Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Recipe: Banana-Flambé-Topped French Toast

Subtitled: Cooking with Fire. Because Brunch Is So Hot Right Now.

Nick loves French toast and it is hard for me to see why because no matter what you do, it's still going to be just eggy bread. My way of trying to jazz up French toast, though, is with banana flambé. I'm not going to go into the details of the French-toast-making part of this recipe, because I am still perfecting my technique in that regard and the banana flambé topping will work with whatever French toast technique is currently successful for you. However, I do need to provide a cautionary note that individuals with bushy eyebrows or a very cluttered kitchen may want to think twice before trying out this recipe.

Ingredients
1 firm banana (That's what she said.)
2–3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup spiced rum
1 serving of French toast
1/2 teaspoon powdered sugar (optional)

Special Equipment
gas stove or grill lighter

Directions
Slice your banana as desired. Using a banana that is slightly under-ripe is better than using an overly-ripe banana, which may lead to mushy disaster.

In a small pan on high heat, melt the butter all the way. Add the banana slices, toss to coat, and turn the heat down to medium. Add the brown sugar and cinnamon and gently stir the melted butter and the sugar together until they have become fully incorporated and the sugar has dissolved.

Turn the heat back on to high. Pour the rum on top and 1) if you are using a gas stove, quickly tilt the pan towards the flame to ignite, or 2) set the rum ablaze with your lighter. Be sure to do this with great caution, as a tower of flames will suddenly burst from the pan. Shake the pan gently until the flames die down, give everything a little stir, and pour the banana flambé over your French toast. Dust a little powdered sugar on top for maximum presentation points and serve immediately.

Makes 1 serving.

I've also won many hearts in the past making banana flambé as a topping for vanilla ice cream; I would suggest that you up the butter amount a little bit there because you aren't getting the additional butter flavor from the French toast and the mix of butter and caramelized sugar hardening when it hits the cold ice cream is magical.

| Photo Credit: Me. |

5 comments:

birdie to be said...

Wow... this looks so good!!! Great recipe.

www.birdietobe.blogspot.com

Mlle T said...

Bananas. On. Fire.

Gaby said...

What type of bread do you use for french toast or do you recommend? I've been unsuccessfully using regulars sandwich bread, for the batter I use is eggs,milk, salt, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. The toast ends up flat, not like restaurant french toast at all

Lily said...

@Gaby: In the photo, the bread I used was Semifreddi's Sweet Batard loaf, which I sliced into about 1-inch slices. Definitely get a loaf of fresh bread and slice it yourself because it will make a huge difference. Brioche is good for French toast too. I used those same batter ingredients as well but I tend to go light on the milk. Good luck!

Gaby said...

Thanks Lily!

 
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...