Potato Waffle With Caramelized Apples

Caramelized apples are served with warm potato waffle in this gourmet recipe developed by Chef Georges Wenger. This can be served as a heavy and special breakfast for romantic occasions or as a dessert. Serve it with vanilla ice cream on the side and pair it with damassine liqueur for an unforgettably sublime dish. Damassine is made with wild plums and is the perfect complement to potatoes and apples in this gourmet recipe. If you can’t find damassine liqueur you can also use other types of liqueur to flavor the dish or you can omit it all together, especially if you are planning to serve children.

Use a variety of apples for a wonderful balance of sweetness and tartness. The best kinds of apples for use in these kinds of easy healthy meals are firm and crunchy and retain their structure even when heated or cooked. They should not turn mushy or watery even after long hours of cooking. Some of the best apples for cooking include Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Cortland, Jonagold, and Pippin.

While this gourmet recipe is simple to make it involves two phases or two layers prepared separately that you should plan and time accordingly for efficiency. You need to make the potato waffle and the caramelized apple cake and then assemble them together with the vanilla ice cream on the plate for the final presentation.

You can make the batter ahead to save some time and allow it to rest before you move on to make the caramelized apple cake. You need a waffle maker or a waffle iron for cooking the potato waffle just as you would cook regular waffles. The potato waffle is best served warm for a luscious contrast to the cold vanilla ice cream. You can make this recipe with leftover mashed potatoes, which is similar to potato puree. Potato puree is only smoother and creamier with the addition of milk and butter.

Ingredients

Waffle:

3 1/2 oz. potato puree

1 ½ tablespoons butter

1 ¾ tablespoons flour

1 egg

1 1/2 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons sugar

1 lemon peel

Apple cake:

4 apples

3 1/2 oz. caramel

2 tablespoons sugar

1 ½ tablespoons butter

1 lemon juice

Ice-cream:

1 cup milk

4 yolks

12 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 ½ tablespoons

Damassine plum

1. To make the batter, mix the potato puree, flour, eggs, sugar, and butter until you get a thick, creamy and even consistency. Pour the waffle batter in the waffle maker. When they are ready, take the waffles out of the grill and cut them up according to their borders.

2. Meanwhile put a lump of butter in a preheated frying pan. Sauté apple slices adding sugar. Add a hint of lemon juice. Let it cook until all the moisture has evaporated.

3. In a buttered baking dish pour some caramel to cover the bottom and line it with the slices of sautéed apples. Mince some fresh apples (not too fine) and place it on top. Separate the cake from the mold or baking dish, turning it upside down quickly and placing the cake in the center of plate.

4. Place the potato waffle on top of the cake as a garnish. Put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. Garnish with a sprig of mint, a slice of dried apple and a little line of caramel. Finish off with a drop of reduced apple juice to give a boost to the apple flavor.

Caramel French Toast

Pain Perdu, which translates to “lost bread,” is the traditional French version of the American “French Toast.” It is an age-old technique for making use of leftover or stale bread by dipping them in a creamy mixture of milk and eggs and frying them in clarified butter. This recipe has a richer batter than the regular French toast or snack recipes similar. When cooked, the result is a custard-like texture in the interior and a crispy golden coating. The addition of caramel sauce adds mouthwatering sweetness that kids will love. Pain Perdu with Caramel-Benjamin is almost like dessert for breakfast. It is an easy recipe that is fun to do and as Chef Clement Bruno demonstrates here, kids can make this dish or assist you for a lovely way to start the morning.

Chef Bruno uses stale French bread for this recipe. You can also use day-old Italian bread or leftover brioche but not sourdough. Stale bread soaks up more of the milk-egg mixture without crumbling or falling apart, which fresh bread tend to do. Before frying the soaked bread, make sure that the butter in the skillet is sizzling hot to get a crispy outer crust.

This recipe makes use of the simplest of ingredients to make the batter: milk, eggs, sugar, and a pinch of salt. The thick slices of day-old bread are dipped on the batter generously covering both sides. Large amounts of butter are used to fry the dipped bread thoroughly. Other versions of Pain perdu add cinnamon or vanilla or both to the batter for more flavors. Others also like to top their pain perdu with fruits, honey, jam, Vegemite, apple sauce, whipped cream, maple syrup, powdered sugar, yogurt, marmalade, cheese, chocolate, or marmalade. Like pancakes or waffle syrup, it can also be served with bacon, beans, or sausages.

Ingredients

Waffle dough:

½ lb. flour

1.8 oz. sugar

1 ½ tablespoons baking soda

2.8 oz. butter

salt

4 egg yolks

4 egg whites

0.77 lbs. milk

Light cream:

1 cup cream

powdered sugar

vanilla

Apples:

5 apples, Calvados apple brandy

3.5 oz. butter

1.8 oz. sugar

water

Chocolate sorbet:

270 dark chocolate chips

3 1/2 oz. cocoa

2 pints water

1/2 lb. sugar

Chestnut syrup:

1/2 lb. water

½ lb. sugar

1 lb. chestnuts

vanilla

1. Make the batter by mixing the beaten eggs, milk, sugar and a pinch of salt and vanilla. Place in a shallow dish.

2. Slice the day old French bread into thick slices. Dip the slices on the batter, making sure that both sides are well covered. Don’t soak them in the batter too long and dip only two or three at a time, cooking them immediately after dipping. Place soaked slices on a clean dish.

3. Heat the saucepan and melt a generous amount of butter. Fry the bread slices until crispy and golden brown.

4. To make the caramel, heat sugar in a pan on very low heat. Keep stirring with a whisk until the sugar dissolves into a liquid.  As the liquid boils, stop stirring and swirl the pan to dissolve any remaining granules. When all crystals have melted, add the butter and whisk until the butter melts.  Turn the heat off and after about three seconds, add the cream in the pan and whisk vigorously until it foams and incorporates and becomes a smooth caramel. Allow to cool and store in a jar.

5. Arrange on a plate and pour caramel sauce over the bread. Serve and enjoy!

Banana Split for Breakfast

I am sure you know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Since it is the most important meal, we need to make sure that we eat the right things to give ourselves a "jump-start" to the day and keeping our favorite breakfast recipes healthy. It can be tempting to head over to McDonald's before work and grab on of their sausage, egg and cheese sandwiches. Do not do that! That sandwich is one of the worst things you can put into your body in the morning. Anything even similar to that is not sufficient for your needs and will not carry you very far into the day.

Instead of unhealthy foods full of empty calories, we owe it to ourselves to start the day by eating something tasty, healthy gourmet recipes that is full of nutrients.

Ingredients:

You will need a banana

a half of a cup of yogurt

2 strawberries

a forth of a cup of granola 

4 or 5 blueberries

Preparation:

1. First, the banana and cut it down the middle (long ways).

2. Separate the two banana slices so they are a couple inches apart.

3. Put two ¼ cup scoops of yogurt between the banana slices.

4. Now take the strawberries, cut the tops off, and cut them into even slices.

5. Spread ¼ cup of granola evenly on top of the area of the dish that has yogurt.

6. Lay the strawberries on the yogurt so they are evenly spread apart.

7. To top it off, place 2 or 3 blueberries on top of the scoops of yogurt.

8. Now you can enjoy a tasty but healthy breakfast!