This delicious and memorable babka pain perdu with pears and lemon curd is the probably favourite brunch option of all epicurean gods.
My overly emotional pain perdu experience
Twenty-seven years and a month
I must admit: I lived for twenty-seven years and a month until I had my first pain perdu – or French toast as some also call it. I’m not even entirely sure how I managed to survive until the day I had the first pain perdu. The irony? I didn’t even order it. You know me, I don’t even have a sweet tooth, so I usually don’t even bother looking through the sweet dishes in the menu.
One and a half bites
My boyfriend ordered my first every pain perdu. My first ever bite and a half of pain perdu, to be more precise. I was munching on my delicious savoury sandwich, softened by the runny yolk of a beautiful poached egg and I couldn’t stop staring at my boyfriend’s beautiful plate of pain perdu. Something must have changed in my chemical compound: for the first time I felt I had a sweet tooth.
Status quo
Asking my boyfriend to switch plates makes me feel like a child unless we both genuinely wish to do it. In that case we have a dance of polite ‘are you sure?’ and give the food enough time to go from warm to totally cold. Did I ask my boyfriend to switch plates? No! My sandwich was perfectly tasty. Plus, my lack of a sweet tooth, which is one of my defining gourmet features would have been jeopardised. I silently finished my sandwich, my boyfriend silently finished his pain perdu, and then went on and enjoyed one of the first days of our long-awaited holiday.
Revival
Yes, you’re right: the moment we got back to Bucharest I made pain perdu as well. I used the same idea as in the lovely little café in Cluj (where I had my first bite and a half): to use babka instead of bread. I, however, changed the toppings and adapted them to what I had around and, of course, to my personal tastes.
Before you continue, please be aware that this dish is highly addictive due to its extravagant amounts of deliciousness.
The recipe
This delicious and memorable babka pain perdu with pears and lemon curd is the probably favourite brunch option of all epicurean gods.
Beat the eggs in a medium sized bowl. Add the salt, cinnamon and milk to it.
Heat the butter in a pan (preferably a cast iron skillet).
Soak the babka slices in the egg mixture really well, then add them to the sizzling butter.
Keep them on high heat for half a minute to a minute on each side. They should be golden, not dark brown.
Place them onto the plates, add lemon curd, the pear slices, and sprinkle some of the almonds. Eat immediately, while still warm!
Enjoy!
Ioana
