Medlar? What's a Medlar?

A few weeks ago I was at Park Kitchen chatting with Chef Scott Dolich about the sources of his produce and the reliability of local Portland farmers coming through year after year. Scott's a regular customer of Sheldon and Carol Laeity of Your Kitchen Garden in Canby, because they supply their "beyond organic" produce to the Portland restaurant scene almost year-round (all but January) and they provide some unique varieties of greens, veggies, and fruits that you just can't get anywhere else. Another favorite farmer of Scott's is Tremaine Arkley who owns land in Independance, Oregon (just north of Keizer). Tremaine is the source of some of Park Kitchen's more interesting menu items, including these homely little guys. These, my friends, are medlars. When Scott pulled out a canister of these wrinkly things from under his counter, he had this big grin on his face because he knew he was introducing me to something I had never heard of, much less seen.

Chef in the Market with David Anderson of Genoa

Yesterday I had the pleasure of hosting a demonstration at the PSU Portland Farmers' Market with Chef David Anderson of the newly-reopened Genoa and its sister restaurant Accanto, and we had a really great time. This weekend's weather has been a bit confusing, starting off cool and cloudy and slowly burning off to a gorgeous sunny day, so our audience started a bit on the small side. Once people around the market started smelling frying pancetta and caramelizing apricots, however, we had quite the crowd. David was great, sharing stories from Genoa's past and present and explaining how the menu has been "traveling through Italy" as the seasons change in Portland.

Every month, the restaurant features a five-course prix fixe menu highlighting the specialties of a single region in Italy, and David selects the region based on the pairing of authentic ingredients with what's available in the markets in Portland. This month the menu features Chef David's interpretation of dishes from Abruzzo and Molise, a region nestled at the border of Northern and Southern Italy in the highland foothills of the Apennine mountains. The mouthwatering offerings include:

• Scamorze allo spiedo: Creamy scamorza cheese (a stretched cow's milk cheese similar to mozzarella) skewered on rosemary stems, pan seared and served with marinated baby artichokes and pickled asparagus.
• Farfalline con pisselli e fave: small hand-made pasta butterflies tossed in a savory San Marzano tomato sauce with Viridian Farms peas, fava beans, lemon zest and fresh sheeps milk ricotta.
• Pasta alla chitarra con ragu d’agnello: fresh egg and semolina pasta cut on a traditional chitarra or “guitar” tossed with a ragu of Cattail Creek lamb and sweet peppers.
• Scapece di salmone alla vastese: salad of wild Oregon Sockeye salmon marinated in champagne vinegar, white verjus (a very acidic juice made from pressing unripe grapes), saffron and aromatic vegetables served over baby spinach, sweet basil and Yukon gold potatoes.
• Dentice e calamari in purgatorio: Line caught pacific rockfish and calamari sautéed in a spicy sauce of onions, white wine, tomatoes and dried chiles.
• Coniglio alla grigliata misti: Mixed grill of rabbit; tender loin skewered with house made rabbit sausage and kidney served with airy potato croquettes and caramelized baby fennel.
• Lombatine pepate e fiamma: Grilled Pepper and herb crusted strip loin steak flamed with strega liquor and served with a saffron risotto stuffed pepper and a raw zucchini and mint salad.

David told us that he loves featuring regional cuisines because it gives him a chance to learn about the ingredients, culture, and history of a region, as well as pick up new techniques and traditional combinations. It's great to know that even Portland's top chefs continue to learn about food and regional cuisine long after they've established themselves as knowledgeable and skilled in the kitchen. There's so much rich food tradition out there that it'd be impossible to know everything before you begin - so get out there and start some hands-on learning. You're in good company.

Start your culinary tour of Italy via Oregon's farm-fresh bounty with what may be the perfect summer salad: Crispy pancetta cubes, sweet and tart apricots with a perfect sear in butter and honey, peppery arugula and fresh basil leaves, and a sprinkling of the Oregon favorite, Marionberries, and fresh, creamy ricotta cheese. Chef David provides a step-by-step guide for making this delicious dish, which would make a great summer meal on its own, or serve as the starter for your next five-course supper party extravaganza. Eat well, or perhaps more appropriately, buon appetito!

