{recipe} French Toast a la Elvis

My friend Lori raved about a french toast panini she had at a restaurant in the Hamptons, called the Elvis. She described it as “2 slices of french toast with peanut butter and bananas inside, smooshed together in a panini press.” I was sold on the idea, and she had just had a baby so I was trying to be nice and stuff because having a baby is hard. So I offered to try and recreate it, with a few twists of course.

This is a pretty heavy dish, obviously- sweet and filling. It’s definitely more of a Sunday brunch than a 7 AM weekday kind of thing. Mostly because you’ll go into a food coma after eating it and might need to lie down.

While I thought it sounded good as is, I decided that using cinnamon bread for the french toast would kick it into the next level. It’s best to use thin slices of the cinnamon bread for the best ratio of bread to filling. The sweetness begged for a salty cured pork product so I served it with slices of thick-cut bacon.

Elvis may have left the building, but he left behind some damn fine French toast.

Recipe: French Toast a la Elvis
serves 6

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk (can use some or all buttermilk if desired)
• pinch salt
• 1 loaf cinnamon swirl bread, sliced into 12 pieces
• crunchy peanut butter to taste, about 10 tablespoons total
• 3 bananas, sliced in rounds about 1/8 inch thick
• butter and non-stick spray for cooking

METHOD:

• Whisk eggs and milk together.
• Heat large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add about 1 tsp butter.
• Dip bread in egg mixture and cook on both sides until lightly browned. Repeat until all bread has been cooked. You will have to add more butter for each batch.
• Lay french toast on a tray. Spread about 1 Tblsp peanut butter on each piece of bread. Lay 1/2 banana’s worth of rounds on top of 1/2 the french toast and sandwich it with a peanut buttered one.
• Heat a panini press and spray with nonstick spray. Cook sandwiches until browned and peanut butter is a little melty. (If you don’t have a panini press, you can make these sandwiches and then put them, assembled, in a non stick pan. Weigh them down or press them manually with something heavy, like a lid, so they get smooshed together and browned.)
• Serve immediately with bacon on the side.