Garlic Pain Perdu

Have you ever had pain perdu? No? Have you ever heard of pain perdu? No? Yeah, actually prior to reading my April 2015 issue of Food & Wine Magazine neither had I. Turns out that "pain perdu" is French for "French Toast" or, according to Food & Wine, "Lost Bread". This pain perdu can be made sweet or, as in this recipe, delightfully savory.

Garlic Pain Perdu

4 large eggs
2 C milk
3 large garlic cloves, pressed
1 1/2 Tsp salt
1 Tsp thyme
1/2 Tsp fresh cracked pepper
6 1-inch thick slices of Italian bread (I used Rosemary Olive Oil Italian bread, believe me it was absolutely fantastic)
3 Tbsp salted butter

In a medium bowl, beat together eggs, milk, garlic and seasonings.

Dip bread in the egg mixture and allow to soak for a few minutes.

Melt 1 Tbsp of butter at a time in a skillet over medium-high heat, and remove the bread from the egg mixture and allow the excess to drip off. I cooked the bread in batches of two slices at a time.

Fry the bread in the skillet. Allow each side to brown about 5 minutes and flip ONLY ONCE. The bread will come out golden brown, fluffy and delicious.

Nate and I discussed how awesome this bread would taste with a slice of melty, bubbly and slightly burnt Jarlsburg cheese on top. Just picture that for a minute...are you drooling yet? Try it out and let me know how it goes, will ya'?

I served this surprisingly filling bread with a salad (you know to feel like I ate more than just buttery, egg-y bread) and paired it with a Pino Grigio. It was an absolutely incredible meal to curb my new-job-inducing-working-out-daily hunger.

I hope Monday treated you well, readers and have a fantastic rest of your week!