FThis week sees me get over the half way mark with this potion of the cook book challenge: next up to the plate is Matt Moran's "When I Get Home". Matt Moran is of course the head chef of ARIA, located at the very doorstep of the Sydney Opera House. He became a household name with his continued involvement in MasterCher Australia, and is loved for absolutely scaring the figurative pants of contestants. He's a great chef, his dishes are always drool-worthy, and his book is no exception. 

For the second week in a row, I got to tackle a dish I've been promising to make my boyfriend for over half a decade (wow, way to make us sound old). There were two desserts that fit the bill, actually, the other being bombe alaska, but I had to skip that at the first line: "This recipe requires an ice cream machine". Neeext.

This was on his list of all-time favourite desserts and something I'd both never eaten nor made. Perfect for the CBC.
The dish is of course bread and butter pudding. It involves custard. Of course my custard-loving fiend of a boyfriend was going to adore this. My dad was also over for dinner and he'd in the past mentioned his love of this dessert, so the occasion was perfect. I made us a beef casserole for dinner and then we nommed on this. Perfect winter warmer. 

Matt Moran's recipe calls for sourdough fruit bread. Something which caused the workers at out local bakeries to exchange glances akin to having been asked, "I would like to purchase your left kidney." That was a dead end. They'd never heard of it and I hadn't time to bake my own, so I opted for a regular fruit loaf instead and sliced it thickly.

I really enjoyed this dessert. I'm not sure how it is supposed to taste, but I'll settle for this. Boyfriend said versions he's had in the past are on occasion soggy, and/or the crusts become chewy. This was none of those things. Perhaps it's because of how thickly I cut the slices, but the bread still retained it's soft texture while being soaked through with enough custard to become pudding-ey. 

I probably should have halved this recipe for the 4 of us, but it got plenty of mileage. We had it for brunch the next two days, one of which I topped it with raspberries for a little something different.

Here's Matt Moran's recipe for you to try:

Bread and Butter Pudding

Ingredients

1 loaf sourdough fruit bread 5 eggs 4 egg yolks 125g sugar small pinch nutmeg 1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped 450ml milk 450ml cream 15g butter, melted

Method

Cut the fruit bread into 1cm thick slices and leave uncovered on the bench for a few hours to become stale (this helps the bread to absorb the custard). Preheat the oven to 160ᵒC Place the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, nutmeg and vanilla bean scrapings in a bowl and gently stir with a whisk until combined (try not to incorporate too much air as you stir). Gently heat the milk and cream in a large saucepan, add the egg mixture and stir to combine. Lightly brush the bread slices with the melted butter, then arrange then in a large, ovenproof dish, making sure the slices overlap. Carefully pour the custard over the top. Gently push any bread slices that have floated up back into the custard. Set aside for 15 minutes to allow the bread to soak up the custard. Place the dish in a roasting tin and half fill the tin with water to create a water bath. Bake for 35 minutes. To check whether the pudding is cooked, shake the dish gently – the centre should have a slight wobble. Cook for a further 5-10 minutes if necessary. Remove the pudding from the oven and place under the grill to brown a little, if required. Serves 8-10.

You'll find the printable version of this recipe here.