Nom-Able

It was a cold, rainy Saturday two weeks ago when I received three packages from Amazon.com in the mail: Green Day’s new album 21st Century Breakdown, Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Pygmy, and Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s new book Vegan Brunch: Homestyle Recipes Worth Waking Up For-From Asparagus Omelets to Pumpkin Pancakes. Guess which book I picked up and read through cover to cover almost immediately?

Now, honestly, I’m a kinda chubby girl who has an insatiable sweet tooth, one that calls my name softly in the middle of the night with dreams of cakes, cookies, and all sorts of very sugary things. Even breakfast cannot escape – I’m a huge fan of a giant stack of pancakes dripping with syrup on Saturday morning and a muffin, danish, or pastry when grabbing a weekday breakfast on the go. Naturally, I looked to Isa’s new book and immediately was captivated lovely food items in the sweet section of the book, and especially Banana Rabanada, which is parenthetically noted as “Brazillian French Toast”.

Now, I’ll be honest — I was that Girl Scout who always threw a tantrum about making French toast on our camping trips. The scout masters would bring with us eggs and milk and cinnamon, and I’d be the little girl pouting and crying to Mrs. Butterworth, the only person who loved me. There was something just dreadful about milk and eggs whipped up and bread soaked in that mixture and then thrown onto a hot skillet. There was always some little trail of egg that seeped out of the bread and onto the surface, leaving a yellow crust that tasted of fried egg and sour milk. Ick.

But this was different. For one, it’s vegan so there’s no fear of eggy-in-a-basket-ness to it, and second, the name! It’s called Banana Rabanada! Who could resist making something called “banana rabanada”? I know, I couldn’t. The name just calls to me, teases me, tells me “You know how much fun it’ll be to just say “banana rabanada” all day? A lot!”

Of course, because I’m never satisfied doing a recipe the right way, I made a minor modification. In Step 2, instead of putting my bread on a baking sheet, I put my slices in a casserole dish and poured the mixture over that, which completely covered all slices on both sides. I let my pieces sit for a total of 20 minutes per the instructions but didn’t need to flip. Since the slices soaked up most of the custard by the end of the twenty minutes, I’m guessing that 10 minutes total would have been sufficient; the extra time lead to a breakdown in the fibers of the bread, leading to a more bread pudding-like texture, which I LOVED. I’m sure the right way is fine too, though.

Banana Rabanada

From Vegan Brunch: Homestyle Recipes Worth Waking Up For-From Asparagus Omelets to Pumpkin Pancakes by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

INGREDIENTS
• 2 very ripe bananas
• 1 1/2 c. almond milk (I used soy)
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 stale baguette, sliced diagonally in 1″ pieces (the book has very good instructions on how to do this for greater surface area)
• sliced strawberries and bananas for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Blend bananas, milk, cornstarch, and vanilla in a blender or food processor until smooth.
2. Spread out baguette slices in a single layer on a baking pan. Pour banana mixture onto the bread and flip slices to coat. Let sit for ten minutes, then flip over and let soak for 10 minutes more.
3. Prehead a large, nonstick skillet (cast ironed preferred) over medium heat. Spray with cooking spray and cook bread for 5 to 7 minutes on one side and about 3 on the other. When ready, the toast should be golden to medium brown and flecked with darker spots.