Nutella French Toast with Raspberry Compote (CwQ:5)

Now this satisfied the urge for cocoa/raspberry indulgence!

Last weekend's cooking project? Breakfast for Father's Day, of course. The holiday is now old news for another year, but since this dish does not need to be pegged to a specific date, I feel no remorse about my tardy post—you can enjoy this recipe year-round, as our family did on Sunday. It's a keeper.

The week leading up to this project, my son was indecisive about what he wanted to make, and seemed overall less enthusiastic about being in the kitchen. Perhaps this had something to do with our previous peanut-butter "fubar" flop. But once we got to talking about a Sunday morning meal for Papa, things began to fall into place. The first order of business, of course, was to make the basic choice between eggs or pancakes/french toast. My husband is pretty much an Eggs Benedict kind of guy—it's what he orders without fail any time we go out for brunch—so we did talk about making this dish, or a version of it (actually, ended up with a future idea for "egg boats"). But then something triggered a food memory of the french toast served at the cafe where my son and I often go, just the two of us, for Sunday breakfast while my restaurant-working husband sleeps off his Saturday-night service. The french toast there isn't just bread dipped in egg: it's a baguette version, stuffed with Nutella. The word "Nutella" got my son's attention immediately, then—I guess due to my own lingering guilt feelings about the botched experiment involving some of my son's favorite ingredients—I offered up the winning formula: "You know, we could work raspberries into this recipe . . ." Yes!

In terms of executing the recipe, I have to admit, this was not a good week for mother-son chemistry in the kitchen. My son was in an uncooperative mood from the moment he woke up on Sunday, and the things I wanted to encourage him to do he balked at—mostly due to the characteristic I've mentioned before of his not liking to get his hands messy with raw foods, but also a healthy dose of plain old attitude thrown in. Cracking the eggs? Wasn't in the mood. Dipping the bread in the egg mixture? Definitely not. I couldn't even bribe him with the privilege of licking the spoon once done with spreading Nutella on the toast frying in the pan (he didn't want to stand next to the heat source). I don't blame him for any of the culinary objections seeing as he is still only six, but I confess to feeling a dissipation of patience as I saw our shared experience turn into my own solitary labor. It was disappointing to me, but of course as with most things in parenting, a healthy reminder is useful: it's just not about me. It's about HIM and me, together. I'll need to think more about how to overcome some of these hurdles.

Process aside, I am happy to report that the product of the morning's labor was a hit, with everyone. Despite my husband's accurate insistence that "french" toast isn't French (it doesn't even really resemble its closest Gallic equivalent, "pain perdu," at least not when each recipe is made according to national customs), and despite the knowledge that he doesn't generally regard this dish as proper breakfast food (really, he just skips breakfast entirely on most days) . . . he had to admit this was good. My son ate his fill eagerly; the sulky, sassy, surly beast of early morning being replaced with a boy I could recognize as my usually happy offspring. And I? I dug in not only for seconds, but for an extra half-slice beyond that.

So, here's the recipe. The two points I'll make about it are that first, I am a firm believer in using either challah bread, as I did for this preparation, or else brioche. Certainly you could try this with baguette, like the cafe in our neighborhood, or else use a different bread (perhaps even something very grainy would be good), but whatever you do, invest in something good that you can slice nice and thick; the quality of the bread will make a big difference, not just in taste but in texture and of course in nutrition. (Sorry, no Wonder Bread allowed!) The other thing is that, if I do this again, I will probably use fresh raspberries, which I didn't have on hand this time; also, for aesthetics, if you use frozen and therefore have more juice than you might otherwise, I'd consider straining the liquid and then reintegrating any whole berries, rather than having all the loose seeds in the compote/sauce.

French Toast with Nutella and Raspberry Compote

French Toast Ingredients:

4 large eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 TBS sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 pinch salt

1 pinch nutmeg

(ordinarily I'd also use a pinch of cinnamon; didn't, due to guest of honor's aversion)

8 slices challah or brioche (about 1" thick)

2 TBS unsalted butter (keeping more handy; I think I ended up using 3 TBS)

Nutella (approximately 4 generous teaspoons)

Directions:

In a shallow dish such as a pie plate, thoroughly beat together eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, salt, and nutmeg with a fork or small whisk until blended. Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat and add 2 TBS butter to melt, letting it foam then subside. Take 2-4 slices of bread (depending on how many will fit comfortably in a single layer in your skillet), dip each side quickly in the egg and milk mixture, just to coat well and then drain extra, and place in the skillet to fry. After a couple of minutes, spread a generous teaspoon of Nutella onto each slice; don't worry if it's hard to spread, it will melt as you continue cooking. Take the same number of slices of bread as you have in the skillet, dip them into the egg-milk batter and cover each skillet slice to form a sandwich. Flip the french toast and let cook another couple of minutes, until nicely browned. Remove to a serving dish as you make additional batches.* Repeat the process with any remaining bread slices, wiping out the pan and adding more butter if needed.

* Note: If you are going to work in multiple batches, then I recommend heating your oven to 200 degrees F, then turning the heat off but keeping door closed to trap hot air inside. This way, you'll be able to keep french toast warm while subsequent batches are cooking. Place cooked slices on an ovenproof dish and tent with foil.

Raspberry Compote

(make ahead)

3 TBS unsalted butter

1/4 cup light brown sugar

2 TBS fresh lemon juice

1 small bag (need to check size in ounces!) frozen organic raspberries

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add sugar and lemon juice and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add the raspberries and cook, keeping as many berries whole as possible while stirring, until the entire mixture warms (you will smell the aroma of the berries cooking); this should take less than five minutes. Turn off the heat and keep at room temperature. You can warm it up again quickly if desired before pouring it into a serving pitcher or sauceboat.

Presentation of the dish:

Place a slice of Nutella French Toast on each plate, drizzle with some of the raspberry compote and pass the rest on the side. Optional garnish: fresh mint leaves, powdered sugar. We ate this dish without additional garnish, and although we had maple syrup on the table, no one used it as the french toast was sweet and rich enough on its own.

Enjoy!