Caramelized Apricot Salad with Arugula, Basil, Pancetta, Marionberries, and Fresh Ricotta
Recipe courtesy of Chef David Anderson of Genoa and Accanto, 2010
Serves six as a starter or four as a light meal

For the vinaigrette:
1 pound pancetta, cut into lardoons (bite sized chunks)
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar, preferably 12 year
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper to Taste

1. Place the pancetta and the olive oil in a small sauté pan and slowly bring up the heat to render out the fat. Leave over a low flame until the pancetta starts to color.
2. Drain the pancetta reserving the fat into a separate bowl. Keep the pancetta lardoons warm or at room temperature.
3. Put the pan back over the heat and add the shallots. Sweat for a few minutes until soft then deglaze with the balsamic vinegar.
4. Whisk in the reserved fat and taste for seasoning.

For the apricots:
6 apricots, ripe but firm, cut in half vertically and pitted
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons honey
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat butter slowly in a wide sauté pan. As soon as butter foam subsides add the aprictos cut side down.
2. Raise the heat and lightly caramelize the apricots. Add the honey and toss well. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.
3. Cut into wedges and taste for seasoning.

For the salad:
3 bunches of fresh arugula, washed and stemmed
1 bunch of basil, stemmed, leaves roughly torn
1/4 pound fresh ricotta, crumbled
Reserved pancetta cubes
Marionberries
Apricots
Vinaigrette
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large mixing bowl toss the apricots, arugula, and basil with enough of the vinaigrette to coat. Taste for seasoning and garnish with pancetta, berries, and ricotta.

The Great Panna Cotta Mystery

Panna Cotta should not be as delicious as it is. Something that takes less than five minutes to prepare--then sits in the fridge for a few hours--simply should not be the best thing ever...but somehow it is. Granted, it's typically made with heavy cream and sugar, so I understand that it's never going to be inedible. But can someone please explain to me why this dish, which is essentially nothing more than cream Jell-o, makes everyone's eyelashes flutter and their spoons keep digging in for more? It baffles the mind, but I'm not complaining.

I fell in love with Panna Cotta a few years ago in New York City, in a little (now closed, I believe) restaurant called Borgo Antico in the West Village. The full story of that unlikely meal can be found here, but suffice it to say that ever since then I've ordered Panna Cotta whenever it's on a dessert menu. We've got some great ones in the city - from Kir's over at the Sugar Cube dessert cart on Mississippi to the yuzu-infused vegan coconut version at Bamboo Sushi, but it's so easy to make at home that I know I shouldn't rely on professional pastry chefs to do what I can so easily do myself. But, really, like THAT mentality has ever stopped me from ordering anything...

My friend Alix, a true-blue Portland foodie, came over to make dinner (we tackled pasta, dramatically, over here), so I took the opportunity to please a fellow discerning palate with my favorite dessert. I bought some cream from City Market (one of my new favorite places in Portland) and rushed home to get dessert mixed and in the fridge with enough time to set. As I stirred the pot of cream, sugar, honey, vanilla, gelatin, and thick yogurt, I couldn't help but grin at the fact that I have the kind of job that allows me to be barefoot at home cooking panna cotta in the late morning. It's a rough life, really. I ended up making my Panna Cotta in a glass bread pan, because I don't have room in my kitchen for silly things like ramekins. I figured I could pop the whole thing onto a plate and cut slices. It worked, but was kind of ugly, so maybe those fussy kitchen dishes have a place after all... I didn't really have any energy left to stage a better picture, so I just kind of randomly clicked my camera in the general direction of the dessert plates and then sat down with a spoon. We were so wiped from the pasta misadventure that we couldn't really care less that the panna cotta was a lump covered in fruit, because it was a damn tasty lump covered in damn tasty fruit.



I picked up some gorgeous apricots from the farmers' market last Saturday, almost jumping up and down (well, ok, actually jumping up and down) with excitement that the first wave of stone-fruits is upon us. I can't believe we're mere weeks from peaches (!), and it seems that every other blog post on the internet is spotlighting the piles of cherries filling the markets. These apricots were perfectly ripe from a few day's vacation in a brown paper bag, but still had an edge of tartness so I added a bit of honey. Needless to say, Greek yogurt + honey = yum. YUM.

