Simmerstock.com scripts: Lazy Sunday French Toast with Fresh Fruit Topping

Fresh Fruit Topping

Make this the night before and do not refrigerate Refrigeration of fruit only serves to kill flavor. Use whatever type of seasonal soft fruit you like. Tropical fruits like pineapple, kiwi and citrus add too much acid and moisture for our purposes here and hard fruits like apples or pear add a crunch which is also not part of the experience we're looking for when it comes to a breakfast topping. If you're using fresh sweet truly ripe fruit from the farmers market or farm stand, you can eliminate the sugar (but not the honey). If you're using fruit from the supermarket the sugar not only adds sweetness, but also helps pull moisture from the fruit to create some sauce. Do feel free to adjust the amount, though, to match the sweetness of your fruit. If the only fruit available to you are rather hard, you can turn them into approximations (though hardly equals) of ripe fruit by simmering the slices in simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water) for about 20 minutes.

• In a small bowl, gently toss the fruit slices with honey and sugar. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 8 to 12 hours for juices to develop.

French Toast

Next to the choice of bread, the key to a good french toast (one with a crisp outside and a creamy yet cooked inside) is coating the slices with generous amounts of the egg wash and allowing them to rest at least five minutes before cooking.

• Unless you have a large enough griddle to cook all of your french toast at once, turn your oven on, set to 200° to keep cooked slices warm until serving.
• Warm up your griddle or fry pan over medium–high heat.
• In a medium bowl add all of the ingredients (except the bread) and whisk until lightly frothy (all of the ingredients are completely blended and there is a light coating of small bubbles on the surface when you stop mixing).
• Dredge each slice of bread individually through the egg mixture and place them on a sheet pan, parchment or waxed paper to rest for at least five minutes (but not more than 20 minutes, unless you enjoy playing salmonella roulette).
• Add a bit of butter to the griddle or pan and move it around with a spatula to evenly coat the cooking surface. Add the soaked bread slices to the pan, leaving at least 1/2 inch between sliced (it's not that crowding the pan will end up steaming rather than frying the bread — it's that if the slices touch they'll cook together and you'll end up with one large piece of french toast). Cook the bread until golden brown — about 3 to 5 minutes on each side. Keep the cooked slices on a plate or sheet pan in the warm oven while you finish cooking the rest of the bread.

Serving

Place two or three slices of french toast on a plate and spoon a small mound of the fruit on top, being sure to drizzle a bit of the fruit juices on the toast. Put a little powdered sugar in a fine mesh strainer and dust the french toast by holding the strainer over the plate with one hand and gently tapping the sides of the strainer with the other.