Comunidad Health Foods

Today is National Caviar Day, the epitome of haute-cuisine and food snobbery, so naturally I planned to write about one of the least sophisticated recipes you could possibly imagine. French Toast is what happens when old food and stinginess come together in one kitchen. Sure, you can get fancied up versions at some of the most upscale brunch venues, but deep down, you know what French Toast is. It’s stale bread made edible with some cheaper still ingredients – eggs and milk. Who would have thought that stubbornness to not waste old food could lead to such a delicious meal? 

It all started last Friday night when we pulled half a loaf of homemade challah (yes, I am holding out on the recipe – I’m still trying to tweak it to get it just right) out of the freezer from 2 weeks before, since all of this internship prep work has left little time for experiments in the kitchen. After one bite, I wrinkled my nose and shook my head – the freezer had not been kind to these slices of once-delicious, eggy bread. There was only one solution: quickly swap out the old challah for a fresher (though not homemade) loaf of bread, and transform the stale bread into French Toast for a leisurely, frugal Saturday morning breakfast the next day.

I found a quick recipe on Eliza Domestica for overnight French toast casserole, which seemed the perfect way to ensure that the challah became fully saturated with the liquid in the recipe, and changed it slightly in the hopes of making a more exotic dish. Within about five minutes I had the casserole in the fridge, ready for the next day. I dirtied 1 liquid measuring cup and about 2 measuring spoons, plus the dish that I baked the casserole in the next morning. If I ever were to have a big group of people over to stay, or for a mid-morning brunch, this is the recipe I would turn to. No questions asked.

It was supposed to be tropical: coconut-almond milk, rum extract, you know. Fancy French Toast. My mom swears she tastes the coconut, but L and I are convinced that she’s just one of those super tasters. You can’t get anything past her. To us, it just tasted like French toast. Delicious French toast, but definitely not Fancy French Toast.  L says he prefers his mom’s, but I think the fact that it came in casserole form and didn’t look like regular French toast weirded him out a little bit; I got a little upset but didn’t let it stop me from enjoying several slices. It’s not overly sweet on its own – but a drizzle of syrup or a pile of fresh fruit (try pineapple chunks and shredded coconut to bring out the tropical flavors I was going for!) is all it needs to make it complete. And once you bite into it, I don’t think you’ll care that deep down, this French toast is more frugal than fancy. 

 I’ve always wanted to host a brunch. I see sunshine, a brightly lit room, a buffet table bursting with trays and platters of everyone’s favorite breakfast dishes. In my head, it’s always Spring or Summer, but for people whose family members come in from out of town for the holidays, you probably link the idea of brunch to this time of year. After all, when you have a whole slew of relatives in town, you have a lot of hungry people when the sun comes up!

My family prefers restaurants to home-based festivities. Most of them view family gatherings as a whole lot of work, which I won’t deny – it really can be a big endeavor, particularly if one person or a small group within the family winds up doing most of the preparation. So, all of my baked French toast and strata recipes lie dormant on a shelf, while I go to the local diner or upscale brunch buffet instead. Certain brunch-friendly recipes, though, I can make for myself. It certainly isn’t enough to nip my brunch hosting day dreams in the bud, but it does give me the opportunity to taste some really wonderful breakfast-y treats.

Recently, I made a scaled-down recipe for egg muffins for dinner, paired with a vibrant tomatillo guacamole (how many times have I mentioned that stuff at this point – three? Four? A thousand?) and fresh red pepper strips. The muffins were exactly what I was expecting them to be – hot, spongy, savory, and full of potential. They were also stupid easy, and I use that adverb because they took maybe two minutes to prep. Granted, it would take a little bit longer to make enough for a larger group, and if you need to slice and dice too many filling ingredients that could tack on a few more minutes, but ultimately you can have these in the oven in minutes flat. Imagine that – a recipe that only requires you to be disengaged from your guests for a handful of minutes.

Now, I messed around with the recipe just a little bit. I couldn’t help it. First, I blanked and completely forgot to add in the egg whites, so I just had 1 whole egg in mine – still, I thought the volume was fine so you might even be able to stretch the recipe further based on that. I used chopped onion instead of scallions, 1 ½ tablespoons of strong cheese instead of 2 ½ tablespoons, and half of a sausage link instead of bacon. I also pooled my two muffins into one ramekin and baked in the toaster oven. After about 22 minutes I was able to just pop it right out of the dish and dig in! Below is the recipe exactly how I made it, but don’t let that box you in. I chose not to add vegetables because I knew I was going to be eating red pepper strips and guacamole on the side, but use whatever meat, vegetables, herbs, and flavorings you want!