The Cookbook Challenge Week 11: French Toast With Vanilla Ricotta and Berries

Posted on | January 31, 2010 | Recipes, Western | 7 Comments

French Toast and Mixed Berries

Theme: Mixed

I really can’t resist when I see fresh juicy luscious berries. So naturally for this week’s theme of “mixed” I went for a mixed berry recipe. I picked the brioche french toast recipe from this month’s Delicious magazine purely based on the photo of the gorgeous plate decorated with the mouth-watering berries. The recipe called for brioche slices but I can’t get it from my local bakeries so I substituted it for thick bread slices. I’m not a big fan of ricotta but mixed with vanilla bean and sugar it tasted like sweet vanilla cream. I love the sweet and sour of the berry coulis and it balances out the creaminess of the ricotta.

French Toast with ricotta and berries

Brioche french toast with vanilla ricotta and strawberries
Adapted from Delicious Magazine February 2010
Serves 4

Ingredients

150g mixed berries (such as strawberries, raspberries and blueberries)
plus extra berries to serve
1/4 cup caster sugar
100g fresh ricotta
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
100ml thickened cream
1/4 cup flaked almonds, lightly toasted
1/4 cup hazelnuts, lightly toasted, roughly chopped
4 eggs
4 x 2cm thick brioche slices
20g unsalted butter

Method

1. Blend the mixed berries to a puree with half the sugar, then set aside.

2. Mix the ricotta with vanilla seeds in a bowl with the remaining sugar and a splash of cream until smouth, then chill until needed. Mix the nuts in a small bowl and set aside.

3. Whisk the eggs with remaining cream in a shallow dish (add extra sugar if using normal bread). Soak the brioche slices in the mixture for 1 minute.

4. Melt the butter in a frypan over medium heat. Add the soaked brioche to the pan, 2 pieces at a time, and fry for 1 minute each side or until lightly browned. Drain briefly on paper towel.

5. To serve, halve each brioche slice and stack on 4 plates. Spoon the vanilla ricotta over the toast, scatter with the extra fresh berries, then top with the berry coulis and toasted nuts.

Cooking notes: If using normal bread slices then add sugar to the egg and cream mixture.

French Toast with Ricotta and Mixed Berries

Comments

7 Responses to “The Cookbook Challenge Week 11: French Toast With Vanilla Ricotta and Berries”

chocolatesuze
February 5th, 2010 @ 8:43 pm

that looks absolutely fantastic! love berries!
Cherrie
February 7th, 2010 @ 8:41 am

This dish looks stunning. I love yr french toast and by adding the berries, it gave it another dimension.
Ellie
February 7th, 2010 @ 10:21 am

Wow! I just had my sunday breakfast and I am feeling hungry again just by looking at your picture. So amazingly appetizing and beautiful pictures.
Rizka
February 7th, 2010 @ 1:07 pm

Oh wow this looks so gorgeous and delicioussss…
Leigh
February 8th, 2010 @ 7:28 pm

Yum, yum, yum. What a beautiful lookin dish!
Yen
February 8th, 2010 @ 11:13 pm

Thank you Chocolatesuze, Cherrie, Ellie, Rizka and Leigh. You really can’t go wrong with berries.
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