Strata: Vegan Savory Bread Pudding

I'm kind of a sucker for a good casserole. It's undoubtedly a guilty pleasure and something I hate to love because a traditional casserole is so artificial. Re-doing the dish in a healthy vegan manner isn't much different though and actually tastes just as satisfying.

This particular casserole is a strata, which means a savory bread pudding. As if having a casserole wasn't enough, bread pudding takes it to the next level. It gets better though.

When making a bread pudding it's always best to go with a stale or crusty bread so it better absorbs all of the creamy goodness that goes in the mixture. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I recently went to the Vital Vittles bread bakery, and since my discovery I've made frequent visits there. This week I had some leftover sliced corn bread that was phenomenal just by itself and stale. Then with the addition of whatever was left in my fridge, I decided to throw everything together and hope for the best. Any veggie would do just fine; I've successfully used cauliflower and broccoli, as well as sweet potatoes and squash. Lastly, the secret to this dish is to season during every step of the process, or else you'll end up with a bland mess.


Ingredients:

• 1 small loaf of stale bread or 8-10 pieces of old sliced bread of your choice
• 1 package firm tofu
• 1/2 white onion
• 2 carrots
• 1 bunch of dino kale
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds
• 1 tbsp dried sage
• 1 tbsp dried basil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 tbsp (aprox.) olive oil
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 3+ cups of unsweetened nut/soymilk 
• 3 tbsp egg replacer (I may have used more)
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 375ºF
• Start the prep-work by chopping all of the ingredients. I diced the tofu and bread into 1/2 inch cubes; the carrots into 1/4 inch dices; the onion into thin slices; and the kale roughly chopped. 
• In a bowl combine the nut milk of you choice, herbs, nutritional yeast, egg replacer, salt and pepper. Mix well then add the cubed bread. Set aside.
• Place the carrots, garlic, onions and kale stems with oil in a large sautée pan on high and season well. Once browned and softened add the rest of the kale with the apple cider vinegar to deglaze. Once well wilted, pour the mixture into the bowl and start to sautée the tofu cubes. Season well and keep in pan until browned. Add to the bowl. 
• Now that all of the ingredients are cooked and combined, stir well until it's an homogenized mixture, but not too much as to break apart the bread. 
• Grease a casserole dish lightly with oil, then pour in contents of bowl. Place in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until completely warmed through and browned on top. 
• Make sure to let the dish rest for at least 5 minutes before serving so everything can set into place. Then eat!

Before (left) and After (right)