every april and october, our church has a general conference where we have the opportunity to hear from our church leaders. i love it for many reasons, one of them being it's a perfect opportunity to watch church in your pajamas. ever since being married, i've always tried to make it a tradition to make two new, fun breakfast items for saturday and sunday. this year, sunday was banana stuffed french toast with blueberry compote.
we first saw this made on diners, drive ins, and dives on food network. it was from a restaurant in florida and when mr. e saw it he began to drool and said to me..."let's make that.....pul-eeze?" however, when i printed the recipe it came with the disclaimer that the recipe had been reduced down from a bulk recipe and had not been tested by the food network kitchens so...good luck, basically. as i read through the recipe i decided to make a few changes. one, the original recipe calls for bananas cooked in butter and brown sugar but i'm not really a fan of cooked bananas, so i decided to just cut them up and put the in between the bread slices. also, the original recipe called for challah bread. well, if you can find challah bread--be my guest. i ended up using some soft french bread. also, i skipped mixing the cooked bananas in with the cream cheese--but that was only because i didn't have any. darn, that would have tasted good.
also, the original recipe called for 1 gallon of eggs. um, did you know that is 128 ounces? well, i was cutting the recipe in half anyway, but still! that is 64 ounces of eggs! you know, 5 eggs worked JUST FINE. sheesh food network, do you think i have all the money in the world to go buy 6 dozen eggs...WELL, I DON'T!
my modifications were few but this recipe was incredible. especially the blueberry compote. it makes a TON of compote, and i mean a TON. we will probably have it for weeks to come. i don't care. i plan to put it on oatmeal, ice cream, hamburgers, tuna sandwiches. anything. it's delicious.
without further ado, here's the recipe.
banana stuffed french toast with blueberry compote
based on this recipe
2 bananas, cut into 1/2 in. slices
fresh challah bread, or soft french bread, cut into 1 inch slices
5 eggs (or 1 gallon if you are crazy)
1/2 c. half and half
about 1 t. of nutmeg
about 1 t. of cinnamon
1/2 c. sugar
16 oz. frozen blueberries
1/2 c. water
1 c. brown sugar (now you know it's good)
1/2 c. water + 1/4 c. cornstarch
16 oz. frozen strawberries
put a couple slices of banana onto a piece of bread and then sandwich with another piece of bread. push it down a little bit to get the banana to kind of soak into the bread. mix the eggs, half and half, nutmeg, cinnamon, and sugar in a bowl. heat a large skillet, sprayed with nonstick spray or use butter, over medium heat. squish the sandwiches one more time and then dunk in the batter. pan fry on all sides. keep warm.
(i really recommend having everything for the compote ready to go before you start cooking your french toast. since the blueberries have been frozen they are going to take a long time to get to a boil. so, start your compote at the same time as you start frying your french toast.)
blueberry strawberry compote
put the blueberries, water and brown sugar in a saute pan (i used a sauce pan) over medium heat. bring to a boil and add the cornstarch/water slurry mix. cook until the sauce becomes thick and coats the back of a spoon (fyi, that won't take long. once it is super thick, you are going to want to swim in it. refrain. it will be REALLY hot.) add the strawberries and cook for 1 minute.
once your french toast is cooked, put on a plate and spoon compote over the top of your bread. then sprinkle some powdered sugar. enjoy!
