As much as I dislike breakfast in general, I view French Toast in line with the least of all evils. It still gives me that Holy Sugar Batman feeling after I eat it because it is basically just a plate of carbs, but nonetheless it tastes all right.
As far as Frank's French Toast Italiano goes, I'm not sure what makes it 'Italiano' per se. I mean, it's basically French toast done with French bread and corn flakes instead of just regular bread. It's not like it's baked with cheese and tomato sauce and you have to get a man named Luigi to tell 'That's Amore' while you do it. Although, I'm sure that helps. But as Frank is A. the best wedding planner in the universe and B. gay, I am going to trust his taste and presume that any recipe he gives me is going to be tremendous. I mean, did you see our wedding? This man knows what he is doing.
The one thing about Frank's French Toast Italiano that must be pointed out is that it has the one recipe directive I dread the most: making stuff well ahead of time. I tend to decide I am going to make a brand new recipe about 3 minutes before dinner time, so anything that requires marinating for 6 hours or something, as lovely as it may be, is nearly always out. God, however, must have been with me as I skimmed my recipe book because I noticed that Frank's recipe calls for the French Toast Italiano to essentially be made the night before.
That meant that after our Saturday date night at Sunshine Cleaning (thumbs up), Josh and I had to troll the aisles of the grocery for Corn Flakes so I could then put this together. Luckily, it was easy to mix up and easy to cook. The biggest issue was that I was so enraptured with hanging out with Sean when he arrived the next morning that I forgot to pay attention to what time I put it in the oven, so we had to wing it as to how long it baked. But we survived, and it was indeed delightful--as delightful as French Toast can be. Frank guarantees that this is one of his favorites to serve at brunch, and I can see it being v popular. Josh basically had to run into the dining room, shove a piece into his mouth, and run back to the kitchen to do the dishes as I had successfully barricaded the coffee behind, but he still liked it. You know what that means.
Hungry yet?French Toast Italiano
1 loaf French bread, cute into 1 1/2 " slices
6 eggs
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup orange juice
dash of honey
2 cups crushed Corn Flakes
Combine eggs, milk, orange juice, and honey. Employ fancy 'break egg with knife' method to see if it reduces renegade egg shell jumpers into bowl. Realize it doesn't, but feel fancy anyhow. Wonder if the fact that the only milk you have right now is Lactaid will matter. Wonder if the fact that the only orange juice you have says it expired a year ago means anything. Wonder how the hell one actually gets a 'dash' of honey, which by nature sludges around in large glumps. Decide none of this matters and press onwards.
Dip bread in mixture. Coat with crushed Corn Flakes. Feel satisfied you have set up a lovely bread, mixture bowl, Corn Flake bowl, and pan work station.
Place in greased 9 x 11 glass pan. Use copper pan instead because you don't have glass one. Realize once all bread is in you forgot to grease the pan. Take it all out, slop around some butter, and then put them back in.
Pour remaining mixture over bread. Pour some on floor and on dog's back. Refuse to answer later when Josh wonders aloud why the dog's back is sticky.
Overcome the dreaded pre-preparation and refrigerate overnight.
Bake @ 450 for 16 minutes. Forget how long it's been in and argue with Josh and Sean about personal estimates of how long it hs been in. Flip each piece of bread after 8 minutes, or whenever since you have no idea how long it's been. Serve with warm syrup.
While I disagree with your deep hatred of all things breakfast, I do agree with you that french toast is perhaps the world's most perfect breakfast food. If I wasn't doing South Beach, I would be all over this recipe.
ReplyDelete