Monday, September 15, 2008

By request...

There was surprise and suspicion that I was holding out on the good stuff when I didn't post the recipe for AudioDad's french toast birthday breakfast. So, to tide you all over while I fine-tune another recipe (one for chocolate espresso sables with sea salt- I'm on version #2 this week and have tweaks ready for batch 3) to be posted in the near future...

French toast! Usually I use the huge loaf from the grocery store- you know, the one cut really thickly, possibly the Sara Lee brand? It makes a nice, dependable french toast, but nothing earth shattering. But when I came across some new bread options at Trader Joe's (LOVE that place!!!) I knew immediately what Munch & I would be fixing for AudioDad's breakfast. I grabbed a loaf of brioche (I may try the challah next just to compare) and sliced it thickly- it made the heaping plate you saw, maybe a dozen slices or so? Again, I don't know that it's the recipe that's anything special, as you'll see below- I think it's the bread choice, or maybe just that it was made with love for our favorite guy! (Who, by the way, deemed it the best he's ever had. What else could he say?) And, I suppose if we're getting fancy with the bread, we may as well call it... pain perdu, a la francaise.

7 eggs
1 tsp. salt
5 tbs. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla paste (it gives you the nice vanilla beans specks, or you can just use vanilla extract)
2 1/4 c. milk
ground cinnamon
about 12 thick slices of bread

Combine the eggs, salt, sugar, vanilla paste, and milk in a large shallow dish (like a deep pie pan)- sprinkle on a couple of shakes of cinnamon- it never combines well, so I don't bother mixing it much. Soak a couple of slices of bread (both sides) in the eggy mixture until saturated. Cook on a well greased griddle over about 325 degree heat until browned on each side and the middles are still tender (not too firm, not too squishy). Repeat with all slices, adding additional cinnamon as needed. Sprinkle cooked french toast with with powdered sugar and serve- with real maple syrup of course (did I even have to say that?), but here's a recommendation- try Grade B syrup. It's richer, thicker, and has more "maply" flavor.

And...while you're waiting for another post, don't forget to check out the links to the right for some of our very favorite food stuffs/producers....

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh no, now I am going to get into some serious trouble. Went looking to see if you had a new blog and saw last week where you said to check out some specialty food links and here I am at 2:00 pm not even showered yet, I got so involved in the different links. I plan to check those sites out again soon for X-Mas. Everything looks so yummy!! Love to all of you. Lynn