Some of you might know that this past Sunday was Mother’s Day. And since I’m the greeting card king’s daughter, I tend to make a big-er deal out of these things! I know about all the arguments against – every day is special blah blah. But I feel like the people who say all this are those who just couldn’t be bothered to put in a little extra effort once in a while. But anyhow, this post isn’t about that argument. It’s about all the yummy food we had for brunch!!
This is us – happy and silly and more happy! AK’s behind the camera so obviously he’s missing. But he did put in his fair share of effort!!
(Yes my T-shirt says DC Bocce! If any of you live in the US, and like any 2 of the following – bocce, beer, meeting new people, after work fun – check out DC Bocce. They’re in the Major League now!)
Coming back, this was brunch – French Toast (with an option of savoury/ sweet toppings), fresh fruit, pork luncheon meat in BBQ sauce and a coffee slushy!
This is the slushy – recipe coming up in the next post!
A quick note about French Toast:
I’ve NEVER EVER had it at a restaurant/ cafe because if you live in Delhi, you know that growing up, we didn’t have the crazy influx of western restaurants and eateries. Only 5 star breakfasts or Paharganj hotel rooftops (both polar extremes) would serve such a dish. But my mom was a great fan and we used to have it for breakfast every alternate weekend! We made it out of regular sliced white bread and always savoury – to be had with ketchup. She would season the egg mix with salt, red chilli powder and fresh cilantro leaves. It was delish and still spells home/ comfort food for me!!
I only learned that French Toast was originally meant to be had with maple syrup/ honey (like pancakes) when I became a “grown up”!!
On to the recipe.
Here’s what I used (for 4 people):
1-1/2 loaves of crusty French bread (crisp crust on the outside and soft on the inside)
(And you can definitely use plain white sliced bread – I usually do)
6 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
2-3 tbsp butter for frying
(If you’re sure that you are going to have it with sweet toppings, then you can add a tsp of vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp cinnamon. We couldn’t reach a consensus so I played it safe by avoiding them both)
How I made it:
First, I sliced the bread into 1″ thick slices.
I only ended up using 1.5 loaf – around 10 slices or so. The idea is to cut as diagonally as you can to get more surface area on each slice.
Then I cracked the eggs into a bowl…
I whisked them well with a balloon whisk…
Then I added the milk and the salt and whisked again…
I took a break from the French Toast and chopped up 1 can of Luncheon Meat into 1″ cubes. If I had thought of it earlier, I would rather have fried up a packet of bacon, but I forgot to defrost it!
I heated a medium skillet and set these in it on medium heat. I allowed this to cook on medium-low for as long as it took for me to make the French toast, adding 2 tbsp of BBQ sauce and some pepper in the last 2 minutes.
I didn’t take a pic when taking it off the pan, but you can take a quick peak in the pic above which features the full plate!
Once I had set the meat on heat, I set my oven to the “keep warm” setting. I could keep serving as I made the toast but I wanted us all to sit down together. Then I heated 1 tbsp butter in a large skillet on medium heat.
While the butter was melting, I dunked 2 slices into the egg mixture and gently flipped them to coat well. With these slices, you can afford to leave them in for about 30 secs but with regular sliced bread (because it’s much thinner) you have to be MUCH quicker else the slices will disintegrate.
I carefully lifted them out with a fork and set them, 4 at a time, on the hot skillet.
I gave each batch about 3-4 minutes on each side to allow the bread and egg to cook through. And increased the heat to high for 30-45 secs on each side to brown them a little.
I kept repeating – dip, soak, fry – and placed them in the oven to keep warm while I finished making all the slices!You might need to refresh the butter in the skillet,if it dries out, between batches.
I served them with the following choice of toppings:
- Pico de Gallo
- Ketchup
- Maple Syrup
- Strawberry Preserve
Oh, and not in the correct order, but I cut and scooped all the fruit BEFORE starting on any of the above! I can’t give you any tips on making the mixed melon balls, because I’m just getting the hang of using the melon baller myself!
Oh it was so fresh and summery and cooling! The colours alone brought me to life!!
Anyhow, that was our Mothers’ Day brunch!! I hope you guys had a great one too!
Watch out for the Coffee post!