Pear and Chocolate Brioche Bread Pudding

Finding good quality, seasonal and fresh vegetables and fruits in London is not impossible, but is also not easy. Yes there are farmers markets and local delis, but 9 times out of 10 I’d be doing my food shopping from a big supermarket chain where the produce is often tasteless. With this in mind, it was a pleasure to receive a beautiful veggie box from WholeGood last week!

WholeGood is an online supplier of fresh and organic fruit and vegetables who delivers delivers in UK via Ocado.

We are an organic fruit and vegetable wholesaler delivering to some of the UK’s finest retailers and caterers (and now to your doorstep!). All our produce is fresh, seasonal and delicious – just as it should be.

The contents of the box definitely exceeded my expectations and also scared me a little bit: how was I going to cook (and eat!) all these vegetables? So I messaged a few friends to invite them for dinner last Saturday, when I spent nearly the entire day in my kitchen chopping and cooking and trying out new recipes.

I am beyond impressed with the quality of the box and I would recommend it to anyone, especially if you cook at home regularly. The vegetables and fruits were fresh, as you would expect, but I’ve had bad experiences with subscription boxes in the past so I take nothing for granted. The blood oranges in particular were absolutely fantastic and I used them to make a delicious juice.

In the past week I have made two batches of sweet potato, leek & carrot soup; slow-cooked cabbage with apples and white vinegar; mushroom risotto; celery and carrots crudites for my dinner party; kale with caramelised onions and a Pear and Chocolate Brioche Bread Pudding for which I am sharing the recipe today!

Usually when I buy pears from the supermarket they are always hard like a stone and tasteless, then after a few days they ripen all at once and go bad in a day if I don’t eat them right then. The pears from the Wholegood box were delicious: full of taste, but still a bit crunchy.

More than from a recipe, this pudding was made from an idea to pair chocolate and pears in an easy dessert. I wanted to use the pears, so I built the cake around them! I used bits and pieces of recipes from different sources (Martha Stewart and BBC Food).

Ingredients

• 400g brioche bread, sliced
• 30g unsalted butter, room temperature (plus extra for greasing)
• 3 pears, cored and thinly sliced
• 100g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 2 free-range eggs
• 350ml whole milk
• 50ml double cream
• 25g granulated sugar
• 3 tbsp brown sugar, for glazing

Preparation

Grease a 20cm rectangular oven dish with butter. Coarsely chop the chocolate and slice the pears. Leave them aside.

Butter the bread slices on one side. Place two slices side by side at the back of the dish, gently pressing them down to get into shape. Add two or three pear slices on the bread, then sprinkle the chocolate chips over.

Repeat until you have filled the dish, alternating bread and pears.

Gently warm the milk and cream in a pan over a low heat to scalding point. Don’t let it boil.
In a small bowl, whisk the eggs with the granulated sugar until pale. Add them to the pan with the milk and cream and cook them at low heat. Stir continuously in the same direction until you have obtained a thick custard cream. Turn off the heat and let it cool down for five minutes.

Pour the custard over the prepared bread layers and leave to stand for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180C. Place the dish into the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove it from the oven, sprinkle the brown sugar over the pudding and bake it for a further 5-10 minutes, or until the top is golden-brown.

Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary WholeGood veggie box. All opinions are my own.