Sweet And Savoury French Toast Recipe

Have you ever found a local shop that you hesitate in telling other people about because you’re worried it won’t be so special anymore?

That’s how I feel about The Lime Kiln in Julianstown. Now I know that the gastro-pub is fantastic, in fact if you’re interested to hear what I think you can read my review over on Flogastronomy. It’s one of our family’s favourite spots for a bite to eat.

Recently they’ve opened a local village store just beside the pub. It’s there that I could be lost for quite some time. Chatting to the staff (waves at Georgina) about local producers and great Irish food. It’s a haven for finding local food, particularly artisan local food (and drink). It’s there I pick up my cider vinegar from Stameen Farm, Dan Kelly’s cider (also from the same farm), Monéir Wine made from berries picked in Clarkes up the road in Stamullen, beautiful pillowy bread freshly baked, local fresh produce, and a brilliant selection of Irish spirits.

It’s hard to drive past without nipping in to pick up a few bits, and leave with our wallets decidedly lighter.

The best French toast is made with a stale decent crusty loaf, cut into decent hunks and soaked in local free range eggs blended with some salt and pepper.

My good friend Katia is French and believes that the classic French toast should be sweet; I think it should be savoury. l hope that this marriage of sweet and savoury flavours meets her approval!

In this recipe I used some Canadian Maple syrup, but to make it a completely Irish meal, why not use some Highbanks Orchard Syrup instead? This is a decadent treat for the whole family over the weekend and key to making this dish work is the stale crusty loaf pan from The Lime Kiln.

If you’re trying to adapt this dish to a speedy weekday supper that all the family will love, why not add some baked beans on the side instead of the bacon and syrup?

[recipe][recipe title=”French Toast” servings=”5″ time=”20 mins” difficulty=”very easy”]

Ingredients

• 200g thinly sliced dry cured bacon
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 5 medium free range eggs
• Doorsteps of stale bread (1 each should really be enough per person but 2 for hungry people)
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• Fresh cherry tomatoes
• Maple Syrup

Method

Preheat a fan oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a heavy baking tray with non stick parchment, spread out the bacon so that it covers the baking tray. Put the baking tray into the oven to cook the bacon.

Next, take a non-stick frying pan and heat to medium. Pour the cooking oil into the frying pan.

Crack the eggs into a large, wide bowl, season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk the eggs lightly with a fork so that the yolks and whites are combined.

Taking 1 piece of bread at a time, soak either side in the whisked eggs, so that the bread is covered in egg. Put the egg covered bread into the frying pan. Cook for about 90 seconds on each side or until the bread turns golden brown, then remove from the frying pan and put on a plate. Continue until all the bread soaked in egg is cooked.

While the frying pan is still on, roast the cherry tomatoes in the pan on the heat so that they char and soften a little. I try to leave the stems on if I can because they carry so much of the flavour and aroma of tomatoes.

At this point the bacon should be cooked, so remove this from the oven and share between 5 plates. Share the cooked bread between the 5 plates next, followed by the charred cherry tomatoes. Drizzle each plate with a little maple syrup and serve.[/recipe]

The beauty of this meal is that it’s so easy and quick to cook. The kids love it. In fact, they are still talking about the last time I served it up for tea. It went down a treat with the aforementioned baked beans and a green salad on the side. Apologies to any Francophiles who believe in sweet pain perdu only!!!