A new and happy addition to our brunch repertoire. French toast, or eggy bread as it used to be called when I was a kid, reminds of Girl Guide camp. The amount of work we had to do before breakfast was even served guaranteed we were suitably hungry for breakfast. We used to spend a week chopping wood, keeping fires alight for hot water and food, hiking, doing little crafty bits when we had the time and singing round a fire. It sounds a bit rubbish but it was good clean fun that is almost impossible to find now. All the food was cooked over an open fire and it was amazing!
We used to dish up huge platters of eggy bread and devour with sugar or ketchup. We also used to make an eggy bread based concoction called blackbirds. Which are blackberry jam sandwiches, dipped in beaten egg with milk, and fried. I haven’t introduced Jim to these yet. All in good time.
Ingredients (for two)
French Toast
2 eggs
60ml milk
Grated nutmeg to taste
Four slices of old white bread, cut in half diagonally
Caramelised Apple Topping
55gr golden caster sugar
25gr butter
2 tbsp milk
Couple of drops of vanilla extract
1tbsp honey (I used a really nice Kentish honey that has a really floral taste)
2 eating apples, cored and cut into eight wedges each.
Method
1, In a medium sized sauce pan, melt the butter and add in the sugar. Heat this through until it starts to bubble. Cook this for a couple of minutes and add in the milk. It should bubble up quite ferociously at this point, so keep on stirring and it will calm down.
2, Cook this for about 4-5 minutes over a low heat, add in the apples and stir to coat them in the caramel. Turn the heat down to the lowest setting and prepare your French toast.
3, In a non-stick frying pan heat a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil over a medium heat.
4, Whisk the egg, milk and nutmeg together until well combined. Dip the bread into the egg and gently place into the frying pan.
5, Fry until golden brown and then flip over and cook the other side. Remove from the pan when the underside is also golden brown. Keep these warm until serving.
6, Go back to the apples and they should have just started breaking down. Don’t mush them up too much just gently toss them over in the sauce until they are coated.
7, Serve the French toast topped with the apples and a dusting of icing sugar.
I still remember the first time I ate Eggy Bread- it was like a revelation! I LOVE the stuff.. haven't made it for ages though (and branflakes are so dull in comparison) - breakfast next weekend is not going to know what has hit it! Thank you for the great reminder!
ReplyDeleteI haven't make this for ages either. I really should make some more interesting breakfasts!
ReplyDeleteWe DID call it French Toast BUT it was always savoury not sweet, with lots of salt and pepper. I made some yesterday with a mediterranian loaf and served with fried tomatoes, was yum. I was also a Guide and did all that stuff you mentioned including digging latrines - arrrrgh! You wouldn't get past the Health and Safety police to do all that now.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kate, Corina and Janice! My normal breakfast is granola based so it's nice to have a change on a weekend - it's the only time I have to cook breakfast!
ReplyDeleteI'd completely forgotten about digging lat pits and emptying the toilets into them! Must have mentally blocked that Inge out! I doubt half the stuff we did back then would get past the mummy state now!
That looks a lot more tastier than I remember eggy bread at camp being, brings back some distant memories!
ReplyDeleteI'm a sucker for french toast anything, but you've gone way over the top with this! Love it!
ReplyDeleteOh its been a long while since I've had french toast, thanks for remindingme. May have to make some this weekend.
ReplyDelete