This was the dessert that saved the day. A bit homely, a bit slapdash, but all in all, a winner. It's really good for breakfast, too...

Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta
adapted from Nancy over at Good Food Matters
1 package Gelatin
2 T. Water
1 cup Whipping Cream
1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Honey
1 t. Vanilla
2 cups Whole Milk Greek Yogurt

Sprinkle gelatin into a bowl, and stir in the water. The gelatin will soften and clump, but don’t worry, it will smooth out in the brief cooking that’s to follow.

Gently heat the cream in a saucepan. Stir in the sugar, honey, vanilla, and the gelatin. Stir steadily with a wooden spoon until sugar and gelatin has completely dissolved throughout the mixture. Do not let this boil.

When all is incorporated, remove from heat. Stir in the Greek yogurt.

Pour into a glass container of any shape, up to and including an old glass bread pan. Or break out your fancy cordial glasses or ramekins... Cover and chill for at least 3 hours.

Market Monday: Grand Opening of PFM at Pioneer

Today marks the first day of the Pioneer Courthouse Square Farmers’ Market, which will fill “Portland’s Living Room” with fresh fruits, vegetables, and artisan foods every Monday from 10 am to 2 pm throughout the season. If you work downtown, skip the food carts and come over for Monday lunch, or pick up some carrots and bread for dinner on your coffee break. Even though I'll likely stick to Wednesday's Shemanski market for my primary PFM outpost, I'm so excited that the market staff was willing to give up one of their only "days off" to start up yet another star of a market. Where would we be without those superstars? I don't even want to think about it.

This addition to the Portland Farmers’ Market line-up means that Portlanders can shop for local, fresh, and organic foods five days a week at six different locations throughout the city, from Southeast off of 20th and Hawthorne, to NW 23rd, to NE at King Elementary (for a list of all locations, times, vendors, and more, check out the PFM website). That means that wherever you live in Portland, you have easy access to the best food in the Northwest. Every quadrant has an opportunity to experience the “best of the country in the heart of the city.”

Pioneer Square Market Dates: June 21 through October 25

Times: 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Location: The Monday Market at Pioneer Courthouse Square is located between SW Broadway & SW 6th and SW Morrison & SW Yamhill.

Check out these photos from this morning's opening, and look for a full market tour video later today (...ok, well, probably tomorrow. What am I, a professional blogger or something?)

Memorial Day BBQ

There's nothing I love more than lounging in bed going through photos and video clips the morning after a really great party. My eye makeup is more than a little smeared, the sink is overflowing with baking pans and mixing bowls, and it's STILL raining outside, but I can cocoon into my comforters and pillows and scroll through hundred of pictures of my friends faces, relive the good food, and hear again the laughter and jokes of the night's misadventures. With Gillian Welch singing to me from the record player, and my socked toes all comfy under layers of cool cotton, I've spent a few blissful hours cropping, rotating, and sharpening these memories...

We had amazing weather for one of Portland's favorite holidays - the Rose Festival was lightly toasted by warm sunshine and high clouds, the river looked beautiful as I crossed over to the east side, and our humble little BBQ in the big, beautiful orange house known as Crib Largo went off without a hitch. I was in an extra-fantastic mood because I just got a new job (!!!) and a summery white dress, two factors I'm relatively sure had a direct impact on the good weather... We even played a little frisbee in the intersection, yelling "CAR!" (or, just as often, "BIKE!") and skittering to the side of the road to let passersby pass by. Chess games were played, Jim Beam and Icelandic Schnaps were sipped and shot, and somehow most everyone ended up in random articles of womens clothing...



Anyway, the food. Oh, the food. The boys got started on the brisket pretty early, smoked it to perfection. Honestly, it was the best meat we'd ever had at a Family Dinner^® gathering (aside from Travis' Dancing Ladies Chicken, of course...). Meatmaster Jesse made the rub from the scrappy spice collection of the Largo kitchen, set up the Weber for success, and painstakingly monitored the smoke levels over the course of a few hours. Damn, that was good brisket. We also had a huge pile of variously-flavored sausages, grilled veggies, roasted kale, confusingly good pickles, Sweet Tea, watermelon (both in cocktail and analog form) and my contribution, strawberry shortcakes and strawberry thumbprint cookies. In the past four days, I've eaten at Kenny & Zukes, Hash, Foster Burger, and Tastebud... but the dinner we had last night topped them all.



