Sunday will be Dad’s day, and dads will be celebrated in a wide variety of ways.
There will be gifts, cards, day trips and dinner at favorite restaurants along with hugs, kisses and fun.
And for some dads, there will be a special breakfast or brunch.
One of my favorite dishes to serve is French toast, which is easy yet can be sophisticated and is a meal in just a few slices of toast.
We traditionally thank the French for this dish of bread and eggs; they call it pain perdu, which translates as “lost bread” and refers to the use of stale or “lost” bread in the recipe. But the first written reference to frying bread slices that have been dipped in beaten egg is a Latin recipe from the first century CE.
The concept of bread dipped in beaten egg then fried is universal; most countries that make bread have a version.
Here in the U.S. we eat our French toast with butter and maple syrup or stuffed with sauteed fruit. But it also can be served savory with cheeses and sauteed vegetables such as onions or peppers.
French toast has your protein and bread all in one. I like to serve it with sides of bacon and fruit cup. If your favorite dad likes chocolate, you can make brownies or chocolate chip cookies for dessert.
When making French toast for a crowd, consider this recipe from allrecipes.com for a casserole you can put together the night before, then bake in the morning.
French Toast:
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup unsalted butter
1 (8-ounce) loaf crusty French bread, cut into bite-sized pieces, or more as needed
2 cups milk
6 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Topping:
1 tablespoon brown sugar, or to taste
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste
Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
Make the French toast: Stir brown sugar and butter together in a saucepan over medium-low heat until butter is melted and sugar has dissolved, 2 to 4 minutes.
Pour butter-brown sugar mixture into the prepared baking dish. Scatter French bread pieces over top in a 1 ½ - to 2-inch layer.
Whisk milk, eggs, and vanilla together in a bowl until well combined. Pour over bread pieces, then press bread down with a spatula so the bread absorbs the liquid. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate, 8 hours to overnight.
Bake in the preheated oven until casserole is browned and bubbling, about 30 minutes, covering with aluminum foil at any point if the top is browning too much.
To serve, cut into squares and invert onto serving plates.
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