Valentines Day After

Gentleman and Ladies, this Valentine's day let us make our loved one happy. Me, I'll be waking up with myself, and I intend to make me very happy. This requires delicious french toast. So be it Wednesday morning beside your long-term loved one, Thursday morning beside your new-found, blearily hungover recently-loved one, or any morning waking up to your own charming self, here is a sure-fire winner. Just make sure you have everything ahead of time. Nothing takes one's motivation to please away like the prospect of a trip to the grocery store in slippers and a gown. One more thing: you are going need a blender with a whisk attatchment, and if you choose to blend the sauce in the morning and not the night before (you never know how successful your date will be, of course), make sure you are out of earshot. Nothing kills romance like a rude awakening. Unless it's a naughtily rude awakening. But that's another blog.

Challah French Toast with Naughty Fruit Sauce.

This recipe is portioned for 2. If single, I suggest weeping over the second portion on Feb. 14. The salt will really bring out bold flavors in the sauce.

For the toast:

• Half a leftover or fresh challah, preferably egg. Zomicks is fantastic if available in your area.
• 4 eggs (free-range organic have the best taste and quality)
• 3 T Milk of any stripe and 1 T cream (optional)
  
• 1 t Vanilla essence
• 1 T Maple syrup or sugar
  
• 2-4 T butter.

For the sauce:

• 1/2 cup seasonal fruit. Anything goes, but I suggest seedless or small-seeded berries. Valentine's mutual teeth picking, anyone? Blueberries are great and a frozen package will last well in the freezer. Mangoes or peaches also work well, but only fresh or high quality canned. Alternatively, use your favorite sorbet. Be creative and let me know what you use and how it goes.
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream. Cream is best for flavor, consistency and naughtiness, but substitute milk or soy milk (or chocolate milk) if you want your valentine looking exactly the way you left him/her. Not that you should care, of course. This is love, right? Keep in mind this will thin the sauce, so you may want to add more fruit.
  
• 1-3 T maple syrup or powdered sugar (quantity depends on sweetness of fruits used.)
• 1 T vanilla essence
• 1/3 cup fresh mint

Optional extras:

• 3 T melted chocolate, milk or dark
• 2 T Rum (kick that naughty factor up a dash)
• 1t Orange zest (grated orange rind)
  

Begin by lightly beating the eggs in a large bowl. Add the milk and cream, vanilla essence and maple syrup, and beat lightly until mixed. Cut the half challah into slices about 3/4" thick (2cm). Pour a little of the egg mixture into a lidded tupperware so that it just covers the bottom. Place a layer of challah at the bottom of the tupperware, pour some egg mixture on top, add another layer with mixture and continue until all slices are in. Pour any remaining egg mixture on top, cover the tupperware and refridgerate. Throughout the rest of cooking, periodically turn the tupperware to ensure all pieces of bread soak up the egg.

Whip the cream in a medium-sized bowl until it has soft peaks. (The peaks will kind of billow.) Cut up the fruit into bite-sized chunks or portion it to the correct amount. Chop the mint, unless you intend to blend the sauce. Fold in the fruit and mint to the cream, and add maple syrup, vanilla and any naughty additions. You can spoon it onto the toast like this, but I prefer to blend it thoroughly into a colorful sauce. This sauce can then be squeezed out from a simple squeeze bottle into glorious patterns over the finished french toast.

So you have the eggy, soggy bread and the lucsious, guilt-enriched sauce. Time for the easy part - the cooking. Melt a tablespoon of butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. When the butter starts to bubble, add the first 2 slices and cook until the underside is brown, about 2-3 minutes. Turn and cook for another 2-3. Repeat for the remaining slices. You can keep the cooked slices warm in a 200 degree F oven or even use the enclosed space of a microwave (not turned on) to preserve the heat while you finish cooking. While the toast is cooking, prepare the plates with garnishes of mint and a chocolate on the side. Mimosas - champagne and orange juice - complement this dish well, even if you're eating alone. In fact, perhaps more so. But skip the orange juice.

Once all slices are cooked, spoon or squirt the sauce over each portion on the serving plate. If you're a mushy romantic like me, draw or squirt hearts with arrows, I Heart U, or the old-fashioned zigzag that looks so fancy but in fact takes five minutes to master - all are fair game. Or better yet, make two sauces and let their colors complement. Go crazy. They'll be impressed. And report back on your successes!