This is Italian meets French. Panzanella is an Italian bread salad, typically rustic, rough and rugged,  while the ruffled egg is French, dainty, cute, like a little purse. I used a French imported brioche to make the bread salad which added an unique sweetness to the dish, countered by a spicy vinaigrette. The flavors are complex, and this one of those meals that can be eaten any time of day.

This is the fifth recipe in a five recipe-10 ingredient challenge from Tabasco. The ten ingredients are explained here along with the rules of the challenge.

Tabasco sauce helps to boost flavor. A good recipe will have a balance of fat, salt and acid, but to take it a step further, heat pushes the flavors. Tabasco has acid, heat and salt which is probably why it’s so popular and sits on so many restaurant tables.

In this recipe I used the brioche, eggs, cherry tomatoes, herbs, maple syrup and cider vinegar. Olive oil was a free ingredient and, of course, Tabasco.

I love salad and there were no greens in this challenge. The idea of an Italian bread salad came to me because I had brioche and eggs to work with. I love using cider vinegar to make a vinaigrette. It’s going to have a sweet profile, but this is balanced by the heat of the Tabasco. This Tabasco vinaigette could easily work on a green salad, perhaps with some smoky bacon and blue cheese.

Typically panzanella is made with Tuscan bread, very crusty, very dense which holds a vinaigrette. I was given brioche to use which is a more delicate, sweeter bread, which paired nicely with sweet cherry tomatoes and ruffled eggs. In some pictures, you will see poached eggs, because I wanted you to have that option.  You could also make this with sunny side up eggs. The Perfect Poached Eggs recipe can be found here. This is the second brunch type dish I’ve made for the challenge. If you like this one you’ll love the Eggplant Benedict with Tabasco Hollandaise Sauce.  You could even use some of that hollandaise sauce for this dish. Isn’t cooking about making a dish you’re own creation?

I do have a sixth recipe, which I will post tomorrow. One of the ingredients was chocolate and I came up with yet another Italian dish, so please do come back to see how chocolate goes a bit savory.

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Panzanella Made with Brioche, Cherry Tomatoes, Ruffled Eggs, Tabasco

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 4 cups brioche cubes
• 1/2 cup vinaigrette more if you need it
• Basil Leaves
• Ruffled Eggs

Vinaigrette

• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1/2 tablespoon tabasco
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Instructions

• Fry cubed brioche in hot olive oil, about 20 seconds each side. Cool.
• Toss with Maple Cider Tabasco Vinaigrette
• Add in cherry tomatoes and basil
• Top with Ruffled or Poached eggs
• Garnish

The Five Recipes for the 10 Ingredient Tabasco Challenge

Monday: Grilled Swordfish with Salsa Verde over Tomato Agridolce, Paleo Friendly

Tuesday: Eggplant Benedict with Olive Oil Tabasco Hollandaise Sauce, Paleo Friendly

Wednesday: Savory Eggplant Bread Pudding

Thursday: Swordfish Milanese with Eggplant Tomato Sauce with Tabasco

Friday: Panzanella Bread Salad with French Ruffled Egg, Tabasco Vinaigrette

The post Panzanella, Ruffled Eggs, Tabasco Maple Vinaigrette appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Swordfish is a dense, filling fish, which is a bit bland. It needs flavor accompaniment. In the first dish of the challenge, the swordfish got its flavor excitement from the salsa verde and sweet and sour tomatoes (agridolce). In this dish, there is a pleasing crunchy texture from the swordfish and lots of flavor from the eggplant sauce. It’s quite amazing how simple cooking can be.

Had Tabasco allowed me to make any kind of dish for the challenge, I may have overcomplicated things. As I continue to write about food, I’m finding it more important to simplify cooking and use good ingredients. When I see a recipe that has too many ingredients.

I used these ingredients:

Swordfish, Brioche, Basil, Eggs, Eggplant, Cherry Tomatoes, Tabasco.

I made bread crumbs from the brioche and the sweetness worked well with the sweetness of the eggplant and cherry tomatoes, balanced by the denseness of the fish.

Swordfish Milanese with eggplant sauce is a great Italian dish, so easy to prepare and yet feels special.

The Five Recipes in the Tabasco Challenge

Monday: Grilled Swordfish with Salsa Verde over Tomato Agridolce, Paleo Friendly

Tuesday: Eggplant Benedict with Olive Oil Tabasco Hollandaise Sauce, Paleo Friendly

Wednesday: Savory Eggplant Bread Pudding

Thursday: Swordfish Milanese with Eggplant Tomato Sauce with Tabasco

Friday: Panzanella Bread Salad with French Ruffled Egg, Tabasco Vinaigrette

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Sword Fish Milanese with Eggplant Tomato Sauce with Tabasco

Recipe for Swordfish Milanese fried with eggplant tomato sauce made spicy with Tabasco.

