Recipe: French Toast with Sauteed Apples & Mimosas

In honour of the final day of Tour de France on the Champs D'Elysees and the fact that it is a great excuse to cook something we chose to make some French Toast and Mimosas for Breakfast/Brunch. The following is the recipe for French Toast with an apple syrup. Serves 3 to 4. Enjoy!

Recipe: French Toast with Sauteed Apples

The Apple Syrup: Ingredients
3 yellow delicious apples (or other baking apple that will hold their share when heated, but of course we need "Yellow" delicious for the maillot jaune)
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp butter
2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of sea salt

French Toast: Ingredients
1 small French baguette
3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp of vanilla
1 tbsp of butter
1 Kiwi

Peel apples and cut into small wedges, each apple should produce about 12-16 wedges. Combine apples, sugar, cinnamon, salt and butter in a skillet and cook on high heat until sugar and butter are melted. Stir frequently, careful not break the apples. Turn down heat to low and let simmer for about 10-15 minutes until the apples are nice and soft. You should be left with caramelized apples and some syrup at the bottom of the pan. If you do not have enough syrup or just want more, you can add additional sugar and butter in the same ratio. In a casserole dish combine the eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla. Whip the mixture with a fork until everything is blended. Slice the baguette on an angle to produce longer pieces, slices should be about 1/4 to 1/2 inch think. Place bread in casserole and let soak for about 10 minutes. This is great recipe for bread that is few days old! Heat a large skillet on medium low heat for about 3 minutes. Add butter and let melt, note if the butter browns almost immediately the pan is too hot, the butter should melt right away, but not burn. Once melted add the pieces of bread to the pan. If you pan is not big enough you may have to do a couple of batches. Pour any excess egg mixture over top of the bread once in the pan. Cook for about 3-5 minutes checking the bottom periodically for colour. They are ready to flip when they start to turn a slight brown. Cook for about 2 minutes on the other side and check colour (slight brown) to determine when they are ready. Plate the French toast and add a couple spoons of the apple syrup. Slice the kiwi into small pieces and place on top. The kiwi or other fresh fruit will add a nice tang and balance to the sweet apples. Vive le France!