NEW ORLEANS BREAD PUDDING WITH BOURBON SAUCE

Steps:

• For the bread pudding: Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Grease a 6-cup (9"x5"x3") loaf pan with butter. Whisk the eggs, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and bourbon together in a large mixing bowl until very smooth. Add the half-and-half and mix well. Add the bread and raisins and let mixture site for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Pour into prepared pan. Bake until the pudding is set in the center, about 55 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes. To serve, cut the pudding into 1" slices, spooning some of the Bourbon sauce over the pudding. Yields about 10 servings. Recipe may be cut in half. For the Bourbon Sauce: Heat the cream, half-and-half, vanilla and sugar in a saucepan over high heat, whisking, for about 3 minutes. Dissolve the cornstarch in the bourbon. When bubbles form around the edges of the cream, whisk in the bourbon mixture. As the cream boils up, remove the pot from the heat and continue whisking bigorously until thoroughly blended and slightly thickened. (This is not a thick cream sauce -- it is meant to be fairly thin.) Yields 2 cups.