Once again a lover of the Mariposa Bakery

Mariposa is back on my good side I didn’t follow up with this story last month, so here’s the background. On Feb 13 I called Mariposa Bakery in the Ferry Building to reserve some gluten free gnocchi for Valentine’s Day. My plan was to make my way through the Ferry Building constructing a delicious and romantic meal, centered around the gnocchi. Originally I’d considered making my own, but as I’ve written in prior posts, I hear it is quite difficult and time consuming. Also on Feb 13, I managed to do something to my back that caused a major muscle spasm, which rendered me fairly useless at dealing with any sort of adversity on Valentine’s Day. Feb 14 arrived with a big windy ugly rainstorm, expected to last all day. I spent the morning and the lunch hour in client meetings with a colleague. My plan was to leave my last meeting and walk 3 blocks to the Ferry Building, pick up my supplies for the meal, head home and get cooking. The rain provided a small obstacle, but would not have been insurmountable had it not been for the back injury. I could barely walk, and I was in PAIN. Every step was agony. It didn’t help that I was carrying my work bag that contained my brick of a laptop, and I gave up on my umbrella after about half a block in the wind. I’d managed to get a last minute appointment with my doctor for mid afternoon. If I timed it right, I could get what I needed foodwise, walk to the doctor and be completely on schedule. Fate had other plans. I hobbled my way to the Mariposa Bakery, announced that I was there to pick up my reserve gnocchi and was met with a very confused look and a “what gnocchi? We don’t have any gnocchi today.” Um…… On a normal day, like I said, I could have dealt with this. But, with the rain and the back pain I just couldn’t. I tried to hold back my tears, but I didn’t do a very good job. I explained to them that I’d called, that there was supposed to be some reserved, and that I was new to my gluten free lifestyle and cooking dinner for my husband and that I didn’t have time to make the gnocchi myself and AGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. The woman who worked there was really nice. She called the headquarters. They apologized. They agreed to give me a $25 gift certificate. While that was processing, I regained some of my composure and told them I was going in search of an alternate meal and would be back. I got some sage, thinking of the butternut squash I had at home in my fridge. Then I looked at my watch. I had 3 minutes to get to my doctor’s appointment. I called the doctor and they had no more appointments for the day. Not one. Couldn’t squeeze me in. I begged. I pleaded. And I lost it. Called my husband crying. All for a missing bag of gnocchi. Now, I got into to the doctor’s office that afternoon, cooked an awesome meal and all was well in the long run. Why this explanation? Because I’d avoided Mariposa ever since, as they’d let me down. Yesterday we were out of bread, and I didn’t have the car so couldn’t go to the grocery store. Mariposa was the only option. Their bread is the best GF bread I’ve had hands down. Even better? They had fresh butternut squash ravioli. The price for one bag of pasta and one loaf of bread? $20.00. Worth it? Yes. I made croutons with the bread (they were DELISH) for a ceasar salad, with Tyler Florence’s dressing (yum!), and made the ravs with some sautéed mushrooms and onions (well done) and some crispy sage. Finished it off by putting the ravs in the pan with the mushrooms and onions and some Arbequina olive oil to brown their outsides a bit. It was a great meal in all of its carby - deliciousness!!!

Bread Pudding

There are several foods that I am willing to endure the pain of gluten for, or at least that I think I will be open to doing so, given the early term of my gluten free life:
1. Gnocchi
2. Croutons
3. Bread Pudding (preferably from Alfred's)

While I've found 2 acceptable substitute for croutons (one purchased, one home made), I was really thinking that the other two might be lost causes. I've yet to see a viable solution for gnocchi. There are recipes out there, but per reviews, apparently more than 50% end in the "gnocchi" dissolving in the boiling water. Mariposa bakery in the ferry building apparently has it from time to time, but after Valentine's Day, when I called ahead and they promised to have it there for me to pick up, and then they did not, my faith level for them is not super high.

Occasionally, things go your way. I was invited to a birthday party where the theme was Southern Comfort food this weekend. The gracious hostess was planning to prepare Mac & Cheese, Fried Chicken, Sloppy Joes and Red Velvet Cupcakes. While I knew I could get through dinner by eating Sloppy Joe's sans bread, dessert was going to be an issue.

Brainstorming Southern food, and with the help of the internet, I decided to try to find a recipe for bread pudding, preferably involving Bourbon. As luck would have it, I came upon this link: http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/dessertsandsweets/r/gfbreadpudding.htm which provided a recipe for GF bread pudding with apples and raisins, and a bourbon sauce. Jackpot.

The recipe even gave guidance for using Udi's bread instead of homemade GF bread. I'm a big Udi's fan and always have it in the fridge. I subbed 85% chocolate for the apples and raisins, breaking up a bar of Scharfenberger as the last step, stirring it in and adding a few semisweet chips after I'd poured the mixture into the baking pan.

The bread pudding came out nicely, but the hit was the sauce - 1/2 cup of cream, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and 2 tablespoons of Woodford Reserve. Heat the cream, add the sugar, boil, remove from heat immediately, stir in the vanilla and the bourbon, and you've got vanilla bourbon caramelly deliciousness.

Dessert was served to a crowd that were on average 3 drinks in, and received incredibly well. No one could believe it was gluten free. Not exactly health food, but a great option for holidays!

Now if I can only solve the gnocchi issue...

Here's the full recipe:

Preheat oven to 325. Butter a baking dish (I used a standard glass pie pan).
Ingredients:
1 12oz loaf of Udi's bread
2 cups of heavy cream
1/2 cup of sugar
3 eggs
1.5 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon(ish) of bourbon
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 large bar of dark chocolate, broken up into a lot of pieces.
A handful of semisweet chips, or more dark chocolate of your choice.
Cut up the bread into cubes - I made 9 cubes out of each slice. I hear stale bread works better, but mine was from a sealed loaf and right out of the fridge.
Put the cut up bread into a large bowl.
Heat the cream in a saucepan on medium heat. Add the sugar and stir it until it melts.
Pour the cream/sugar mixture over the bread. Stir a little bit to coat (not too much or the bread will fall apart).
Let the bread/cream mixture cool.
Beat the eggs lightly. Add the cinnamon, vanilla and bourbon. Beat until mixed, but don't overbeat the eggs.
Pour the egg mixture over the bread. Fold in gently (again, not too much or the bread will turn to mush).
Pour the melted butter over the mixture. Fold in gently.
Pour the mixture into the baking pan. Pat it down (don't squeeze too hard). Make sure the chocolate is distributed equally(ish) and add more as you see fit.
Bake at 325 for 45 minutes.
Serve warm with bourbon sauce.
Go to the gym for the next 7 days :)