I didn’t want to do the same things we usually do.  A few months ago, we shared a bread pudding for dessert, and I wanted to do something like that, but for dinner.

When I told the Beard my dinner plans, he wasn’t all that impressed.  You see, he didn’t really like the bread pudding dessert.  He worried he wouldn’t like my planned experiment.  He made some gravy, figuring he could drown his dislike for the dish if needed.  Eventually, he agreed to at least give it a chance; I’d tried the sprouts, after all.  I looked online for the basics of a good bread pudding, namely bread and eggs.  How difficult can that be, right?

I started with one of his loaves of honey wheat.  It was soft on the inside, with a thin but crunchy crust on the outside.  I sliced the loaf up into 1-inch cubes and left it on the counter for a few hours.

I cooked up a smallish boneless turkey breast in my Instant Pot, seasoning it with minced garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper.  Feel free to season yours however you want.  It’s your dinner.  You do you, my friend.  I ended up with about 3 cups worth of turkey.

Grate yourself some Gruyère.  If you prefer to buy it already grated, we used about 1 cup of it, minus whatever The Beard and I ate while prepping things.  Try not to grate your hand on the box cutter, you’ll bleed all over things and that’s a waste of good cheese.  Maybe even…. grate cheese.

Now, core and chop up your apple.  The Beard cut these into thin slices, then chopped them up, leaving a couple of slices intact for decorative purposes.

Now that all your dry ingredients have been prepped, mix the bread, turkey, and ¾ cup of the cheese.  Put all of that into a cast iron skillet or a well-greased casserole dish and move on to preparing your wet ingredients.

Start by cracking 8 eggs into a large mixing bowl.  Since this is the house of Beard and Tart, here’s where you pull out the inevitable shells, and clean up the egg that completely missed getting into the bowl.

Next, whisk together the milk and eggs.  Add the mustard, salt, pepper, and dried herbs, and mix well.

Pour your wet ingredients over your pan of the bread mixture, arrange your apple slices, and sprinkle everything with the remaining cheese.  Let the whole thing set for 30 minutes, allowing the bread ample time to soak up all of that eggy goodness.

Bake everything on the center rack in your preheated 350°F oven for 45-50 minutes.  Let it sit for a few minutes before you cut into it.

The Beard needn’t have worried about liking this.  Even after I asked “you know I’m totally winging this, right?”, all he did give me one of those looks that says “ARE YOU MAD, WOMAN?” and went back to making his gravy.  For an experiment, this one turned out amazingly tasty.  It was as though a quiche and some Thanksgiving stuffing got together and had a baby.  A tasty, tasty carb-baby.

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Turkey and Apple Bread Pudding

If quiche and Thanksgiving stuffing had a baby, it would be this bread pudding.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Western

Keyword apple, bread, eggs, turkey

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings 8 slices

Ingredients

• 1 loaf fresh bread, cut into 1-inch cubes just your typical loaf size
• 1 Granny Smith apple cored and chopped
• 1 small turkey breast, cooked and chopped about 3 cups worth
• 1 cup Gruyere cheese, grated
• 8 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 2 tbsps Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/2 tsp basil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together.  Add the thyme, rosemary, basil, salt, pepper, and mustard.

   

2. In another large bowl, mix the bread, 3/4 cup of the cheese, turkey, and apple before putting it in a cast iron skillet or a well-greased large casserole dish.  Pour the egg mixture over the bread, then let the bread absorb the liquid for 30 minutes.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese overs the top of the bread, and cook at 350°F for 45-50 minutes.

   

The Tart

The Tart likes to eat, cook, and bake things.  She eats to work out, and she works out to be able to eat.