FRENCH TOAST WITH BRIE AND BOOZY VANILLA BEAN BERRY COMPOTE – FOOD PORN

I have met the devil….and his name is CHEESE! He lives in Twitter and he is out to get me via sweet names like Marisa (Creative Pot) Sigrid (Cooking and Eating with Polkadot Cupcake), Nina (My Easy Cooking), Nina ( @luna_pixie ), Nicola (Wot’s For Lunch) and Jeanne ( ex SA award winning blogger expat extraordinaire Cook Sister).  Let me tell you the story…..

 

On Friday Marisa and Sigrid started what turned into  a cheese slut confessional on Twitter. Not long and Nina (that innocent one from My Easy Cooking ) was suggesting  a quick event in  a “quest for cheese domination”  I kid you not!! At that stage all the other ladies jumped onto the bandwagon and I found myself co-opted into the club #cheesesluts by Jeanne. She even told me to wear my badge with pride. The devil does say things like that. He is cunning and wily.  I had to do a quick rush around between tweets to see what it was all about. I am slow with these things you know….. 🙂 So what I found out was….The mission: CHEESE DOMINATION! Could it be mine? Of course it could. I could be as big a cheese slut as anybody else if I put my mind to it….and if I put my Low GI diet plan into dire danger.

Cheese domination won the day…….There I’ve said it. My particular vision came to me after I saw a photograph via twitter (see I told you that evil lurks everywhere) of the most delicious looking french bread with oozing brie cheese in the middle and summer berries & maple syrup sprinkled over. I have searched today for that blog picture and I cannot find it. I forgot to bookmark it. Did I imagine it? Surely not! The weekend was the perfect time to do something like I was planning. Mine turned into a lazy laid back brunch with a slight kick in it 🙂

 

This is how I did it…….

 

For the Toast

1 Wedge of Brie Cheese – at room temperature with the rind peeled off thinly and the cheese cut into slices

4 Slices White Bread – or Brioche or Raisin Bread will do

2 Eggs

Just a dash of Milk

Small pinch of Maldon Sea Salt Flakes

Knob of butter

 

For the berry compote

5oog Mixed Berries (I used blackberries,raspberries,blueberries & strawberries that I have frozen)

1 shot of Cherry Liqueur (I used a homemade one from last summer’s cherries)

2 Tbs Castor Sugar

1/2 Vanilla Pod – slit lengthwise down the middle

 

Starting with the compote place all the ingredients into a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil making sure the sugar has dissolved. Allow to simmer for just a few minutes until the berries just start collapsing a bit. Set aside to cool a little bit while you make the french toast

 

Lightly beat the egg and milk together then pour into a plate

Using a thick based skillet or frying pan over medium to high heat melt the butter in the pan

Dip each slice of bread into the egg mix then place into the pan and fry on each side until lightly browned

Place the slices of cheese onto two slices of the toast, top with the other two slices and return it to the pan with a bit more butter and continue cooking until the cheese in the middle turns ooey gooey and starts oozing out the sides of the bread.

Place one sandwich on a plate cut in half to make two triangles, place on top of each other then drizzle with a ladle full of the warm berry compote.

Dust lightly with icing sugar and tuck in while the cheese is still oozy….

See if you can read what’s written on the glass Jeanne – this one’s for you!

 

Enjoy!!

And don’t forget to pop over to the other cheese sluts to see what they are doing with this particular quest for cheese domination!!

 

Cheese Sluts Rule!!!

 

Dear Lord, please help me! The devil wants me fat!!

Colleen xx