Poppy Seed Brioche French Toast with Honey, Lemon & Blueberries

Technically not a bread, brioche is a viennoiserie instead because of all the egg and butter used (hence more of a pastry, if you will)! It can be eaten plain, sweetened or even savoury and is characterised by the shiny, dark and flaky exterior, which is emphasised with a egg wash before baking. It tastes almost like croissant but is a lot easier and less time consuming to make.

After some searching, I found this awesome recipe for making brioche. It's super rich, delicate and melt-in-your-mouth. It freezes wonderfully and toasts very well in a toaster.

Once you've made your brioche you can prepare it for freezing (if that is your plan). Let it cool for a while before using an electric carving knife to cut through that soft, fluffy bread. You can store the slices in ziplock bags and then put them in the freezer in a spot where they won't be squashed. 

For the French toast slightly stale bread works best, so you can leave out a few slices to dry out overnight. Alternatively, start right away! One of my new favourite discoveries is The Sugar Hit, where you can get the recipe details on how to make this yummy French Toast (you can see from my photos that I added the poppy seeds into the bread rather than the French toast batter; and I used fresh blueberries).

Avocado, the friend of Pasta

Oh, this poor, poor blog! I have dreams, aspirations and so many good intentions of making this blog something compatible with the Food Fox. You laugh, mock, and think I can't hear you. 

I imagine myself carefully styling a dish and moving a colourful serviette just the right amount of millimeters and getting the focus on just the right glossy part of my carefully dished up meal in a hand-made ceramic bowl. That's not real life. Well, not at the moment. Various choices in life have left me spending my time elsewhere and the only space to create good-enough-to-pass-and-look-edible photos, is in my mind. In real life, I make something different for breakfast, lunch and supper almost everyday (if I cook) or my husband does and then in a moment of triumph and finality, I gobble down what I have just cooked, famished and tired. 

The moral of this short story is that people with nice food blogs do not cook on an empty stomach. Maybe one day I will have the time and discipline to do that. Here's to good intentions.

Guacamole can go on a pasta because it can go on a pizza. Here's how:

Serves 3

Ingredients:
For the guacamole
1 finely chopped tomato
1 finely chopped red pepper
1 finely chopped clove of garlic
1 mashed ripe avocado
1 tsp chipotle Tabasco
Juice of one lemon
Salt
Pepper

For the pasta sauce
(200g cooked spaghetti or whichever pasta you like)
2 chicken breasts
A sprinkle of dried chilli
A sprinkle of dried herbs
1/2 tub of crème fraîche
Salt
Pepper

Method:
Fry the tomato, red pepper & garlic with some olive oil until soft and saucy. Add a touch of water if necessary to de-glaze the pan. Take that out of the pan & let it cool.
Mash the avo with the lemon juice and Tabasco sauce. Season with salt & pepper until it's tasty enough.
Fry the chicken breasts with the salt, pepper, herbs and chilli. Once cooked, chop them up into bite-sized pieces and mix in the crème fraîche. You can use Greek yoghurt as well I would think. It's definitely cheaper, but also less cheesy.
Now that the tomato and red pepper is cool, add it to the guacamole. If it's too hot it could cook your avo and make it go a strange colour or make it taste bitter (depending on the variety) as it could get cooked by the heat.

Serve your pasta, layer the chicken pieces over it and top with the guacamole!