{brioche french toast}

The local boulangerie where we pick up baguettes almost daily also carries an extensive selection of amazing tartes, quiches and different breads.  On occasion they have loaves of brioche available and this past weekend we picked one up to make decadent french toast inspired by the dish I had here.  Since our little paris apartment has no oven and a mini stovetop with only two burners, we had to improvise on the recipe a little, but this dish turned out amazing.  Would be the perfect dish to surprise your Valentine with tomorrow or as a special weekend brunch- see recipe below. 

 {two things: one, butter here in paris is basically its own food group and two, they sell ready made creme anglais in the market here- not like the tiny hard to find specialty market, but the regular run of the mill corner market.  I want to put it on everything.}

Brioche French Toast:
(serves 2)

what you need:

• 6 slices of day-old loaf of brioche bread
• 6 eggs
• 3/4 cup cream
• juice of half an orange
• zest of one lemon
• beans from 1 vanilla bean (or 2 tablespoons vanilla extract)*
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• 1 pinch salt
• butter
• optional toppings: maple syrup, fresh fruit, creme anglais!!

1. Whisk together eggs, cream, juice, vanilla, sugar, zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, & salt in large bowl.
2. Immerse each slice of bread into bowl, flipping to fully cover in mixture.  Or you can place all slices into a baking dish and pour mixture over top allowing slices to soak for 5 minutes.
3. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in large skillet pan over medium heat.
4. Fry two to three slices in pan at a time- flipping after about 3 to 4 minutes or until golden brown on each side. 
5. Add fresh butter to pan between batches of slices.
6. Garnish with creme anglais and fresh fruit.  

*vanilla beans are comically cheap here in Paris (as in $3 for two of them!) so I find myself adding them to almost any recipe I can!