The French Toast Challenge in Support of World Egg Month and the Egg Farmers of Ontario

In recognition and to celebrate that October is “World Egg Month”. The Egg Farmers of Ontario are celebrating across the province! I have been asked to participate in the “French Toast Challenge!”

Anybody who knows about my exploits in the kitchen knows that I love to be creative and think a bit out of the box when it comes to my culinary creations. Somehow, I think that I have outdone myself.

Inspired by my recent craving of S’mores I began to dream and devise this ultimate gooey French Toast Recipe.

Now to make this a bit interesting for those who follow me and to bring out the awareness of the importance of what our Egg Farmers do to provide us all with their lovely produce. I am having a contest. 

This should be fun! The prize for the contest is a $50 gift card to Egg-citing and ever so delish Chez Cora!

Contest Details and Regulations:

1) Tweet @bnbutterscotch using the hashtag #WorldEggMonthON or post a reply to this post.

2) I need a creative and delish name for my monstrosity of a S’more or photo of your favourite egg dish.

3) The best name or egg creation will win the gift card and will be announced on November 6^th, 2011!

4) Winner must reside in the province of Ontario

So what did I make?

In the days leading up to my entry for the French Toast Challenge I was not sure if I wanted to create a savoury or a sweet recipe or even both like my friend Andrew aka @Dobbernation.

In the end, I decided that my sweet concoction was strong enough to stand on its own merits amongst the other entries that I had seen. BTW, all of the other participant’s entries looked great and I am certain that they were all very yummy!

Here is a list of ingredients that I used to create my French Toast:

Eggs

Whipping Cream

Loaf of Bread

Brown Sugar

Nutmeg

Cinnamon

Vanilla Extract

Dark Chocolate Ganache

Nutella

Rough Chopped Walnuts

Sliced Banana

Dark Chocolate Toblerone

Marshmallows

Butter

Canola Oil

Salt (pinch)

Methodology

1. Create a custard by combining 2 whole eggs, 3 yolks, brown sugar, whipping cream, nutmeg, pinch of salt cinnamon and vanilla extract

2. Whisk until the mixture is fully incorporated

3. Pre-heat pan and add canola oil and the butter

4. Pre-heat oven to 400F

5. Soak the bread in the custard

6. When the pan is hot place custard soak slices gently into pan away from you

7. Let the bread crisp up and come to a beautiful brown and golden colour

8. Flip and repeat

9. Once the French Toast is completed place on oven proof tray

10. Lay out the sliced bananas, the ganache/nutella mixture and the rough chopped walnuts

11. Place the second slice on top

12. Cut the marshmallows in half and place them on top of the 2^nd slice of French Toast

13. Place in the oven

14. Prepare the blow torch. If you do not have a blow torch use your oven’s broiler but pay attention to the marshmallows so they do not burn too much

Using the blow torch caramelize the edges of the marshmallows to give it that rustic campfire look

Love it!

Enjoy with a loved one or a group of friends. This is truly as delish as it looks!

Best Place for Brunch in Toronto? Table 17...at least I think so!

What can be said about brunch that hasn’t been said before? Lots actually… When you dine at a breakfast joint such as Cora’s, Eggspectations, Sunset Grill - you usually get what you pay for – which is a meal consisting of the usual suspects that you whip up in your own home. There is nothing wrong with that, but you can and often do get the sarcastic waiter/waitress, the generic coffee and creamers, the screaming kids and mass produced food. Not sure about you, but that doesn’t always hit the spot for me – especially because I  love breakfast food and always searching for the latest and greatest in Toronto. Could I have found it at Table 17? The answer is a resounding yes!

