TOASTY TOMATO PANADE WITH HARBISON FONDUE (AKA “INSIDE-OUT” GRILLED CHEESE & TOMATO SOUP)
WHAT IF YOU COULD DIP YOUR TOMATO SOUP
INTO YOUR GRILLED CHEESE?
This Tomato Panade (a fancy word for savory bread pudding) achieves the impossible. A riff on Southern tomato pudding, toasty buttered croutons are coated in a sweet & tangy concentrated tomato sauce & roasted until deeply caramelized on top.
Moist on the inside, crispy on top, & chewy around the edges, it holds together just enough to require a fork rather than a spoon. For a delightfully dramatic presentation, a whole wheel of Harbison is nestled into the center of the casserole & baked until bubbly, ready for dipping hunks of jammy, buttery tomato-bread into.
If you’re not feeling crafty, you can always bake the Panade in its own dish & melt the Harbison separately—this miniature cast-iron pan is perfect for this very purpose!
15 minutes active time — 80 minutes total bake time — serves 6-8
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 375F. In a medium bowl, pour the melted butter over the bread cubes and toss until evenly coated. Transfer the buttered bread cubes to a medium baking dish & bake 20-25 minutes or until golden and crispy on the outside, almost like a crouton.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan combine the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar, salt, & pepper & bring to a boil over medium heat. Just after the mixture begins to boil, turn the heat down to low and simmer until the croutons are done baking.
Once the croutons are ready, pull them out of the oven and transfer them back into the medium mixing bowl. Pour the tomato mixture over the bread and stir just enough to make sure all the pieces are coated.
Prepare a tinfoil dummy Harbison: form a loose ball out of tinfoil roughly the size of an orange, and then flatten it until it’s the same circumference as your wheel of Harbison. It’s okay if it’s much flatter than the actual cheese, it just has to be the same size around the outside. Place your tinfoil disc in the center of the baking dish. Distribute the tomato-bread mixture evenly around the disc, leaving a tiny bit of room around it. Cut a three-inch wide strip of parchment paper and use it to form a collar around the aluminum disc, then push the bread mixture right up against it.
Bake for 50 minutes - don’t be alarmed if the top gets very brown & some bits begin to blacken! It should be crispy on top, fairly firm & not at all soggy, but still have a bit of spongy bounce to it when pressed.
Take the baking dish out of the oven & carefully remove the parchment paper & foil disc from the center. With a sharp paring knife, slice all the way around the top of your Harbison & peel off the rind. Nestle the Harbison into the center of the casserole & pop the baking dish back into the oven for 10-12 minutes, until the Harbison is hot & bubbling on top.
Grab a fork & dig right in, or slice the panade & portion onto plates & drizzle with ooey-gooey melted Harbison!
EQUIPMENT
medium bowl
medium baking dish
small saucepan
aluminum foil
parchment paper
INGREDIENTS
6 cups of cubed bread*
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
12 oz can crushed tomatoes or tomato puree
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 wheel Harbison
*plain, fluffy, sliced white sandwich bread works best here (we actually used a few stale kaiser rolls), but if you prefer a more rustic loaf, it will still produce delicious results! Just make sure not to use anything too dense, or it will become heavy & soggy.
