Saturday, February 9, 2008

Fruity French Toast

OK, I know, I know... It's been a ridiculously long time since I've posted and I'm not going to even try to make up an excuse. Instead, here's a pretty picture of a brunch I didn't have to pay $15 for:


The beauty of this meal was that I was able to use up leftovers and create something decadent without much work. The bread? Slices from a loaf of Challah that would have otherwise been too stale for PB&J. The orange? It was tossed in the bag with my last "Chinese" delivery order. The blueberries were on sale and I always prefer to swap out at least some of the syrup for fresh fruit. The dipping batter? Well, I only had one egg left (not enough for an omelette) and I had some stray milk (but no cereal to pour it over). If there's one thing culinary school has been good for, it's the greater ease I have in using up stray ingredients to create something that doesn't resemble leftovers.

The "recipe" is simple. In a shallow soup bowl I combined the egg, about a half cup of milk, some orange zest and a splash of orange juice, a healthy sprinkle of cinnamon, a palmful of sugar and a quick grate of nutmeg. I "whisked" it together with a fork and was ready to go. I used my largest frying pan (so I could do all three slices at once) and melted some butter over medium heat so it wouldn't burn. The bread went into the batter and then straight into the pan after a quick drip. The butter browned for some added flavor depth and the healthy amount sugar I added to the batter gave the finished product a crunchy, caramelly goodness. The blueberries and orange slices were tasty garnishes and I did add some real maple syrup (not that chain grocery stuff that's mostly corn syrup and flavoring agents) since I was going for decadence and not diet food.

Bonus: I was eating about 10 minutes after I first decided to make the french toast and that's only because I was trying to keep from waking my roommate.