Savory Bread Pudding

I swear that no one gets called for jury duty more than me. When I lived in Washington, DC, I used to get called back even before I was eligible again after my last service, and I would have to phone the court and explain their error. 

I'm as willing as the next person to honor my civic responsibilities, and jury duty is usually interesting (although often depressing). But the best benefit it has ever given me was during the first trial on which I served. One of the other jurors, Colleen, became my friend for life. 

We have had some great times together through the years. Through Colleen, I have made several other friends, and one of them introduced me to my husband. Colleen and I traveled to Kenya and Tanzania together, and I couldn't decide which photo of the two of us on that trip was best:

Colleen and I in Zanzibar

The black lumps in the river are hippos

Zanzibar. All photos taken by Michelle, another cool person I met via Colleen!

The trial during which we met as jurors was a LONG time ago, and Colleen and I now both live hundreds of miles from that Washington courtroom and each other, but she and her family recently paid me and my family a visit. It was fantastic to catch up.

Sampling mocktails with Colleen and our assorted backup dancers

For dinner on the occasion of their visit, I made "Savory Bread Pudding With Artichokes, Cheddar and Scallions" (NYT Cooking). I bought some gluten-free sandwich bread for this purpose (gluten-free baguettes are a rarity) but this was also a good way to use up the various crusts of loaves already sitting around in my freezer.

I used a mix of cheeses: mostly cheddar but also Gruyere and parmigiano. I only had five scallions so I also added a small, sauteed, chopped onion. The dish took a few minutes longer than the prescribed 45 minutes to set.

Colleen's husband, Hamid

It was good and not difficult, but it was more of an eggy-tasting dish than I had hoped. Make it for brunch! 

Like all vegetarian choices, this savory bread pudding carries less environmental impact than meat-based recipes. That's important because, as the New York Times and other news sources have noted, 2023 was the planet’s warmest year on record, and perhaps the warmest of the last 100,000 years. This global warming is the cause of rising sea levels, severe weather events, and changing natural habitats for plant and animal species that don't have time to adapt.

So prioritize plant-based foods in your diet. And the next time you're called for jury duty, don't waste an opportunity to strike up conversations with the potentially wonderful people sitting around you. Someday you might just end up drinking juice from coconuts with them halfway around the world.