Dad’s Sunday French Toast

Dad’s Sunday French Toast

In my mind, I thought that country French cooks didn’t waste anything.  And I think this is why and how French toast must have originated.  By taking what was left over from yesterday, and using to create a substantial meal for today.

So then, French toast must have been made with French bread right?  Oh yeah!

Here in Florida, Publix supermarkets (Where Shopping Is a Pleasure – you know), they have wonderful bakeries.  Not as good as, say, fifteen years ago, but the bakeries are pretty good – and they make great baguettes.

Slice your baguette

I took a whole baguette and sliced it on an angle.  I let the sliced baguette soak for a few minutes in custard made of:

Three eggs beaten

¼ cup of whole milk

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

¼ tsp cinnamon

(OK, I know you only see two eggs in the picture, but actually used three!)

Whisk all that together in a bowl or casserole dish (something deep) large enough to hold and soak about four of the slices of bread.

On the stove, using a heavy skillet at med/high temperature – place a tablespoon of vegetable shortening and let it melt (or use vegetable oil) and let it come up to temperature.

Soak the French bread in the custard

Drop in the custard soaked baguette slices – fry until just past golden (or as you like it) about two minutes on each side.  Remove and set aside on another ovenproof plate in the oven at 300 to keep warm until all of the French bread is made.

Put two or three slices of French toast on a plate, smear with some room temperature butter and dust with powdered sugar – top with fresh or thawed fruit and drizzle with real maple syrup.  Some pork or turkey sausage pairs well with it.

Happy Sunday!  (OK, OK, if you must, you can make this on Saturday too!)

Fry the French bread

Dad's Sunday French Toast

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Banana and Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Check out HEAVY TWEED JACKET’S Saturday morning pancakes at the link.  I made them on Sunday, terrif!  and easy.

http://heavytweed.blogspot.com/2009/06/pancakes-on-saturday.html

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Apple and Black Raspberry Sorbet

A friend sent me this recipe (snail mail) and I found it with a quick google.  Although I haven’t made this – and I will – it looks too awesome not to post.  So here it is.

 

Courtesy of Bon Apetit Magazine

 

No ice cream maker is needed to make this flavorful sorbet.

Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings

2 pounds cooking apples (such as McIntosh), stemmed, unpeeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (including cores and seeds)1 1-pound bag frozen unsweetened blackberries, unthawed
1 1/2 cups water

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup

Combine apples, blackberries and water in heavy large pot or Dutch oven. Bring to boil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat to medium and simmer until fruit is tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Transfer to sieve set over large bowl. Press to force through as much fruit and liquid as possible. Discard solids in sieve.

Return puree to same pot. Add sugar and corn syrup. Stir over low heat just until sugar dissolves. Spoon puree into 13x9x2-inch glass dish. Freeze until almost solid, about 1 hour.

Break up frozen puree into chunks. Place in processor; puree. Return to same dish; cover and freeze until firm enough to hold shape in spoon, at least 1 hour.

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Over 50,000 views !!!

I just noticed that I received 51,000 view the other day- didn’t know I had passed 50,000.

Thank you all for visiting.

The most hits I get on my blog are for lemon poundcake and Tyler Florence’s Ultimate pot roast.

Thanks again everyone!

=Dad

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What’s Up lately ??

The Christmas and New Years holidays were busy. Managed to get some time off of work and do a little cooking, but it was mostly the traditional stuff. Of course made a turkey (actually two) – roasted one 10 lb bird out on the grill for two hours – it was great and I sure had the neighbors wondering what I was up to.

We did some running around on Sunday after church and somehow got the bug that I had to have a Polish dinner. We stopped at Polina in Casselberry to pick up some Bobak’s kielbasa.

Well, since I had the kielbasa I thought I might as well make some potato pancakes

Potato Pancakes
Gourmet|December, 2000

1 pound potatoes
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 3/4 cup olive oil

Peel potatoes and coarsely grate by hand, transferring to a large bowl of cold water as grated. Soak potatoes 1 to 2 minutes after last batch is added to water, then drain well in a colander.

