# Tomato Pudding



## jackbutler (Jan 11, 2007)

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Let me tell you about my paternal grandmother. "Little Granny" Vinnie Pearl Butler is a classic southern lady who was quite the looker when she was younger. She got into the restaurant business as a waitress back in the 1936 (when she was 17) and moved to the back of the house shortly thereafter. Around 1948 she got the money together and opened her own place up with her as the cook. Even though she never spent so much as a picosecond in a cooking school, even though she lacks a fancy piece of paper with the word "chef" on it, she's one of the best Southern Cuisine chefs it has ever been my pleasure to work for.

Granny owned and operated the Earl of Sandwich from 1948 until the advance of years made it just to difficult to do anymore, finally closing it in 1995. She's now just a couple of years away from 90 and doesn't cook anymore herself... but I visit her as often as I can and when I do, I am her hands and legs in the kitchen, and she gets to cook once again through me. She is my primary reason for wanting to become a chef myself.

This is one of her recipes. To get it, I called her on the phone and she dictated it to me. From memory. I cannot imagine the depth of culinary knowledge that will leave this earth when she dies, hopefully many years in the future.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp butter
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves
2½ cups tomatoes, diced
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp brown sugar
4-5 pieces of whole wheat bread, toasted and cut into 1 inch cubes
Salt and pepper to taste


Preparation:

Preheat your oven to 375º

Place one teaspoon of the butter over medium heat in a skillet. Add the onion and the cloves and saute, stirring often, for about six minutes or until the onions are soft and just on the edge of browning. Remove from heat and discard the cloves.

Spoon a quarter cup of the tomato juices into a small bowl. Dissolve the cornstarch in the tomato juice and set aside.

Add the rest of the tomatoes to the onions in the skillet. Add the brown sugar, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil.

Stir in the tomato-cornstarch slurry; the mixture should start to thicken almost immediately. Once it does, remove from heat.

Spray a deep-sided 1½- to 2-quart capacity casserole dish with cooking spray. Scoop about half the tomato-onion mixture in and top them with half the bread cubes. Scoop in the rest of the tomatoes and top with the rest of the bread. Press the top layer of bread evenly to encourage the cubes to soak up the tomato liquid.

Dot the top of the bread evenly with the remaining butter.

Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbling hot and the top is slightly darkened. Serve as soon as possible, preferably piping hot.

Bon apetit!
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## foodnfoto (Jan 1, 2001)

Wow that sounds really good. Kind of like a tomatoey summer pudding. I'll bet it's good served cold on a bed of greens for a summer lunch. 

I'll give it a try.


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