BLT French Toast, A New Classic?

I don’t know where I picked this one up. Even as I sat down to make it I was a little confused. What would you call it: Savoury French toast? Fried bread?  I must say though, the end product is simple and delicious. As is true in most recipes but especially this one: quality ingredients makes for quality flavours.

The idea is to soak bread in a flavoured egg mix and then fry in fat. Seems simple enough? That's cause it is. For this recipe I tried rye bread with a little mustard mixed in with the egg base. Tasty. I then did a multi grain with a garlic herb base. Delectable. But my favourite of all, the one pictured here, uses a sourdough bread, little smoked paprika, red pepper flakes and dried herbs and tops off the whole thing in the flavours of the traditional BLT sandwich. Wacky I know but this type of re-imagined dish with classic flavours and the ability to adapt to any ingredients around: straight out of the bistro my friends.

Start off with a good loaf of bread. It doesn't have to be fresh but it can’t be stale either. Think about the end product and then match the flavours in the base. Are you going to be topping it with a poached egg and some ham? Maybe a little hollandaise? Go with a garlic-y base. Are you going to put a salad on top with big punchy flavours? Keep the base simple.

Whatever you choose to do, whatever you call this dish and however you present it: don’t limit this to the breakfast table! This could make a great brunch dish for a group or a light healthy entrée  Experiment. Go wild. I certainly plan to.

Ingredients:

A few pieces of quality (if a bit older) bread, try to use a firmer bread like sourdough or rye or something similar, nothing that is going to come apart in a little egg

2 eggs (adjust if you are using more bread, I used 3 eggs for 4 slices of bread the other night)

A pinch of smoked paprika

A pinch of dried herbs (thyme, rosemary or the like)

A pinch of crushed red pepper

A pinch of salt and pepper

A Tbsp or so of cream or milk

A little oil and a ‘nubbin’ of butter

A handful of lettuce leaves, chopped or torn

A few pieces of sundried tomatoes, shredded or a couple cherry tomatoes chopped into quarters

3 strips of bacon

Either a few Tbsp of your favourite dressing or whip up a simple balsamic dressing (1 part balsamic, 3 parts oil, salt and pepper)

A drizzle of maple syrup (optional, see the end of the method)

Method:

• In a large flat dish, crack in your eggs, sprinkle in all your spices and whisk very well. Pour in your cream to loosen it up a little and season well.
• The length of time you should soak your bread really depends on its type and thickness but generally around the time it takes you to perform the next couple of steps is fine. Make sure when you add the bread to your egg mix you apply a little bit of pressure to sponge up a little extra mix and every few minutes you flip the bread to make sure it is all coated.
• In a large frying pan, fry your bacon in a little oil. Don’t cook it crunchy, remove it from the pan and chop up finely. Combine it in with the tomatoes.
• Don’t remove the tasty fat from the bacon pan. Toss in the butter and return it to the heat. Bring it to medium or medium high, and stir the butter until it melts and foams up. Add the egg soaked bread to the pan and fry until golden on each side.
• As the bread is frying, toss the salad with the dressing and ½ the tomato-bacon mix.
• Blot the fried bread on paper towel and plate. At this point I have grown fond of a wee little drizzle of maple syrup. It seems to add to the entire dish. Your choice. But you know you want to.
• Top the bread off with a handful of salad, sprinkle on some more of the tomato-bacon mix. Enjoy. Perhaps with a glass of white wine. Or two.