playing with French toast

[NWC]

Lately I've been playing round with savory French toast, and I've got two recipes I'd like to share.

The first is ridiculously good, but takes a bit of time.


Savory French toast squares with spinach-curry creme sauce
Ingredients:
-old (or fresh) bread, cut into small squares [the French word for French toast is pain perdu, 'lost bread', because it was a way to use bred that had turned]. Personally, I keep the heels of all the bread I eat for things like this.

Egg mixture:
-eggs
-creme
-mustard (dark, with seeds in it)
-paprika
-garlic (powdered or paste)
-salt

mix all that shit together, let the bread soak for awhile if it's old, cook the pieces as you would a regular sweet French toast

Sauce:
So yeah at the same time, start working on a sauce that you'll pour over the pieces. You need:
-frozen chopped spinache
-creme
-milk
-butter
-flour
-curry
-salt
-garlic (if you're as addicted to garlic as I am)
-fresh ground black pepper

First melt the spinach, then do with the butter and flour as you would for a regular white sauce. The advantage of putting in the chopped spinach first is that you really don't need to worry about clumps forming, it's the easier white sauce you'll ever make. It's best to whisk it while adding in milk/cream, but really you could just mix it well with a spatula spreader and you'd get by. I like this sauce to be pretty thick, but that's up to you. Throw in the curry and salt.

Place the squares on a plate, smother in the spinach garlic curry sauce, throw a sprig of cilantro on top to make it look nice, et voilà.


French toast cheese:
This one is super simple. I just made it up 40 minutes ago, it took 10 minutes, and it's all sorts of wonderful. You make pretty much the same egg mixture as with the first recipe, but I always threw in some curry for this one. This time you need fresh bread, 2 slices per sandwich (seriously goddamn revolutionary, I know). Dip one side of a slice of bread in the mixture for 3-5 seconds, then throw it in the pan, no oil, no butter, no nothing. Put some cheese on top (I used double crème, which is kinda like camembert), then cover the pan with a lid so that the cheese melts a little better. Dip one side of the second slice, throw it on top, flip it over, you know the drill.

It's basically a grilled cheese, but with so many added benefits. The bread now has a ton of flavor, and a slightly different texture. Also, you don't use any oil/butter, which makes the whole thing less greasy, while not taking away from the deliciousness of the toast.



[yeah, today I went out and bought a whole bunch of those Paix-Dieu that I'd had last night]

[East Coast Hustle]

The second recipe in particular sounds really good. Might have to make that for the crew one of these days.

On a side not, I LOVE those Kasteel glasses with the castle at the base. I steal them from every bar I find them in. I ordinarily do not like fruity beer AT ALL but I am fucking ADDICTED to Kasteel Rouge. Even better is to do a black & tan-style pour with Kasteel Rouge and Old Engine Oil. Tastes like a goddamn black forest cake.

Also might have to try the creamed spinach one, but I'll probably leave the curry out of that one and use fresh spinach, just because it's not MY money that I'm playing with.

[NWC]

Yeah I would love to use fresh spinach, if only I could afford it

So Kasteel rouge is good? I've had a bottle sitting around for a month that I don't have so much interest in. I bought the rip-off package of the glass + the four different Kasteel beers with my girlfriend, but neither of us like kreik. I'm a big fan of the triple though, and the glass is so cool. I just might try the rouge tomorrow.

Hope your crew likes the recipes if you decide to try them out

[NWC]

Do you also enjoy cough syrup mixed with simple syrup? That's pretty much what Kasteel rouge tastes like. Neither me or my girlfriend could get down more than a sip.

[East Coast Hustle]

It's not my fault you have a degenerate palate. That's what hanging out with Belgians will do to you.

Also, it's WAY better on tap than in the bottle. Like 100x better.

[Whatever]

I've done versions of stuffed french toast, both sweet and savory. 

One of my favorites...

In the egg mixture, salt, pepper, garlic, a touch of red pepper flake.

Inside the sammich, proscuitto, thin sliced mozzerella, basil, roasted pepper strips, drizzle of olive oil.

YUM!

[Triple Zero]

It's not my fault you have a degenerate palate.

SAYS THE MAN THAT DOESNT LIKE GROLSCH!!


also, NWC those recipes sound delicious!

[East Coast Hustle]

I think that the very name "Grolsch" is just a transliteration of the english word "gross".

as in "that shit tastes gross!"

[AFK]

I would imagine bartenders hate serving that beer, just on the name alone.  I can only imagine the level of spit its utterance conjures when the utterer is three sheets to the wind. 

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

NWC,
Those recipes sound great.

000,
I don't know what Grolsch tastes like in Holland, but the stuff we get in the US is so lightstruck that it tastes like someone washed a dead cat in it.