Easter is just around the corner. It is the annual Christian commemoration of the Passion of Christ. In addition to celebrations and processions, in Abrassame what interests us the most is that many traditional dishes that are finger-licking resurface, such as torrijas, one of the desserts par excellence during these dates.
Where do French toasts come from? The first appearance of this delicacy is in a recipe book by the Roman gastronome Marcus Gavius Apicius dated to the first century. An ancient dessert that is more than 2,000 years old. It’s normal for it to last so long because of how delicious it is.
What are French toasts? It is a fairly simple recipe based on bread, several days old, soaked in milk, syrup or wine, coated in egg and then fried with olive or sunflower oil. To finish, it is sweetened with honey, molasses or sugar and topped with a touch of cinnamon powder. Our French toast is made with brioche bread. Being sweet and very fluffy, it soaks the milk more, making it super juicy and tasty.
Let’s start with the recipe for Abrassame’s super torrijas. Quantities are for 4 people. You can always add or reduce equally depending on the number of people or how many torrijas you are going to cook.
Let’s start with the custard, which we will use to cover the French toast once it is ready.
Ingredients:
– 500 ml whole milk
– 4 XXL egg yolks
– 150 gr white sugar
– 1 vanilla bean
– the peel of 1 orange
– 50 gr cornstarch
1- Open the vanilla bean and remove the seeds.
2- Peel the orange, keeping the peel without the white part, as the cream would be bitter.
3- Heat the milk in a pot with the vanilla bean, sugar and orange peel. Turn off just at the point where it is going to start boiling and cover for 15 minutes to infuse.
4- After 15 minutes, strain the milk and put it back on low heat.
5- In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks with the cornstarch and pour in the hot milk without stopping stirring so that no lumps appear.
6- Once the mixture is homogeneous, add the mixture again over a low heat, continuing to stir with the whisk until it has the consistency of pastry cream.
7- Strain the mixture and set it aside
Now we will prepare the milk to soak the brioche bread.
Ingredients:
– 200 ml whole milk
– 100 ml cream 35%
– 1/2 orange peel
– Peel of 1/2 lemon
– 1/2 cinnamon stick
– 1/2 vanilla bean, halved
– 30 gr white sugar
1- Put all the ingredients together in a pot and let it boil for 1 minute.
2- Remove from the heat, cover the pot and let infuse until the milk cools.
3- Strain the mixture and set aside.
And now let’s go for the torrijas.
Ingredients:
– 2 slices of brioche bread 3 cm wide, three fingers approx.
– Milk to soak the French toast.
– 2 eggs, beaten.
– Sunflower oil.
– Blend of 90% sugar and 10% cinnamon
–Custard
– White sugar
– Powdered sugar
1- Soak the slices of bread well in the infused milk. Calmly and lovingly, to make sure that the milk absorbs well.
2- Let the bread slices drain.
3- Meanwhile, heat the sunflower oil.
4- Once it is very hot, pass the slice of bread through the beaten egg and place the bread in the pan.
5- Fry them on both sides, for 5 minutes in total.
6- Drain the torrijas again to remove the excess oil.
7- Coat the French toast with the sugar and cinnamon mixture
8- Cover the torrijas with the pastry cream that we have reserved.
9- Add a little sugar on top of the cream and burn it with a blowtorch to make it caramel.
10- Plate and top with a pinch of icing sugar
The result is a spectacle for all the senses, generating as a first reaction the wow effect because visually it is impressive because of how big it is, then the sense of smell gains strength with the smells of cinnamon, pastry cream… And when you taste it, it’s an explosion of flavors for the taste buds.
At Abrassame we incorporated torrijas as a suggestion in Holy Week 2018. As it was so successful and popular, we decided to make room for it on the menu, becoming one of the star desserts. In addition, due to its XXL size, it is ideal for sharing.
