Full English Breakfast Savory French Toast

Take some savory French toast, top it with fried ham, butter sautéed mushrooms with thyme, roasted tomatoes, and a poached egg then serve alongside some sweet beans - what's not to love?

Full English breakfast served in the form of savory French toast is the brunch craving you never knew you had.

What's more beautiful than a relaxed weekend when you have the luxury of making a decadent brunch spread? This full English savory French toast is the stuff brunch dreams are made of.

I also absolutely love savory French toast, or as it's known in the UK, eggy bread and often served savory unlike it's American counterpart.

In Romania French toast is also more of a savory thing, served with Balkan style accompaniments as you can see in my savory French toast bake.

This full English inspired brunch brings together some of those beautiful flavors of a full English breakfast on top of a moist and satisfying eggy bread.

The post outlines how you can make your own, but the beauty of this kind of breakfast is that you can adapt the components to suit what you have.

No ham? Fry up some sausages or (if you're lucky enough to have it) some black pudding. Feeling something sweet? Bake up a batch of scones to really round out the British breakfast vibe. The possibilities are endless.

Ingredients

There are a few different components to this savory French toast breakfast but the prep is easy enough when sequenced right (see the instructions for that part).

• Savory French toast: soft white sandwich bread, eggs, milk, salt, black pepper.
• Fried ham: Sliced ham, butter.
• Sautéed mushrooms with thyme: chestnut or cremini mushrooms, butter, a few sprigs of fresh thyme, salt and pepper.
• Quick "baked" beans: A can of white beans, smoked paprika, dried thyme, brown sugar, salt and butter. Or just substitute a can of baked beans.
• Roasted tomatoes: Tomatoes, butter, salt, a sprinkling of fresh thyme.
• Poached eggs: Just eggs!

This recipe is for 2 servings which is 2 slices of eggy bread per serving along with the rest of the components divided up. To scale up, use 1 egg, half a cup of milk, 0.5 teaspoon salt and a dash of black pepper per two slice of bread (one serving). Adjust the rest of the components accordingly.

Instructions

There are a lot of components but it isn't difficult to pull off as many of the components are quick.

Plus, you can reuse the same skillet if you want and then reheat everything in the microwave (or hold warm in oven) until ready to serve.

1. Soak and fry the egg bread: Mix up the egg, milk and seasonings and soak the sliced bread in it. You'll need 1 egg, half a cup of milk, 0.5 teaspoon salt and a dash of black pepper per slice of bread. Once the bread slices have soaked up the eggy mixture, fry them in butter until golden. Set aside.
2. Sauté the mushrooms: Slice up the mushrooms and throw them in a skillet with some butter, salt pepper and a few sprigs of fresh thyme. Cook over medium heat until they reduce and then begin to brown. Once nice and golden, put them in a bowl and set aside until ready to serve.
3. Make the 'baked' beans: Put all the ingredients in a small bowl and microwave for 4-5 minutes, stopping to stir every so often. If you don't have a microwave, you can cook them in a skillet or saucepan. About 8-10 minutes over high heat should do it (add more butter or reduce heat if it dries out). Since the beans are cooked you're just melding the flavors.
4. Fry the tomatoes: Slice the tomatoes and sprinkle them with salt and a few thyme leaves. Fry them in butter until golden and set aside until ready to use.
5. Fry the ham: Fry the ham slices in butter until golden.
6. Poach the eggs: When you're about ready to serve, bring a pot of water to simmer (it should be steaming and gently rippling not violently boiling). Use a small bowl to gently drop each egg into the water. Allow it to poach until the white it set then use a slotted spoon to remove from water and set into a bowl.

Serving Suggestion

You can either plate the dish yourself or serve it family style. Both options look very nice and will bring a lot of wow-factor to breakfast or brunch.

Related

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Recipe