Spread grated potatoes and onion on a kitchen towel and roll up jelly-roll style. Twist towel tightly to wring out as much liquid as possible. Transfer potato mixture to a bowl and stir in egg and salt.

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Working in batches of 4 potato pancakes, spoon 2 tablespoons potato mixture per latke into skillet, spreading into 3-inch rounds with a fork. Reduce heat to moderate and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes. Turn potato pancakes over and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes more. Transfer to paper towels to drain and season with salt. Add more oil to skillet as needed. Keep potato pancakes warm on a wire rack set in a shallow baking pan in oven

I had some left over stuffed cabbage (golumpki) from Christmas Eve. So this made for a pretty nice dish with some nice pumpernickel bread.

So there must have been something in the air — (now be good!) because yesterday there was a package sitting at the front door from my sister in New Haven – two bottles of Jezynowka – blackberry flavored brandy. YUM! Thanks Karen.

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About those Hot Dogs and Beans

My son shared two packages of New England Hot Dog buns with me.  He got them from his friends in Boston – When you grill the sides – it sure makes a difference in the taste.  Nothing like it.

Dog with New England Hot Dog bun

They are impossible to get here in Florida.  I froze a bag and a half and we ate the rest.  I need to save them as long as I can without making them taste bad from freezing.  You’ll probably see more posts about this because this bun is important.

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Chicken Stock for stuffing

I use home made chicken stock for stuffing now and I took some hints from Ina Garten on this.

Take the carcass of one roasted chicken (your own or from the store) and simmer it slowly in a large stock pot with

4 quarts of water (I used spring water)

1 medium onion cut in quarters

2 carrots – large chop

2 stalks of celery – large chop with leafy tops

2 bay leaves

tablespoon of whole black pepper corns

tablespoon of kosher salt

handful of italian parsley

handful of thyme

small sprig of rosemary

Simmer this very slowly until the liquid is medium-to-dark.

Strain through a sieve into another pot that you can keep in the refrigerator (or outside frig if you have one).

Then use this when you make your favorite stuffing recipe.

Making Chicken Stock

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Chili Pups

Last week I was traveling to San Francisco and I had a 50 minute stop-over in Cincinnati.  I knew that I’d have a chance to get some Cincinnati Chili at the Airport.  I was lucky to find Gold Star.

Ahhhh the chili pups were great — yummm

Chili Pups

 

Gold Star Chili at Cincinnati Airport

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The Park Avenue Burger – Pannullo’s – Winter Park, FL

Pannullo

On Friday I went over to Park Avenue in Winter Park for lunch.  I wasn’t really sure what I wanted, but I was in a “vacation” kind of mood, so I stopped at Pannullo’s.  At first I thought about have a pannini or other sandwich, but then I spotted “The Park Avenue Burger” on their menu.

Gotta tell ya – the BEST burger I’ve had all year (including the ones I make myself).  The wait person told me that they grind their own beef each day.  I’m not sure if that was the ultimate secret, but this was a great burger.  I had mine done med-well and topped with two slices of provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, and shaved red onion. It came with fries – I had a beer with it.  Total with the tip $15.00.  I’ll go again when I’m in the craving a great burger.  Thanks Pannullo’s!

Park Avenue Burger w/fries

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Green Bean and Potato Salad

I got this great recipe from About.com:Southern Food and it worked out very well – although I did make a few adjustments to the recipe.

My recipe is as follows:

3 lb new (red) potatoes – cooked in salted water until just tender
1 lb fresh green beans that have been trimmed, cooked for 5 minutes in boiling salted water, and rinsed in ice water
1/2 a medium red onion – slivered
1/4 of a vidalia (sweet) onion slivered

The Dressing consisted of the following:

In bowl big enough to whisk in:

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt
a few turns of fresh ground black pepper
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp dijon mustard

Whisk all of the ingredients and pour over the potatoes, green beans, and onions all of which have been combined in a large mixing bowl.  The flavor is wonderful!  Hope you enjoy.  Write if you have questions.

