"Give the people what they want..."

So sang the Kinks in 1981 (but if you were in Europe, you didn't get to hear that until 1982 because apparently funding fell through...). Well, looking at the recipes I've posted recently, one stands out as very popular, namely the Croque Monsieur Casserole posted in October (click here for link). And deservedly so, as it was delicious. So, in the spirit of the season, because I suspect you may enjoy this one too, and because some of my readers are vegetarians, today's recipe is a similar, bread-and-butter pudding style recipe, but this time without meat. So this is apparently what you want, come and get it. Of course, if the Kinks were right: "The more they get, the more they need. And every time they get harder and harder to please." Uh-oh!
As for the provenance of this one, I'm afraid I'm going to be letting you all in on my hoarding tendencies, since the recipe was given to me as a friend when we were in college together. At the time, five of us linguistics graduate students used to gather together of an evening, gossip about the other occupants of the lab, drink large quantities of red wine, cook, and eat good food. (It was during this era that my love for risotto was born, as we used to make huge pots of the stuff for example.) My good friend Sarah made this dish one night, and subsequently wrote down the recipe for me. In my recent clear-out, I found that piece of paper, and am somewhat embarrassed that during the ensuing 20+ years have not tried to replicate the dish. Last night was the night, and it has now made it on to my list of regulars for sure. Thanks Sarah....rather belatedly, but thanks! I confess that I did tweak a little, using frozen spinach for convenience, and upping the quantity of eggs and milk to make it nice and moist, but otherwise it is the original in all its glory. All you need to go alongside is a nice green salad.

Spinach Bread and Butter Pudding
Serves 8-10

2 10 oz packages frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 large ciabatta loaf, sliced into 1/2" thick slices (stale is fine - mine was 2 days old)
salted butter
olive oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced
6 oz mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 tsp cumin seeds
salt and pepper
12 oz gruyere cheese, grated/shredded
10 eggs
4 cups milk (I used 2%/semi-skimmed)
fresh grated nutmeg (I used 1/4 of a whole nutmeg)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Spread butter thinly on ciabatta slices. Grease a 9"x13" pan and line the base with some of the bread slices.
3. Fry onion and mushrooms in olive oil for 5 minutes until softened. Add spinach and cumin seeds and season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Layer half of the spinach mixture over the bread, then sprinkle 1/3 of the cheese over that.
5. Repeat layers with half of remaining bread, followed by remaining spinach, another 1/3 of the cheese, remaining bread, then finally the remaining cheese.
6. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and milk and add nutmeg. Pour over the whole dish carefully, and then set the dish aside for at least one hour before baking, so that the bread soaks up the liquid. (you can leave it for way longer than that - in fact, I have left it overnight, if you want it for a brunch) You can help this by gently pushing down on the bread on top.
7. Bake for 40 minutes until risen and golden, and crispy on the top. If it starts to brown too quickly and isn't cooked in the middle, cook for longer, but with some foil on the top to stop it from browning more.