This decadent take on an iconic New Orleans dessert, from Mat & Naddie's Restaurant in New Orleans, Louisiana, gilds the lily, pan-frying white chocolate-enriched bread pudding, and plating it with satiny caramel and bruleed bananas.

Ingreadients:

•  4 ¹⁄₂ cups milk
•  20 tbsp. unsalted butter
•  1 cup sugar
•  2 tsp. vanilla extract
•  1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
•  ¹⁄₄ tsp. kosher salt
•  12 oz. stale country white bread, cut into 1/2" cubes (about 8 cups)
•  6 oz. white chocolate, roughly chopped, plus more for garnish
•  ¹⁄₂ cup toasted slivered almonds
•  8 eggs
•  1 cup flour
•  2 cups panko bread crumbs
•  1 ¹⁄₂ cups sugar
•  1 cup heavy cream
•  4 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed
•  2 tbsp. dark rum
•  ¹⁄₂ tsp. fresh lemon juice
•  ¹⁄₂ cup turbinado sugar, such as Sugar in the Raw
•  4 bananas, halved lengthwise and then halved crosswise

Direction

 

1. Meanwhile, make rum sauce: Bring sugar and ½ cup water to a boil in a 2-qt. saucepan over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves; cook, without stirring, until sugar turns into an amber-colored caramel, about 15 minutes. Add cream, butter, rum, and juice, and stir until smooth; set sauce aside.
2. Place flour and bread crumbs in separate shallow dishes; whisk together remaining milk and eggs in a third shallow dish. Unmold bread pudding from pan, and cut into 8 rectangles. Heat 2 tbsp. butter in a 12" skillet over medium heat. Dredge each piece in flour, then coat in the milk mixture, and finally coat in bread crumbs. Add 4 pieces to skillet, and cook, turning once, until golden brown on both sides, about 6 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain briefly; repeat with remaining butter and pieces. While pudding is still hot, top each with a chunk of white chocolate.
3. To serve, place turbinado sugar on a plate, and dip the flat cut-side of each banana quarter in sugar to cover completely; place sugar-side up on a foil-lined baking sheet. Using a handheld blowtorch or the broiler, heat sugar until melted and caramelized, about 6 minutes if broiling; set aside. Pour rum sauce in the middle of 8 serving plates, and place 1 piece pudding in the center of each; place 2 bruleed banana quarters on either side of the bread pudding.