Rereading that last paragraph, I just realized I ate a LOT OF FOOD this weekend. Which is likely why I'm drinking tea and eating cucumbers while digitally thumbing through my photo uploads. A girl needs balance. A girl also needs great friends, and this girl has them, and how. Summer may still be a few weeks off in this crazy town, but I can already tell it's going to be a good one.

Eat well.












Strawberry Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies
adapted from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Family Style, 2002

• 3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (Or more, if you want. I always up the kosher salt in cookies... it's kind of my thing...)
  
• Good Strawberry Jam
  

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until they are just combined and then add the vanilla. Separately, sift together the flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump on a floured board and roll together into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Place the balls on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and press an indentation into the top of each with your finger. Drop 1 teaspoon of jam into each indentation. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly golden. Cool and serve.

Classic Strawberry Cream Pie

A few days ago I came home to a kitchen table overflowing with pints of strawberries, filling the house with their ripe perfume. My first emotion was a hit of sadness, as I'm missing some of the best weeks of Portland's own strawberry season while I'm down here in Los Angeles, but my second emotion could only be described as OH-YES-ITS-PIE-TIME!



After a brief Tastespotting search, I came across a recipe for a classic Strawberry Cream Pie from the Better Homes & Gardens Dessert Cook Book, published in 1960, the age of REAL DESSERTS, and after a few modifications (like replacing some of the whipped cream with sour cream for a cheescakier flavor), I had a really gorgeous pie that showcased the berries in all of their glory.

This was the dessert of my "Last Supper" before getting my wisdom teeth out yesterday, and it was a perfect accompaniment to big, meaty beef ribs with my dad's improvised BBQ sauce (think crushed pineapple, beet juice, chipotle hot sauce, red onions, garlic, tomato sauce, molasses, honey, mustard, apple cider vinegar, and grilled pickled jalapenos), crunchy coleslaw with my secret creamy dressing, and grilled ratatouille with lots of fresh basil.

By contrast, the past two days have been filled with frozen yogurt, mashed potatoes, and tomato basil soup, which, let me tell you, is going to get old real fast. I keep having daydreams of Screen Door fried chicken, toasted Kettlemans bagels, crispy cucumbers, and, well, anything not mushy. At least I can still write about/read about/watch movies about food. Yes, at least there's that. Eat crunchy things for me!

Classic Strawberry Cream Pie
Adapted from Laura Flowers and Better Homes & Gardens Dessert Cook Book, published 1960.

1 9-inch pie crust (I use the 'Foolproof Pie Dough' from Cooks' Illustrated)
1 recipe cream filling (below)
3 cups fresh strawberries
½ cup water
¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Pre-bake pie crust using pie weights or dried beans. Let cool. Fill with chilled Cream Filling. Quarter two and a half cups of the strawberries, place in large bowl. Crush remaining half cup berries (I used a potato masher); add water; cook 2 minutes. Mix sugar and cornstarch: gradually stir into berry sauce. Cook over low heat, and stir until thick. Cool slightly; pour over bowl of quartered strawberries, mix well. Arrange over cream filling. Keep refrigerated until served.

Cream Filling

½ cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons enriched flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 slightly beaten egg
½ cup sour cream

Mix first 4 ingredients. Gradually stir in cream. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil; reduce heat and stir until thick. Stir a little of the hot mixture into egg; return to remaining hot mixture. Bring just to boiling, stirring constantly. Cool, then chill. Beat well; fold in sour cream. (I'd let this cool for a few hours, at least, maybe even overnight before piling the strawberries on top. That gives it more of a cheesecake-y texture that is really amazing)

Farm Breakfast

Hi everyone! I'm finally back in Portland, though not without a few mishaps along the way. My car is currently stuck down in Grants Pass, at the Nissan dealership, due to what has been so delicately termed as 'CATASTROPHIC ENGINE FAILURE'. Yep. Plus, my family is in town, for my mom's outrageously short summer vacation (she teaches special education, and between summer school and the regular year she gets too-little time off. But she's amazing, so she's totally ok with it), and we've been spending all of our time on the phone with various customer service representatives. Not a lot of fun. I have so many amazing things to share with you, but it's been tough to steal away to the computer to talk about veggies while I'm dealing with a minor vehicular emergency.

