RECIPE / RALPH SCHELLING

French toast with peaches

This week we demanded a little sweet indulgence from our Swiss chef. This simple dessert (or sweet breakfast) is a sure-fire crowd-pleaser. Word to the wise: dispose of the star anise after baking the peaches so it doesn’t end up in the dish. Enjoy. Serves 4

• Ingredients for the peaches:
• 4 peaches
• Sugar, for dusting
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 30ml water
• 1 star anise

• Ingredients for the creamy topping:
• 80ml single cream
• 150g mascarpone
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• Ingredients for the French toast:
• 300g brioche (or 8 thick slices)
• 4 eggs
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 150ml single cream (or milk)
• 1 pinch of cinnamon
• 30g sugar
• 3 tbsp butter, melted

• Ingredients to top it off:
• Maple syrup, to taste

• Method:
• 1. Preheat oven to 200C.
• 2. Cut the peaches in half, remove and dispose of the stones and place the peach halves skin-side-down on a baking dish.
• 3. Sprinkle evenly with sugar and the ½ tsp of cinnamon. Pour over the water, place a star anise in between the peaches then cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
• 4. For the creamy topping: mix the single cream with the mascarpone, maple syrup and vanilla extract.
• 5. Cut brioche into about eight thick slices.
• 6. Mix eggs and 150ml cream. Season with the remaining pinch of cinnamon, salt, vanilla extract and white sugar and soak the bread slices on both sides in the mixture.
• 7. Melt the butter in a pan on a medium heat and fry the bread slices on both sides until golden brown; this will take around 3 minutes each. You may need to do this in batches.
• 8. Serve two slices of bread per plate, remove peaches from the oven and roughly slice, dividing evenly between the four plates.
• 9. Add the creamy topping and maple syrup to taste.