Start the day with this fruity French toast for an indulgently sweet bite
Making French toast, otherwise known as pain perdu, is an excellent way to make use of stale bread. There are many different ways to cook French toast but this method uses little frying time to keep it crispy on the outside with a gooey, custardy centre.
However, you can cook it a little longer and the interior will firm up. This is delicious with any fruit or just with maple syrup.
Ingredients
• 6-8 nectarines, cut into sixths, skin left on
• 50g caster sugar, plus 1 tablespoon extra
• 20g butter
• 1 cinammon stick
• 2 teaspoons verjuice
or 1 teaspoon apple-cider vinegar, mixed with 1 teaspoon water
• 250ml milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthways and seeds scraped
• 50ml sherry
• 5 eggs
• 4 thick slices brioche or good-quality white bread
• 125g clarified butter
For the cinnamon sugar:
• 2 tablespoons panela sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2 In a bowl, toss the nectarines with the extra 1 tablespoon caster sugar.
3 In a heavy-based, ovenproof frying pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the nectarines, cinnamon stick and verjuice. Give the pan a shake to combine the ingredients, then pop the pan in the oven to cook for 10 minutes, turning the nectarines occasionally until a caramel forms. Remove from the oven and set aside.
4 For the cinnamon sugar, mix the panela sugar with the cinnamon. Set aside.
5 In a small saucepan over medium–low heat, simmer the milk with the vanilla bean and seeds and half the caster sugar. Stir in the sherry and remove the pan from the heat. Set aside to cool, then strain into a container.
6 Whisk the eggs with the remaining sugar until pale and fluffy. While whisking, add the milk mixture to combine. Soak the brioche or bread slices, fully submerged, in the milk mixture for 5 minutes.
7 Warm a little of the clarified butter in a large frying pan over medium heat and fry the soaked bread until brown on both sides.
8 Remove from the pan. The bread should be crispy on both sides but still a little gooey in the middle.
9 Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar and serve with the nectarines.
Real Food by Mike
