We were thinking about bread and bread pudding and Christmas morning and how everyone is running around but it would be nice to capture your whole family’s attention and bring them to the table for an amazing breakfast. That brought us to a French toast bar, with flavors and variations for a simple, awesome and decadent wintery breakfast. (While we’re saying Christmas here, it really can be for anything – including a little New Years Eve after party kind of a thing.)
French toast is one of those foods that’s perfect in it’s simplicity. It’s a favorite from childhood through adulthood with it’s toasty outsides and creamy center… It can be sweet or savory, topped with anything, crusted, sandwiched or dripping with butter. We went with playing with different tastes: savory, sexy, seasonal and exotic filled with fruit, nuts and vanilla bean goodness, but there’s no reason to limit yourself to these. (Although, they are pretty freakin fabulous.) Different breads lend a variety of textures and tastes. Our bread all came from Salty Tart (obviously) but if you’re not lucky enough to live near the bakery what you’re looking for is artisinal breads with different textures, flavors and density.
After you’ve picked your bread you get onto the eggy business; you want to saturate the bread pretty well but not have it fall apart. If you’re using thick pieces of bread or a dense or elastic bread, you’re going to want to soak the pieces for longer. A few seconds on each side should work, or until the bread becomes spongy. From there, we brown them up on a griddle and finish in the oven (as needed.)
(It should be mentioned that Michelle, in her home cooking, is a one pan wonder. So, while this might seem like a whole lot of mess and craziness, it really wasn’t, we just kept using the same pans over and over, cleaning as we went. There was a sauce pan, griddle and a sauté pan + a couple of cookie sheets.)
Let’s get started:
Eggy Business
Enough for 12-20 pieces of French Toast, depending on how much you soak and the size of your bread.
3 eggs (farm fresh), beaten
1c cream or awesome farm fresh whole milk (where the cream rises to the top)
large pinch salt
1T bourbon
seeds from one vanilla bean (save pod)
Beat together eggs, cream, bourbon and salt. Set aside.
Savory
Whole wheat French toast embedded with crispy bacon, topped with spinach and poached egg flecked with salt & pepper, kissed with orange zest, and drizzled with maple syrup. (We all need an orange zest kiss every now and again.)
(4 servings)
4 eggs
vinegar
8 strips bacon
whole wheat bread
2c spinach
2 cloves garlic, minced
orange zest
salt
pepper
maple syrup
Preheat oven to 450°f. Start cooking bacon and put water on to boil for the eggs. When the bacon is crisped up on both sides, take it off the stove and drain on some paper towels. Set aside pan.
Heat up some butter on a griddle. Dunk the bread in the eggy business, and transfer to the pan. While the bread is cooking sprinkle with pepper and press bacon strips into it.
Drain all but a couple of T of bacon grease and return pan to the stove, add in garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, add in spinach and sauté until spinach is cooked. Set aside.
When the french toast is brown on one side, flip it over and press again. Cook until that side is done. Transfer to a baking sheet and put in oven.
When your water is boiling add in a couple of T of vinegar. Crack egg in a small dish and using a spoon (or something) make a swirling vortex in the middle of the water. Slide egg fromt the dish into the middle of that vortex. (You can cook as many eggs as you feel comfortable with at one time.) Cook eggs until the whites have firmed up, but no longer.
Assemble the dish with french toast, bacon side up, followed by spinach, and then the egg. Sprinkle with coarse salt & pepper and orange zest. Drizzle on maple syrup and serve.
Sexy
English muffins topped with nutella, with port soaked cherries, creme fraiche, topped with dark chocolate, sprinkled with cocoa and drizzled with maple syrup.
English muffins, with big crannies
nutella
1/2 c sour cherries, dried
1/4 c port jelly*
1/2 vanilla bean pod
1/2 c creme frachie or sour cream
1 T honey
2 oz dark chocolate bar, finely chopped
maple syrup
Preheat oven to 450°f. In a small saucepan, heat the port jelly until it becomes liquid add in the cherries and vanilla bean and cook for a minute or two – cover and set aside.
Heat up butter on a griddle. Pull english muffin into tow halves, spread nutella on the cranny side and dunk in the eggy business (both sides.) Cook english muffins nutella side down for a couple of minutes to crisp up, then flip and cook the bottoms until eggy business is cooked. Transfer to a baking sheet and place in the oven for 5-10 minutes until muffins become brown.
Mix creme frachie and honey together.
Assemble the dish by placing one muffin down, nutella side up, on the plate, filling with cherries and a puddle of creme frachie, top with another muffin, sprinkle with chocolate shavings and drizzle with maple syrup.
*Alternatively, you can reduce 1c port with a 1/4c of sugar to create about the same thing. Just simmer both together in a small pan until the liquid is reduced by half. The leftover can soak dried fruits, serve as a sauce with meats or be drizzled over grilled cheese.
Seasonal
Sourdough bread french toast, topped with cranberries, brittled pistachios, fresh pomegranate and orange zest.
Sourdough bread
1c dried cranberries
1/2 vanilla bean pod
1/2c apple juice
1 c pistachios
1 c sugar
1/4 c pomegranate seeds
orange zest
maple syrup
in a sauté pan heat sugar over medium high heat until it starts to become liquid, start stirring until it’s all liquid but not burning. Turn off heat and quickly add in pistachios and stir until they’re coated. Transfer to a silpat or parchment lined baking dish and let cool. (Can be done ahead.)
In a small saucepan, heat apple juice and vanilla bean pod to boiling, reduce to a simmer and add cranberries, cook for a minute, cover and set aside.
Drop slices of sourdough into the eggy business, cook them until they’re brown on both sides. Chop up the pistachio brittle and plate by putting a line of toasts slightly overlapping, with pistachios, cranberries (w/o juice) and pomegranate seeds down the middle of the toasts. Zest some orange over the top and drizzle with maple syrup.
Exotic
Curry granola crusted French toast, topped with roasted and raw figs, pears and drizzled with honey.
French baguette
curry granola*
figs
honey crystals
pear, cut into small cubes
splash apple juice
honey
Dunk the baguette in the eggy business. Heat butter on the griddle, place bread down, top the tops with granola and press it into the bread. When the bottoms are browned flip and brown the granola side.
Take two figs, cut in half, top with honey crystals and broil until bubbly. Heat apple juice in pan, add in chunks of pear and sauté until slightly tender.
To serve arrange toast on a long plate, top with broiled figs, pears, quarters of raw figs, drizzle with honey and sprinkled with powder sugar.
*Curry Granola
3c rolled oats
1c coconut
1/4 c brown sugar
3/4c honey
1T curry powder
1T ginger
1t cardamom
1t salt
1c almonds, lightly roasted and salted, chopped
3/4c golden raisins
Preheat oven to 300°f. Mix honey into a mixture of the oats, coconut and brown sugar until it’s evenly coated. Spread out on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and sprinkle with spices. Toss around on the sheet to coat evenly.
Cook for about an hour stirring occasionally until browned evenly. If the liquid disappears too soon, drizzle more honey over top and keep baking.
Remove from oven, sprinkle on almonds and raisins and toss them all together. Add more salt if needed.
Bar Action
What we would do, if we were serving a bunch of people at breakfast, is to start making plates and setting them out on the french toast bar as they get done, so that people could mix and match and just keep them rolling. (Yes, we are sorta turning French toast into a sport, here.)
