Bread Pudding With Caramel Whiskey Sauce Was Well Worth the Wait

DEAR READERS: Back in July when “Culinary SOS� reader Patti requested a recipe for Gilliland’s Irish Bread Pudding, Gilliland’s in Santa Monica replied to the request for the recipe by sending a soda bread recipe in error. We printed the recipe anyway, with a word that when the bread pudding recipe arrived we would test and print it. So here it is. As suspected, the pudding is outstanding, one of the best we’ve had in a long time.

GILLILAND’S IRISH BREAD PUDDING WITH CARAMEL-WHISKEY SAUCE

1 (2-pound) loaf sliced white bread, crusts removed

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup raisins

1/3 cup Irish Whiskey

2 1/2 cups milk

2 1/2 cups whipping cream

1 vanilla bean, slit

8 eggs

1 cup sugar

Cinnamon-sugar (about 1/4 cup)

Caramel-Whiskey Sauce

Spread bread slices with some of soft butter. Toast lightly on 1 side. Cut bread in 1/2-inch squares. Set aside.

Plump raisins in Irish whiskey. Set aside.

Heat milk and cream with vanilla bean, scraping out seeds from bean. Cool. Discard bean. Set milk aside.

Beat eggs with sugar. Add to milk mixture. Stir in bread cubes and raisin mixture. Let stand 15 minutes.

Pour bread mixture into well-buttered 13x9-inch glass baking pan. Dot with remaining butter, sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar to taste. Bake at 350 degrees 45 to 60 minutes or until lightly golden on top. Serve with Caramel-Whiskey Sauce. Makes 8 servings.

Caramel-Whiskey Sauce

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup butter

Whipping cream

1/4 cup Irish whiskey

Melt sugar in water over low heat until caramelized. Add butter and 1 1/2 cups whipping cream and cook to desired consistency.

Cool, then add whiskey and more cream for desired consistency, if necessary. Makes about 3 cups.

DEAR SOS: We’d love the recipe for Porcupine Meatballs served by our friends as appetizers, using ground meat and rice.

--CAROLINE

DEAR CAROLINE: Good timing with the holiday season coming up. Actually the rice acts as an extender, making the meatballs tasty, full texture and budget-minded too.

PORCUPINE MEATBALLS

1 pound ground beef

1/2 cup rice

Salt, pepper

1/2 green pepper, sliced

1 onion, diced

1 tablespoon oil

2 1/2 cups tomato juice

Dash ground nutmeg

Combine meat, rice, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Mix well and shape into 8 balls 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place in shallow baking dish. For appetizer size meat balls, form into 3/4-inch balls.

Brown green pepper and onion lightly in oil. Add tomato juice, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil and pour over meatballs. Cover and bake at 350 degrees 1 hour or until rice is tender. Makes 4 main dish or 8 to 10 appetizer servings.

DEAR SOS: While dining at The Broadway in Thousand Oaks, we had a terrific frozen fruit salad that was served with small sandwiches. I would love to have a recipe for this salad or one similar to it.

--BARBARA

DEAR BARBARA: How about one similar to it. It’s a salad that goes back to the ‘40s and ‘50s, when refrigerator-freezers emerged on the scene. The salads are great for holiday luncheons and brunch.

FROZEN FRUIT SALAD

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 egg, beaten

1 cup sliced dried figs

1/2 cup flake coconut

1 (11-ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained

1 cup whipping cream

Combine sugar, flour and honey. Bring to boil. Stir lemon juice into egg, then into honey mixture. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Cool.

Stir in figs, coconut and oranges. Whip cream and fold into fruit mixture. Pour into refrigerator tray or individual molds. Freeze until firm. Makes about 8 servings.