Recipe - Brownes Bistro Bread And Butter Pudding

1 One half cup Milk
1 One half cup Whipping cream
1 Vanilla pod,
***OR***
One half teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 small Loaf stale French stick
4 tablespoon Softened butter for spread
One half cup Raisins (plumped in water)
Finely grated zest of
1 lemon **OR** 1 orange
One fourth cup Sugar
4 Whole eggs
4 Egg yolks
1 ounce Dark rum
2 tablespoon Sugar, for sprinkling

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine milk, cream and vanilla.
Slowly bring almost to the boiling point, remove from heat and let stand 30
minutes. Remove and discard vanilla pod before serving. Cut the bread into
thick (One half inch) slices, removing the crusts if desired. Spread each slice
thinly with butter and cut into quarters (or halves if slices are very
small). In a large buttered baking dish (casserole or souffle), arrange
onethird of the buttered bread in a layer on the bottom. Sprinkle a half
each of the raisins, lemon or orange zest and sugar evenly on top. Arrange
another onethird of the bread on top, sprinkle with remaining raisins,
zest and sugar. Arrange the remaining bread, buttered side up, on top. In a
bowl, lightly beat the eggs and yolks with the milk, cream and rum. Pour
this mixture into a spouted jug, for easier pouring. Pour the egg mixture
down into the side of the baking dish. Avoid getting the top layer wet or
it won't crisp up. (Depending on the volume of the dish, you may not use
all the mixture, or you may need to add a little milk so the liquid comes
up almost to the top layer. Sprinkle sugar on top. Place the baking dish in
a large roasting pan containing a shallow layer of boiling water. Place in
a 350F oven and bake for about 30 to 40 minutes, until the custard is set
and the top is brown and crusty. Serve hot from the dish accompanied by
creme anglaise.

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini