French Toast a la Ojai
I’ve promised to write occasionally about what I eat for breakfast, at least in part because it will keep my mom happy to know that I’m eating right.
Well sorry mom … today’s breakfast was a culinary masterpiece but a nutritional train wreck! As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m friends with several of the chefs at the spa where I work and boy, can those guys cook. Some of the staff who live near each other got together for a casual brunch since we all had the morning off, and Dave and Tony were the hosts and chief cooks (in trade off, the rest of us helped with all the sous-chef tasks – chopping, mixing and of course, doing the dishes).
The centerpiece of the brunch was french toast. Big deal I hear you say, what’s so exciting about french toast? Well, these guys took a sort of sweetish bread, like brioche or challah I guess, and cut oversized slices that they then cut diagonally. They then cut a pocket into each of these triangular slabs, making a sort of container. Each pocket was then spread inside with lightly-sweetened creme fraiche, along with a little fresh raspberry jam.
The prepared pockets were soaked in an egg and milk mixture, which had just a touch of bourbon added to it, and then fried like regular french toast. Along with some fresh fruit, excellent coffee, and a pitcher or two of mimosas, this was a breakfast that will go down in history!
Although I had the morning off, I do have a couple of tennis clinics to teach this afternoon so I limited myself to just the one mimosa and I’m now heading out for a brisk stroll to walk off the well-rounded and satisfied feeling I have in my tummy.