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Farmer’s Market

Saturday we went to the Winter Park (FL) Farmer’s Market.  Early in the morning the market area was teaming with people and vendors.  We wanted to get there early since it was supposed to be a very hot day – and Mother Nature didn’t lie.  By 9:30 AM it was really getting steamy.  I had my camera and camera/backpack on and it got uncomfortable fast.  The older I get – the less I can stand the heat – it really bothers me.

OK, if you’re anything like Donna and I, we start eating with our eyes.  The market had so many beautiful veggies, flowers, cheeses, plants, shrubs, herbs, breads – you name it.  Here are a few shots from the market.

We bought peppers, tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, radishes, lemons, and red potatoes.  So far I’ve used the lemons, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, green beans and potatoes.  I’ll have a few dishes to post soon.

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LaSpadas

From my other blog at:

http://sorrentolens.wordpress.com/2008/07/03/laspadas-original-hoagies/

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Cheez-It Chicken and Broccoli

Scott McKenzie on MIX105.1 in Orlando was talking about Cheez-It Chicken this week. I couldn’t get it out of my head – so I searched around and found a recipe. This was great. Easy to prepare, and I think it would be something kids would like. For kids (especially little one – try using chicken tenders – finger food).

Two skinless/boneless chicken breast – pounded to a consistent thickness
1 cup of crushed (very fine) Cheez-It crackers (use a baggie)
Dabs of butter for the top of the chicken
1 egg beaten with a teaspoon of water to loosen it up
Non-stick spray for a 9×9 baking dish

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.

Whisk the egg with the water until its very loose. Dip the chicken – both sides – in the egg and then dredge in the crushed Cheez-Its and then place in the sprayed baking dish.

Place three tabs of butter on each piece of chicken.

Bake at 375 for 40 minutes in the center of the over on the middle rack.

Cook frozen broccoli according to package directions, drain any water and toss with low-fat butter/margarine. Good stuff !!!

(I was in meeting after meeting today – around lunch – so I ended up at McDonalds and had a BigMac and a 1/4 Pounder with cheese, small fries, and med coke… – which I had to eat in my PM meeting) after all that I felt pretty good about this dinner.

Good luck fine people. Write if you have any questions: dadcooks at reciperedux dot com

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Eggplant Parm Sandwich

I’ve mentioned before how my eggplant casserole is not really a vegetarian dish. I use meatballs and sausage from a large pot of spaghetti sauce and crush the meat in a separate bowl for the eggplant.

Wife is out shopping today after work, so I’m just eating alone tonite (Sadie’s here). TV, newspaper, Hurricane guide and Eggplant Parm sandwich. Its great!!!!

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Guac-a-mole

Hey everyone. I haven’t posted anything on this blog in ages. Some people fans have asked why. I guess I’ve been devoting more time to my photography blog. Anyway, I’ve been inspired by my blog friend Greg Bardsley (a famous writer) – for some months now – and I’ve been begging him for his famous guacamole recipe but he’s has staunchly rejected my request. He has though, said he would divulge this treasure at the end of “guacamole season” (I didn’t know there was a season). I wanted guacamole, so I searched for a recipe, but modified it and below are the instructions. It tasted great. My wife didn’t pass out or faint after tasting it – so I think it is OK to serve to someone outside of the family.

Today in Florida it was a bazillion degrees out as I tried to hit some golf balls at the Links at 434 . My son Mark is taking me out for 18 holes in Oviedo, FL tomorrow for Father’s Day (such a nice boy). I figured I better hit some balls, take some Advil and get ready for tomorrow’s round with the other “Dads” in the family.

Guac-a-mole

2 Avocados
Juice from 1 1/2 limes
2 Tbs diced shallot
1 clove garlic chopped fine
1 Tbs cilantro – chopped
3 large leaves of mint – chopped
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
4 dashes of your favorite hot sauce

Slice open the avocados removing the pit and scoop out the green flesh into a glass mixing bowl. Juice the limes and add to the avocados and toss with a fork to prevent the avocados from turning brown/black.

Add the rest of the ingredients folding it all together – garnish with lime and mint if desired – and refrigerate until you are ready to use it.

This guac tasted lim-ee  but I liked it. Back off on the lime if needed. But its tasted pretty darn good.

So, Mr Bardsley, am I getting close?????

Best wishes all.

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