Lambros' kitchen travellog

It seems that I quite liked the Caribbean desserts! This one is a quite fine way to get rid of stale bread and goes really well with ice-cream!

Ingredients

• 200–250 g day-old bread (white bread, brioche, or challah), torn into chunks
• 2 ripe bananas, sliced
• 2 eggs
• 400 ml milk
• 200 ml cream (or use all milk)
• 75–100 g sugar (to taste)
• 1 tsp vanilla sugar or 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 50–70 g raisins (optional)
• 2 tbsp melted butter (plus extra for greasing the dish)
• 2–3 tbsp dark rum (optional) or 1 tsp rum essence (optional)

Quick Rum Sauce (optional)

• 30 g butter
• 50 g brown sugar
• 80 ml cream
• 1–2 tbsp dark rum (optional)

Steps

• Heat oven to 180°C (top/bottom) or 170°C (fan). Grease a small baking dish (about 20×20 cm).
• Put the bread chunks and banana slices in the dish. Add raisins if using. In a bowl, whisk eggs, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, melted butter, and
  (optional) rum.
• Pour the custard over the bread. Press gently so everything is soaked. Rest 10 minutes.
• Bake 30–40 minutes, until set in the middle and golden on top (a slight wobble is fine).
• Optional sauce: melt butter with brown sugar in a small pan. Stir in cream and simmer 1–2 minutes. Turn off heat, then stir in rum.
• Serve warm with the sauce, whipped cream, or ice cream.

Notes

• No rum? Skip it—still delicious. Add a bit more vanilla and cinnamon instead.
• If your bread is very dry, let it soak the full 10 minutes and bake closer to 40 minutes.
• Great add-ins: chopped nuts, coconut flakes, or a few dark chocolate chips.
• Store leftovers covered in the fridge and reheat thoroughly before serving