French Toast, Pain Perdu, or “Lost Bread.” I have posted many variations of this dish in the past but not in quite a while. This is a favorite breakfast of my son who is home from college for the holiday. And this is the variation that I made for him today…whole wheat French toast with blue-berry pineapple syrup. This is really easy and fun to make and people will likely be impressed that you made everything–even the syrup–from scratch. Anyhow, for recipes, lore, and “how-to” photos follow this link (scroll down).
Category Archives: French Toast
Ezekiel French Toast with Pineapple Syrup and Caramelized Mango (recipe and pics)
Egg Strata: Layers of Textures and Flavors
Strata < Latin strātum literally, a cover, noun use of neuter of strātus, past participle of sternere to spread, strew, equivalent to strā- variant stem + -tus past participle suffix
Okay. Firstly, let me explain what this is. And by this I don’t mean classically (in the culinary world) but what it was to me; what it was for my dinner tonight. It was…well…a sort of look-in-the-fridge-and-make-make-something-out-of-it meal. Like much of the east coast we got hit with heavy snow today and I didn’t feel like going shopping after work. My son was out so I only had to cook for myself. So I checked my kitchen and I found some eggs, bread, onions, garlic, cheese, and a few broccoli stems (I ate the florets from them a few night ago). So this is what I made. A strata (culinarily speaking) is a cross between a frittata (or a quiche with the crust on the inside) and a sort of savory French toast. Interestingly, the French word for French toast is “pain perdu,” or lost bread, indicating the bread is stale and cooking it in that manner is a way of reclaiming it (or at least not wasting). And that’s exactly what this was tonight. This was really good and satisfying, and as far as the ingredients the sky really is the limit (but the contents of your fridge are the real limit). Anyhow, this couldn’t have been easier to make, and it hit the spot…thought I’d share the recipe.
Egg Strata: Layers of Textures and Flavors
Strata < Latin strātum literally, a cover, noun use of neuter of strātus, past participle of sternere to spread, strew, equivalent to strā- variant stem + -tus past participle suffix
Okay. Firstly, let me explain what this is. And by this I don’t mean classically (in the culinary world) but what it was to me; what it was for my dinner tonight. It was…well…a sort of look-in-the-fridge-and-make-make-something-out-of-it meal. Like much of the east coast we got hit with heavy snow today and I didn’t feel like going shopping after work. My son was out so I only had to cook for myself. So I checked my kitchen and I found some eggs, bread, onions, garlic, cheese, and a few broccoli stems (I ate the florets from them a few night ago). So this is what I made. A strata (culinarily speaking) is a cross between a frittata (or a quiche with the crust on the inside) and a sort of savory French toast. Interestingly, the French word for French toast is “pain perdu,” or lost bread, indicating the bread is stale and cooking it in that manner is a way of reclaiming it (or at least not wasting). And that’s exactly what this was tonight. This was really good and satisfying, and as far as the ingredients the sky really is the limit (but the contents of your fridge are the real limit). Anyhow, this couldn’t have been easier to make, and it hit the spot…thought I’d share the recipe.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon crushed hot pepper
¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup cooked broccoli
1 ounce cheddar cheese
Preheat an oven to 400F. Place the bread in a shallow bowl and pour the egg-milk mixture over it; turn the bread to coat both sides—allowing it to soak up the egg—and set aside. Heat the olive oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook it until it just begins to caramelize. Add the garlic, hot pepper, and salt; cook another minute or two. Lift the soaked bread from the egg and lay it on the onions, then layer the broccoli on and around the bread. Pour the remaining egg mixture into the pan. Lay the cheese on top of the bread and place the skillet in the oven. Cook the strata for about 10 minutes, or until cooked throughout, slightly puffed, and golden brown.
Whole Grain Pancakes (a 3-in-1 recipe)
Stuffed French Toast is Anything but "Lost"
Pictured on this post is a breakfast I made for my son (and a friend) and it’s his favorite…French Toast. I’ve posted numerous pictures and versions of this simple but delicious recipe in the past (click here), but what sets this one apart is that the toast is stuffed. As usual, I used homemade whole wheat bread (click here for a recipe) and made the syrup using a pineapple juice/sugar reduction into which I dropped a few blueberries just before serving (this adds not just flavor but also a bit of color to the syrup). I “stuffed” the bread with thin slices of ripe banana, and I use the word stuffed loosely because it it really more like an egg-dipped sandwich…slice the bread thinner than usual and dip it in an egg-mil mixture before making a sandwich with the fruit. And an important thing when cooking this is to do so over a very slow flame…you want the sandwich (toast) to heat through thoroughly not only to cook the raw egg but also this is what will hold it together. Lastly, what I meant by the title of this post–that this is anything but lost–is that it is really extravagant, and unlike it’s humble origins. The original French toast in New Orleans/Creole patois was called Pain Purdue, or “lost bread”…implying that it was made with old or stale bread (as not to waste it). Well, this bread was neither old or stale–nor were any of the other ingredients–hence, it was anything but lost. Urban Simplicity.
Whole Wheat French Toast with Pineapple Syrup and Caramelized Apple
This is a simple-to-make hearty and flavorful breakfast, and it also happens to be my son’s favorite (somewhat of a Saturday morning tradition). French toast can be made in any number of ways, but the key to a really good one is great bread and flavorful syrup…of course the syrup can be purchased but it is just as easy to make it at home in about 5 minutes. And to make homemade syrup is as simple as boiling fruit juice (I used pineapple juice toady, but any juice will do) until enough moisture evaporates and it becomes syrupy and the flavors are concentrated…this, after all, is how the maple syrup companies do it, but only on a large scale. Sometimes (often) I’ll “boost” the syrup’s sweetness with a tablespoon of sugar or honey; today I added sugar. While most of us recognize this recipe as French Toast (likely because of the custard the bread is soaked in), if you are a true Francophile you may know this as pain purdu, or “lost bread” because it is a great way to utilize stale–or lost–bread…but trust me, made with really good bread this is anything but lost. To see other versions of this with many more pictures f it being made, click here.