But hey, this is a food blog, not a complaints form, so, how about some shots of a gorgeous breakfast made from ingredients from my family's farm, Camp Joy, in Boulder Creek, California!


A simple bowl of oats, fruit, nuts, yogurt, and honey, enjoyed on the porch of the old house on the hill above the farm. There is really no way to express how amazing this place is. It's more than a farm, its a place of family, education, children, love, good food, good music, community, continuity, generations, activism, sustainability, appreciation, and perfect California sunlight. Coming here is coming home, and I am so grateful that, in this special place, the journey from farm to fork is a matter of feet, not thousands of miles. What's more, the beauty of the people that take care of this land really shows in the quality of the food, the health of the plants, and the happiness of the animals. It is so inspiring to be connected to something so fundamentally part of the solution to our world's problems. Starting with breakfast.

The apples and berries came from the orchard and blackberry patch. The yogurt was made the day before from fresh goats milk, from the happy, silly goats on the farm. Check out this goofball, on the roof of the goat house...



The honey is from bees, constantly buzzing around the lavender and every other plant. Once, I was digging up potatoes and got stung by a bee, right in the middle of my forehead. I got a big, swollen red bump, right on my third eye. Since then, the Camp Joy bees and I have been polite, but wary. That being said, I am extremely grateful for what they do for the garden and the world. A pollinator researcher, E.O. Wilson, famously stated in 1996 that we should, every third bite of food we take, thank a bee. And that number goes way up on a small, organic farm. So, thanks bees.



It just feels better to know where my food comes from, not to mention to have a small hand in picking it, raising it, fermenting it, and loving the land it comes from. It's how I eat well, and hope to for many years to come.

Spontaneous Raspberry Cobbler

Sometimes a person needs warm baked goods, and sometimes a person doesn't have a recipe, or flour.

And sometimes that results in a totally spontaneous, haphazard fruit dessert. And sometimes, when that dessert has fresh Oregon raspberries and yogurt in the mix, it can be really, really tasty.

I was shuffling around in my cupboards yesterday, wanting to make a patriotic-ish dessert using the raspberries from the farm, but I've been out of all-purpose flour for a long time and haven't brought myself to buy more. I really wanted a cobbler or a crisp, so I was looking for some bit of forgotten pancake mix or muffin mix, which occasionally make their way to our cupboards. I found about half a box of vanilla cake mix from Trader Joes, the kind that is flavored with real vanilla bean scrapings. I had no idea how much was left in the bag, and the instructions on the box were for the whole container without measurements, so I decided to wing it and take my chances. I mixed an egg, 1/3 cup of canola oil, the juice and zest of one lemon, and a half cup of plain yogurt with the mix (there was maybe a cup and a half left) before mixing in a pint of raspberries. I sprinkled the top with brown sugar and popped it in the oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.



I guess with cobblers and crisps, the range of possible textures and consistencies is pretty broad, so I didn't worry too much if the batter was thin or too thick, two sweet or not sweet enough. I just trusted my hands and my random non-measurements, and threw everything into a bowl. I love this kind of cooking because I'm not committed to an outcome - I don't need the finished product to be just like a picture in a magazine, or a flavor at a restaurant. It's just being familiar with ingredients and letting the star of the kitchen - the fresh produce - really shine.

Sometimes, recipes aren't necessary, baking mix can be a life saver, and fresh fruit makes up for any discrepancy such spontaneity can create. Here's to learning to trust my instincts. Small victories.

Eat well.

Memorial Weekend Market

The market was already packed when the opening bell rang at 8:30 this morning, and the wood-fired oven was already sending fragrant campfire scents into the air. In the mood for a bagel, I popped in line and checked out the offerings of the day. It was hard to pick which toppings I wanted - check out this selection: asparagus and bacon? hummus and radish? pork shoulder with jam? YES PLEASE.

There was a bit of a strawberry explosion, as last week one or two farmers had berries for sale - this week, the flats were out, the tables were piled high, and there was a definite smell of strawberry fever mingling with the Tastebud bagel smoke.

One farmer bragged that her strawberries were "Picked at 6 A.M.!" so I started off the morning with a fresh-baked sesame bagel with cream cheese, rhubarb, and fresh sliced strawberries.

