Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Savory Asian Inspired "French Toast"



Maybe this should be called "French Colonial" toast. Optimistic wanted something savory for breakfast, and I wanted French Toast. Sometimes you just have to go where the journey takes you, even if it sounds crazy.

But sometimes crazy isn't all bad. This "experiment" was actually good, and not just a little bit good, but really really good.

First, make the avocado-tomato salad, mix the following in a bowl and set aside:

1/2 avocado, diced (we had a half an avocado, if you have a whole one, this recipe could easily utilize twice as much salad, so just double the rest of the ingredients.)
8 to 10 small grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 ume plum, removed from its pit, and cut into small bits, (or a teaspoon or so of ume plum paste)
1 teaspoon ume plum vinegar (sometimes hard to find, you could use any other asian vinegar, like brown rice vinegar, etc)
1 dash of yuzu concentrate (also hard to find, lime would probably provide a similar flavor)

For the toast, you'll need 4 slices or so of day-old Brioche, or another bread with a light profile, like Challah.

Take 2 Eggs, 1/4 cup soy milk, and 1 teaspoon of soy sauce, and beat this together in a shallow dish.

Toast the following in a hot skillet until crisp:

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 small diced shallot
1 small diced clove of garlic

Add the garlic last, so it doesn't burn. Once the shallots are crisp, remove the shallots and garlic from the oil and set aside for later. Leave as much of the oil as you can. Pour off the oil so that you can use it a little at a time, for each piece of toast.

Dip the bread briefly in the egg mixture on either side, and cook each in around 3/4 of a teaspoon of the shallot infused oil over medium high heat until browned, about 2 minutes per side. If it browns faster, turn down the heat a bit.

Top each slice with a quarter of the salad, and sprinkle a teaspoon or so of crumbled feta cheese over each slice.

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