 

I consider myself an expert on breakfast food. When I was an apprentice at the Waterside Inn Hotel, I was put in charge of the breakfast service for six months to pay my dues. I can honestly say breakfast done well is not as easy as scrambling some eggs and flipping flapjacks. People expect homey comfort food that is both fresh and delicious – what a great way to start the day. At the hotel, breakfast was paramount, it had to be fresh, hot and dare I say it…prepared with a bit of flare. It needed to be something easily recognized as breakfast but taken to another level. This relies heavily on one of the key principles of cookery - Respect. Specifically, respect for the ingredients - treating and cooking them to perfection simply and consistently.
At Table 17, the brunch menu is simple - there is something for everyone. The chef definitely knows how to use the ingredients and balance flavours. When you combine that with great friendly service, a beautiful dining room, you have something special - you have Table 17.

Since my trip to Lake Louise for a wedding photo shoot, I have been on the look out for a Caesar that was as good as the one they served there. It's been a long time coming, but I think I might have found it here. Nothing gimmicky or cliché - just a darn good spicy Caesar. One of the best that I have had in a LONG TIME!

Just a nice detail shot of some of the nice touches that abound in the decor at Table 17, nice light fixtures, art work and photography line the walls. There is definitely a nice cozy feeling to the restaurant.

Alsatian onion tart with caramelized onions, double smoked bacon lardons, blue cheese and poached pears on puff pastry served with a mixed baby green salad. It was perfectly cooked, warm and tasty with the zing of blue cheese. The bacon made for the perfect complement of salty and smoky flavour and the pears round out the entire dish by providing the perfect amount of sweetness. The salad was dressed well and added an acidic quality to cleanse the palate. Overall, this was a success and I loved it.

Farmer's breakfast with scotch eggs, assorted country cheese, pâté, branson pickle, toast and mixed baby green salad. For those that may not know what a scotch egg is, it’s a shelled medium to hard boiled egg wrapped in a sausage meat mixture, breaded and deep fried. I do not normally order these as the breading and the sausage mixture get in the way of a good egg, but these were supremely tasty. I loved every bite. The breading was crisp, the eggs perfectly cooked and the sausage mixture was just enough to give flavour and was not over bearing at all. The pâté was unfortunately a bit lacking but it was yummy when combined with the mini toasts and branson pickle. Maybe some Dijon mustard would be nice next time? The cheese assortment was very nice it included some old white cheddar and a brie cheese to complete the hybrid Scottish/English ploughman’s lunch. It was very yummy and I loved this as well!

Here's a picture of the overall spread! In addition to ordering two main dishes, we took this opportunity to sample a wide range of their sides. We ordered potato rösti, double smoked bacon, and two varieties of sausage. One was a more traditional English sausage the other was more like a chorizo sausage with a bit of kick. We couldn’t decide which one we liked best as they were equally delicious. I cannot wait until our next visit!

Yet another photo of the spread of food from Table 17 - it was a bit of a feast for us. Every bite was just as fantastic as the first.
When we were done our meal, something at another table caught our attention – dessert! Although they don’t normally offer a dessert menu during brunch service, we lucked out. Another table had specially ordered sticky toffee pudding and thankfully, the kitchen was able to accommodate our request to have one as well! Thanks goes to the kitchen and the waitstaff for giving us the opportunity to try the mouth watering pudding! 

The sticky toffee pudding was served warm, gooey and surprisingly not as sweet as you would think. It was absolutely perfect. I am not sure what the sauce was that accompanied the caramel/toffee but, it was delish. I am thinking that it was a pear/apple preserve on the side. I'll just have to go back for another one and find out. 

Table 17

782 Queen St. East
Toronto, Ontario
M4M 1H4
416.519.1851 

info@table17.ca

Hours of Operation:
Brunch Saturday - Sunday 10:30 - 2:30
Dinner Monday - Sunday from 5:30pm

Beautiful Food Stop Motion. WOW!

This was something that I found through Laura Calder who is the star of Food Network Canada's French Food at Home TV series. This is a very short video utilizing stop-motion cinematography and is a wonderful piece that features food! So enjoy!


Alimation from Alexandre DUBOSC on Vimeo.

Thanks for visiting!
Ciao!