In Search of Decadent French Toast, Part II

I was looking for decadence, and I got it... but then Lemon Curd is about the most decadent spreadable I have ever lathered on a piece of bread. It is pretty much lemon meringue pie filling (and it has all the butter, eggs and sugar to prove it).                                                                                                                                       

"In late 19th and early 20th century England, home-made lemon curd was traditionally served with bread or scones at afternoon tea as an alternative to jam, and as a filling for cakes, small pastries and tarts." 

- Fruit Curd, Wikipedia

The British don't mess around when it comes to tea time. And the Food Network doesn't mess around with French toast - lemon curd, blueberries, powdered sugar and maple syrup add up to pure deliciousness. 

 

Ingredients:

Basic Recipe:

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon sugar
1 pinch salt
1/2 Tbsp butter

Extras for Lemon Blueberry Variation:

Lemon Curd

Blueberries

Challah or Brioche

Powdered Sugar

Maple Syrup

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degress. Spread lemon curd on two slices of bread, sandwich blueberries in between two slices.

2. Whisk together eggs, milk, nutmeg, vanilla, sugar, salt in a bowl

3. Dip lemon blueberry sandwich in egg mixture

4. Cook sandwich in melted butter until brown, about 2-3 minutes per side 

5. Transfer to baking sheet and bake 8-10 minutes

6. Cover in powdered sugar and maple syrup and serve.

Conclusion: Hmmm.... I think whoever came up with this recipe really liked sandwiches because they are trying to make two very clumsy French toast sandwiches (the strawberry shortcake French toast was a sandwich too, remember?) When I make this again, I will probably just make normal French toast and layer on the toppings after the bread is cooked on both sides. The blueberries fell out multiple times on the skillet, and it was very clumsy to flip the large challah sandwich I had constructed. Smaller slices would have helped too....

In Search of Decadent French Toast

 My obsession with french toast began with my mother's basic white bread and egg recipe and was further provoked by repeated visits to La Madeleine for their version covered in bananas, strawberries, honey, syrup and who knows what other secret, delicious ingredients.

So it is no surprise that I clipped out a recipe called "Perfect French Toast" from the Food Network Magazine and vowed to attempt all three variations -  lemon blueberry, chocolate and strawberry shortcake. I'm working in my best friend's kitchen today and I know she would appreciate the leftover english muffins, so I am going to start with the Strawberry Shortcake....

Ingredients:

Basic Recipe:
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon sugar
1 pinch salt
1/2 Tbsp butter

Extras for Strawberry Shortcake Variation:

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

3 Tbsp sugar

3 cups halved strawberries

4 English muffins, halved

Honey (for drizzling)

Vanilla Yogurt (for topping)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degress. Mix 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest with 3 Tbsp sugar, toss in strawberries

2. Whisk together eggs, milk, nutmeg, vanilla, sugar, salt in a bowl

3. Soak english muffins in egg mixture for five minutes

4. Cook english muffins in melted butter until brown, about 2-3 minutes per side 

5. Transfer english muffins to baking sheet and bake 8-10 minutes

6. Sandwich strawberries in between muffin halves and top with yogurt and honey

How do I feel about this recipe? Conflicted. On one hand, I didn't exactly follow the recipe to the letter... using cinnamon instead of nutmeg, including less milk, not measuring and replacing regular english muffins with honey wheat.  On the other hand, the flavors that really stood out to me were not really coming from the french toast... they were from the strawberries, lemon and vanilla yogurt. The egg-y wonderfulness was hidden by these much bigger flavors, producing a subtle richness that balanced the sweeter flavors, but not a wow-that's-french-toast taste. 

Conclusion: yummy, but unless this recipe is super healthy somehow, the butter, sugar, milk and egg part of this recipe are probably not worth the calories... 

The nutritionals from SparkPeople are below you can decide for yourself:

Calories: 480 

Total Fat: 12 g

   Saturated Fat: 5 g

   Polyunsaturated Fat: 1 g

   Monounsaturated Fat: 3.5 g

Cholesterol: 228.5 mg

Sodium: 327 mg

Potassium: 392 mg

Total Carbohydrate: 81 g

   Dietary Fiber: 3 g

   Sugar: 54 g

Protein: 15 g

Vitamin A: 30.5%

Vitamin B-1: 13%

Vitamin B-2: 24.5%

Vitamin B-6: 6%

Vitamin B-12: 8.5%

Vitamin C: 7%

Vitamin D: 26.5%

Vitamin E: 13.5%

Calcium: 29%

Iron: 16%

While reading the Food Network magazine for October, scavenging for cute halloween ideas for our October 30th party, I stumbled upon this recipe for Cheesy Stuffed Shells. Well, after being sick for so long, I was craving comfort food, and thought of those jumbo shells that my mom used to fill with tomato and ricotta cheese, so I bought some from the grocery store last weekend. I had to get creative with a few ingredients and I left a few out, but it I think it turned out pretty okay.



CHEESY STUFFED SHELLS

Active: 40 min Total: 1 hour, 25 min

Serves 4 to 6

FOR THE SAUCE


Kosher salt
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup grated zucchini (I didn't have any :( so I left it out)
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
Freshly ground pepper

FOR THE SHELLS

1 12-ounce box jumbo pasta shells
8 ounces silken tofu (skipped the tofu too)
1 10-ounce box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (I used fresh)
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded mozarella cheese (Too much in my opinion, I left some out)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 clove garlic, minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Cooking spray


1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Make the sauce: heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the carrot, zucchini, onion and celery and saute until soft but not brown, 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the basil, oregano, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.


2. Meanwhile, prepare the shells. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for 8 minutes; drain. Mix the tofu, spinach, cottage cheese, parmesan, 1/2 cup mozarella, the egg and garlic in a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper.


3. Mist a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Spread about 1 cup of the sauce in the dish. Stuff the cheese mixture into the shells and place in the baking dish, open-side up. Pour the remaining sauce over the shells. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup mozarella and bake for 15 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.

Comments:
- First of all, this recipe took a lot longer than an hour and 25 minutes. It took me like two and a half hours to make. Mostly because I have never made anything this complex before.
-The recipe calls for a cup of mozarella cheese to spread on the top, but I think that is an obscene amount of cheese; I just sprinkled some on top
-I didn't have any tofu or zucchini, so those will be absent from the photos. I know the purpose of the recipe is to sneak in protein, but I don't have that problem, so I would probably leave out the tofu in the future.

ALSO, I would like to note, I did have to make a sauce for this recipe and it turned out fine...I think the other recipe (the tuna fish one) didn't use enough liquids.