Back in the pre-pandemic days, I used to occasionally visit a new grocery store just to refresh my senses.
Some women like to go to the mall to shop, but checking out a new store — preferably one catering to an international clientele — is my idea of a big time. The fascinating foods and ingredients tease my imagination and, in turn, my palate.
Last week, I did something I hadn’t done since mid-February: I actually went to the grocery store. I have grown so bored with sheltering in place and perhaps you have, too.
Of course, we must still be careful, especially if we’re in high-risk groups for COVID-19. But nearly seven months of the same four walls spurred me on. I needed a little adventure.
So my mask and I went down to El Super on South Sixth Avenue to pick up a few things — half-and-half for my coffee, eggs, milk, a few staples. While I was there, on a whim, I added a bag of a dozen shell-shaped Mexican pan dulces — conchas — to my cart.
I’m a fairly hearty eater, but I couldn’t begin to work my way through a dozen conchas before they began to go stale. Now what?
Bread pudding seemed like a good solution. Sometimes savory, sometimes sweet, bread pudding is a thrifty cook’s way to get full use of the last of the bread even if it’s turned hard.
It is, as so many thrifty cook’s dishes are, also a way to fill many bellies with an ingredient that might otherwise have gone to waste.
I can vividly remember watching my Southern mother-in-law hack up leftover biscuits to make a bread pudding — and the cries of delight at the family reunion when she set it on the supper table. Dress it up, if you like, with hard sauce or whipped cream or ice cream, but you don’t have to do that.
In its most recent incarnation, my bread pudding benefited from the last of a bag of shredded coconut from the pantry. When I spied the coconut, I realized that I also had a can of coconut cream from a past excursion to an international market.
Let’s talk for a minute about coconut milk versus coconut cream versus cream of coconut. They’re very different ingredients, and it’s important to understand which one you want.
Coconut milk, made by simmering one part shredded coconut in an equal amount of water, has the consistency of cow’s milk. You’re probably most familiar with it from Thai curries.
Coconut cream is thicker and richer — it simmers four parts shredded coconut in one part water. Because it’s richer, that’s what I wanted for my bread pudding.
Cream of coconut is like sweetened condensed milk. It’s sugary, used in mixed drinks and some desserts. You’ll find it in the aisle where the liquor is, usually. I don’t use this product much, if at all.
I had only one can of coconut cream on hand, but if I’d had two, I would have used them both. If you haven’t any coconut cream, just double the half-and-half or whole milk.
As it happened, my six conchas made up about four cups of cubes, so my recipe is scaled to that amount.
If you don’t have that many left over, cube up the stale ones and toss them into the freezer in a zip-top bag. Add cubes of almost any kind of stale bread as it accumulates. Eventually you’ll have the four cups you need for this nice dish.
COCONUT CONCHA PUDDING
Makes 6 generous servings
Any slightly stale pan dulce will work in this bread pudding. Just cube it up and let it soak. Notice that this recipe relies strictly on the sugar from the pan dulce to sweeten it. You’ll need about 4 cups of bread cubes for this recipe. Add raisins or pineapple if you wish. Cinnamon ice cream would be marvelous with this.
INGREDIENTS
Butter, for greasing the pan
Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting the pan
4 large eggs
1 egg yolk
1 14-ounce can coconut cream (not cream of coconut!)
Use the coconut cream can to measure 14 ounces of half-and-half or whole milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon coconut, rum or vanilla extract
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flaked coconut, divided
4 cups stale concha cubes
PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 13-by-9-inch baking dish with butter and dust it with confectioner’s sugar. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, eggs, egg yolk, coconut cream, half-and-half, cinnamon, salt and coconut and vanilla extracts. Stir in 1 cup of flaked coconut. Fold in the bread cubes until they are evenly coated. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Set the dish aside at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Bake on a sheet pan in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup flaked coconut over the top and continue to bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until a pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool to just warmer than room temperature before serving.
Refrigerate any leftovers and eat them for breakfast the next day.
