Sunday, October 11, 2009

French Toast - Good enough to adopt

We again found ourselves with a few over-ripe bananas. This was a great opportunity to explore recipes in which to use them. Having had Bananas Foster on pancakes or french toast on several occasions at Another Broken Egg, I was excited to try this at home. However, I was interested in toning down the sweetness, because this dish can be cloying.


Again, DDD offered a wonderful version from a restaurant in New Orleans.


The Method
You are making this dish in three parts: filling, batter, and sauce. I reduced the filling and sauce recipes considerably from the original recipes. There were still leftovers for each.


Filling

  1. Combine and cream together: 2 bananas, 2 C dark brown sugar, vanilla, and 4 oz. cream cheese.
Batter


  1. Combine 2 eggs, 2 TBs sugar, and vanilla until the sugar is dissolved.
  2. Stir in 1 C half-and-half
Sauce


  1. Melt one stick of butter in a sauce pan.
  2. Add ~ 1/2 C dark brown sugar.
  3. Take pan from heat and add 1/4 C bourbon (the recipe calls for rum, which is always delicious with bananas; but - alas - we are out...and out of Diet Coke, too. Coincidence?)
  4. Return the pan to the heat and set aflame. (You can do this with a match, but I simply tip the pan slightly over the gas flame.)
  5. Once the alcohol has burned off, add 1/2 C of heavy cream.
  6. Simmer and stir until the sauce turns creamy.
Creating Fostered French Toast
  1. Slice an entire baguette of french bread into four "hinged" segments.
  2. Lay open a segment and cover with a layer of filling. (Mine soaked into the bread, so I tried not to use too much.)
  3. Next, place a layer of sliced bananas. (I would be generous, but try to keep in a single, flat layer.)
  4. Cover the bananas with more filling.
  5. Gently press the "sandwich" closed.
  6. Cut into 1 1/2" - 2" thick slices. (You'll be soaking these in the batter and cooking the cut faces.
  7. Soak both sides of each slice in the batter.
  8. Cook on a non-stick griddle or oil pan until golden brown on each side.
  9. Drizzle with the Foster Sauce.

The Result
This easily could have been sufficiently decadent to call "brunch." By reducing the amount of filling and sauce, it was less sugary and stuffing. Still you are eating a whole baguette, several bananas, sugar, and a good deal of butter - so this is probably not an every day or even every weekend breakfast. 


I just realized that I forgot to take pictures. Sorry.


We still had more than half of the filling and sauce remaining, and a good portion of the batter. I've frozen all three and will try to reuse them some future weekend. (I'll let you know how that turns out.)


I would also use better french bread (i.e., not supermarket varieties) in the future. This would give the toast more body.

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Kudya Bwino Bwino (Eating Well) © 2009