I had just purchased a big bunch of basil, and snuck a few leaves onto my bagel. I'm a sucker for herbs in sweet foods - like the famous herb iced tea from last summer. Something about the fresh, complex flavor of basil, thyme, and mint set off fruit really well. I suppose it's a bit like when my parents put salt on papaya, mango, and melon, or the strawberry and balsamic phenomenon. Savory flavors punch up sweetness, and the result is an unexpected treat.


Speaking of herbs, a lot of farmers were featuring gorgeous chives, almost two feet long with pretty purple tops. I bought a bunch, along with my basil, and both are sitting in my kitchen in a vase of water - an herb bouquet. Beautiful and edible... the perfect combo.



Scanning the market, it was a pleasure to see summer veggies starting to appear. Amongst the standard spring fare of rhubarb, greens, and beets, farmers have been laying out baby summer squash, broccoli, and of course, strawberries. It's funny to hear little gasps of disbelief, along the lines of "Isn't it too early for strawberries!?" before grabbing a flat of fragrant Oregon reds. Groundwork Organics had a huge selection of berries and both spring and summer veggies, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that the line stretched away from the booth about a hundred feet. At least it gave me a good chance to snap a bunch of photos.



My roommate Greenbriar's parents are in town from North Carolina, and we're planning on having a BBQ on Monday. They are a pair of die-hard foodies (and loyal Lemonbasil readers, too!) so I'm sure it will be incredibly blog-worthy. Until then, have a great weekend, and eat well!

Challah French Toast with Sauteed Apples

Ah, winter bliss. Finals are over, and I'm snowed in with plenty of time to bake in a warm kitchen. Honestly, I don't know how these few days of vacation could get any better. Oh wait, yes I do - Challah! I adore making challah. There's something so satisfying about putting together a few simple ingredients and making something that tastes just right every time. It's such a familiar taste, sweet, eggy, fluffy bread - with a bit of honey it tastes like every great challah I've ever had.



With the snow falling outside, I'm just about falling apart with happiness. Portland is really beautiful in the snow, though I have to admit I haven't seen much of it. I have this fear of being in vehicles in the snow, so I've been stuck within a mile's radius of my house since last weekend. Luckily, everything I need is within walking distance, and it's really fun to get all bundled up to walk like a penguin to the coffee shop for hot chocolate while my bread rises.

I used my no-fail challah recipe from Beth Hensperger's Bread Bible. EVERYONE who wants to dabble in home bread baking needs this book, and since I didn't change the recipe at all, I'll encourage you to go find your own copy. Hint - it's also on google books.

Plus, when you make challah, that means you get to make challah french toast! I'm STILL working my way through a big box of apples (yes, the same apples from the great Thanksgiving Pie Event). Winter fruits and vegetables are miracles, honestly. Anyway, I thought I'd make a sauteed apple syrup for my french toast, and it turned out so well, especially with a bit of creamy yogurt. I'll make it through this winter, farmers market or not. If every morning could be like this morning, I don't think I'd have any problems at all.



Stay warm, drive safely and eat well!

Here's the recipe for my challah french toast. Perfect thing for a lazy, snowy morning.

Challah French Toast with Sauteed Apples

Ingredients
5 eggs
1 cup half-and-half or milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large loaf challah
Unsalted butter
Vegetable oil

For topping:
4 large apples
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter

Optional: greek yogurt, whipped cream, Crème fraîche, or vanilla ice cream, if you dare.

Directions
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, and vanilla. Pour mixture into shallow container, like a pie pan or deep plate. Slice the challah into thick slices, and soak slices in the egg mixture for 5 minutes, turning once.

Heat 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon oil in a very large saute pan over medium heat. Add the soaked bread and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until nicely browned. Place the cooked French toast on a sheet pan and keep it warm in the oven. Fry the remaining soaked bread slices, adding butter and oil as needed, until it's all cooked.

Peel, core, Chop apples. Melt butter over medium heat. Add apples and cook until almost soft, about 6 minutes. Stir in sugar and cinnamon, and cook until combined and syrupy, about 2 minutes. Spoon over french toast and serve with creamy topping of your choice. Dust with powdered sugar, and enjoy!