The June 2011 issue of Cooking Light featured a special section that focused on grilling. Mike was very interested. This recipe sounded like the perfect way to kick off the summer. And it's super easy.
Ingredients
1 cup light coconut milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup fat-free milk
3 large eggs
1 (12-ounce) loaf French bread, cut into 15 slices
Cooking spray
10 (1/4-inch-thick) slices peeled pineapple
1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut
Te recipe recommends preheating the oven to 200 degrees and to use that as a means for keeping the toast warm prior to serving. That's cool and all, but you can do that on the grill, too. Prepare the mixture by combining the first four ingredients in a shallow dish and mixing with a whisk. Keep in mind that this recipe is for 5 servings, so if you plan on cutting back in the amount of bread you will prepare, you can reduce the ingredients of the mixture accordingly. We used a "coconut drink" instead of coconut milk, so we skipped the real milk, and the mixture was plenty for the 7 slices of bread we made with enough for maybe a few more. But we also used "Vienna" bread (from Meijer), so our slices were a bit bigger. The intent of this recipe is for bread that is probably 2-3" in diameter.
Once the mixture is prepared, soak each slid of bread in the mixture for approximately 1 minute, being sure to coat each side fully. Place each slice onto your medium-high heat skillet that you've prepared with cooking spray. It won't take long for each slice to be toasted golden brown on each side (you should only flip once). Place the finished slices on a cookie sheet in the oven (or on the indirect side of the grill). When you're about 1/3 of the way thru your bread slices, you'll want to make sure you start the pineapple on the grill. The grill should be on medium to medium-high heat. (We should note that a "grill pan" on the range top can also be used in place of firing up the grill, but who would do that?) We did not prepare the pineapple in any fashion before placing it on the grill. Pineapple will grill quite nicely, you'll find, with the natural sugars caramelizing in very neat "grill marks" in each side. When it starts to get a little soft and it is marked nicely, you'll know it's ready. The recipe recommends 2 minutes on each side.
We served the french toast slices with powered sugar and pure maple syrup. You can also sprinkle with coconut flakes. We drizzled the pineapple with pure honey (locally harvested, so as to help Mike with his allergies...we hope). Sara didn't feel the French toast needed syrup, as the coconut mixture makes it pretty sweet by itself. The recipe can be paired with the classic orange juice or maybe a breakfast blend of coffee, fair trade of course.
So we hope this recipe can brighten up your next lazy weekend morning. Enjoy!
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