I had a wonderful bit of clean-out-the-fridge kismet yesterday. I dragged myself away from sitting by the fire because I knew that lurking in the back was some delectable eggnog left over from Christmas. I knew it was still good because it was bursting with bourbon, andI know it's intended to "age" anyway, so what th'....? Plus I had some remnants of the Christmas pudding sauce--Umma's plum pudding sauce still biding its time. Ditto with the high alcohol content I figured. I'd also secured a panettone when they'd gone on jaw-dropping sale after Christmas, so I realized I was ready to go with a stupendously easy dessert. To the probably four cups of eggnog, I added four eggs and beat well. I removed the crust from the panettone and chopped it into about 1 " cubes and put them in a buttered oval baker. I poured the by now double-eggy-eggnog on top and let it sit in the fridge for about an hour after squashing the panettone down into the liquid with a fork. Just before popping it into a 375 degree oven, I poured the remaining Umma's sauce over it, covered it with foil and put it in a roasting pan. I then poured boiling water into the roasting pan about half-way up the sides of the dish. Voila bain marie!
After twenty minutes I removed the foil and gave it another thirty minutes in the oven. When it came out, it was the most divine bread pudding imaginable! With the dried fruit in the panettone, it had a sort of rum-raisin thing going on....the bourbon morphing into feeling rum-like by its proximity to the dried fruit? Anyway, I poured a little heavy cream on top of each serving because, far be it from me to resist any opportunity to gild the lily!
Christmas is now 100% over but, boy-o-boy, I think that perhaps that last blast may have been the best!