Bananas and custard french toast
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First, an apology to my friend Martha. We’ve been best friends since we were three, but there’s always been a third wheel in the relationship… Martha’s fear of bananas. I’d like to think that this brunch might turn her around, but it probably won’t. So, sorry Martha, it’s incredible and I couldn’t leave it out.
If you don’t have a banana phobia, switch out your avocados on toast for this fruity brunch and I promise you won’t look back. It’s sweet, indulgent, filling and defs hits some of your 5-a-day. For extra aesthetic points, dust over some icing sugar to decorate.
For this recipe, you’ll need my perfect custard recipe, which you can find here.
This recipe is from my book, Poppy Cooks: The Food You Need
Photographs © Louise Hagger, 2021
Ingredients
metric imperial
The perfect custard
- 1 recipe quantity of the perfect custard (see the description above for the custard recipe)
For the French toast
- 100ml whole milk
- 4 tbsp caster sugar
- 2 bananas, peeled, and sliced lengthways in half
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 4 x 2.5cm-thick (1 inch) slices of brioche loaf
- 4 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
- a knob of butter
- 2 tbsp chopped salted peanuts
- a spoonful of mixed berries (optional), to serve
Method
- Pour the custard into a bowl or oven dish that’s large enough to dip in your brioche slices. Mix the milk into your custard just to loosen it slightly.
- Tip the sugar on to a plate and roll the banana halves through so that it sticks on both sides.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a large, non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Add the bananas and fry for about 4–5 minutes each side, until golden and caramelised all over. Remove from the pan and set aside for later. Keep the pan to hand.
- On one edge of each slice of brioche, using a paring (small chopping) knife, slice through the thickness to make a pocket inside. Use a teaspoon to fill the pockets with equal amounts of delicious peanut butter.
- Dip the filled slices into your custard, carefully turning each slice to coat it on both sides.
- Add the knob of butter to the frying pan and place it over a low–medium heat. When the butter starts melting, place your soggy, filled brioche slices into the pan (do this in batches, if necessary).
- Fry for about 2 minutes on each side, just so that the bread is golden and toasted to the point of getting a little crisp around the edges. Remove from the pan and transfer to a serving plate.
- Top with the caramelised bananas, chopped peanuts, berries (if using) and a good dollop of leftover (controversial) cold custard. Offt! Yes, please!