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

For the Eggplant Sauce

• 1 eggplant
• 1 quart container cherry tomatoes
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Tabasco
• 1 tablespoon chopped basil

For the Swordfish Milanese

• 1 pound swordfish steak
• salt pepper
• 1 cup brioche breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• olive oil for cooking

Instructions

Eggplant Sauce

• Peel and cube eggplant.
• Cut cherry tomatoes in half.
• Mix together olive oil, tabasco sauce.
• Toss eggplant and tomatoes with olive oil
• Bake for 45 minutes at 300 degrees.
• Put into a Vitamix or food processor and blend but still keep a chunky texture.
• Preheat oven at 300 degrees.

Swordfish

Make breadcrumbs

• place torn bread on baking pan for about 15 minutes at 300 until crispy and brioche breaks into breadcrumbs with your hands
• Roll Swordfish in plastic with a rolling pin to flatten out to 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Dip in egg wash. Dip in breadcrumbs.
• Heat oil in frying pan on medium heat. Fry 3-5 minutes on each side or until each side is golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
• To serve: Top swordfish with eggplant sauce and serve immediately.

The post Swordfish Milanese with Eggplant Sauce appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Savory tomato basil eggplant breading is dish 3 of the five dish, 10 Ingredient, Tabasco challenge. If you don’t know about my challenge, please visit this page to see just what Tabasco asked me to do. Every day this week, I’m posting a recipe I developed using Tabasco Sauce and their chosen ingredients.

When Brioche is one of the ingredients, bread pudding seems a natural, but I wanted to swing Italian and use eggplant, tomato and basil. The sweetness of brioche, eggplant and tomato is offset by the heat and vinegar of the Tabasco sauce, resulting in tasty comfort food.

I found a loaf of brioche that was imported from France. Fancy! It was so beautiful, that I hated to cut it into the necessary two inch squares. I let it sit out overnight and then baked the cubes for about 10 minutes. This is where you need to be careful, as the sugar in the brioche causes it to brown quickly.

I have to tell you how delicious this was. Retro Rose went on and on, telling everyone everywhere about this bread pudding. I agree. It was flavorful and rewarding the way pizza is, and, yet, there was no cheese.

This challenge did not include any butter or milk, and my recipe worked beautifully without those ingredients.  I beat 4 eggs to 6 cups of bread cubes and added a little water to the eggs. I browned the eggplant in a frying pan first to soften it. You could boil it, but I like the caramelized flavor and look of fried eggplant. This part can be done while you are browning the bread cubes. I also softened the cherry tomatoes in hot frying pan for a few minutes, which were first cut in half first.

Putting this savory spicy tomato basil eggplant bread pudding together is very easy and is the perfect dish to serve at a brunch, lunch or side dish for supper. I think the beautiful presentation makes it perfect for potluck gatherings or company brunch.

Your house will smell like a happy Italian home.

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Savory Spicy Tomato Basil Eggplant Bread Pudding with Tabasco

A savory bread pudding with brioche, eggplant, basil, tomato, eggs and Tabasco.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 6 cups of brioche bread cut into 2 inch cubes
• 1 small eggplant peeled and sliced lengthwise
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil or canola oil
• 2 tablespoons of chopped basil
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes cut in half, crosswise
• 1 tablespoon of Tabasco Sauce
• 4 eggs beaten
• sea salt
• freshly ground pepper

Instructions

• After cutting brioche bread into 2 inch cubes, allow to sit overnight or even for two days.
• Bake in oven spread out on baking sheet at 375 for 6-10 minutes, just until golden.
• Cut eggplant lengthwise, thinly. Salt and leave for one hour. Pat down with paper towels to get the moisture that will appear out of the eggplant.
• Heat oil in pan and without crowding pan, fry eggplant in olive oil on medium heat until golden brown.
• Saute tomatoes mixed with Tabasco sauce, about one tablespoon
• Assemble bread pudding.
• In a bowl toss the bread cubes with the beaten eggs and half of the tomatoes.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• In a small baking dish or cast iron pan, layer the bread, tomatoes and eggplant.
• Layer first with bread. Top with eggplant slices.
• Top with another layer of bread, another layer of eggplant, and finish with bread and tomatoes.
• Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.

The Five Recipes in the Tabasco Challenge

Monday: Grilled Swordfish with Salsa Verde over Tomato Agridolce, Paleo Friendly

Tuesday: Eggplant Benedict with Olive Oil Tabasco Hollandaise Sauce, Paleo Friendly

Wednesday: Savory Eggplant Bread Pudding

Thursday: Swordfish Milanese with Eggplant Tomato Sauce with Tabasco

Friday: Panzanella Bread Salad with French Ruffled Egg, Tabasco Vinaigrette

The post Savory Spicy Tomato Basil Eggplant Bread Pudding with Tabasco appeared first on Spinach Tiger.