October 15th is the Feast of St. Teresa of Avila, a great saint and Doctor of the Church. For her feast this year, I am planning on making Pan de Santa Teresa (St. Teresa's Bread), a yummy looking recipe found in A Continual Feast by Evelyn Berge Vitz.
PAN DE SANTA TERESA
(St. Teresa's Bread)
"This dish, named after St. Teresa of Avila, makes a tasty breakfast or brunch especially for children. It is a first cousin to French toast, but with a flavor and texture all its own."
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 cups milk
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 lemon peel, piece
- 12 slices Italian/French bread (a little stale) 1/2-3/4 inch thick
- 3 eggs
- Pinch of salt
- Cinnamon-sugar for sprinkling
- Olive oil for frying
DIRECTIONS:
Combine the milk with the sugar, cinnamon, and lemon peel. Simmer gently for 5 to 10 minutes, until the milk has become well flavored. Place the bread in a large flat dish or pan, and strain the milk over it.
Beat the eggs in a shallow bowl with a pinch of salt. With a spatula, lay the slices of bread in the egg, turning them to coat both sides. Beat additional eggs and salt together if necessary to finish coating bread slices. Fry the bread in the olive oil until it is browned and crusty on both sides.
Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Saint Teresa of Avila ~ Pray for us!
Jessica, I have a question, after pouring the milk mixture over the bread, is the bread still firm enough to dip in the egg?
ReplyDeleteI'd like to try this tomorrow!
Jamie ~ I have yet to make it, but from the sounds of the directions, if the bread is "a little stale" and you "strain the milk over" the bread on a flat dish, I don't expect it to be a problem. I'm looking forward to trying it out! :)
ReplyDeleteSt. Teresa is my patron - it's great to have some ideas to celebrate her day. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteOh this sounds yummy! I can't wait to try it!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jessica! St. Teresa of Avila is one of my favorite saints and the patron of my little "Felicity". :)
ReplyDeleteFYI: I was out of olive oil so I cooked them in butter. Worked fine. Also, some of the bread pieces soaked up A LOT of milk and others didn't. The ones with more milk came out gooier in the middle. My kids didn't like those as much as the ones that were only slightly gooey. Next time, I think I will dip them in the milk and then the eggs instead of soaking them. Thanks again Jessica!
ReplyDeleteWe are having breakfast for supper, so thanks Charlotte, I will try dipping instead of pouring it on and soaking it. Also, I couldn't find stale bread, so ours will be fresh, hope it works anyway. :)
ReplyDeleteJamie, I had to stale the bread myself because it was too fresh. I just let it sit in a 200 degree oven for about 20-30 minutes. You don't want it toasted, just a little dried out.
ReplyDeleteHello from Kathleen Teresa Heathfrom Ireland.
ReplyDeletewww.freewebs.com/kit8
This url above is my poetry website Take a magical!! tour of Ireland.through the writings of Kit Heath
I am named after St Teresa.
Just recently on her feast day where the blessings of roses take place in Armagh Cathedral with the St Teresa Relic, this is a beautiful!!!! ocassion
God bless from Kathleen
I have owned a copy of A continual Feast for about 15 years. This is a family breakfast favourite. We use a stale sourdough bread and only let the bread soak in the milk briefly.
ReplyDeleteI am a private chef for Mount St Joseph Carmelite monastery, whose patron saint is Teresa of Avila. I make breakfast for dinner once a month. Usually, French toast or waffles with sausage, potatoes and eggs.
ReplyDeleteThink if you cool the milk completely and then mix it with the eggs, you can simply dip the bread as you would regular French toast.
I've been asked to make this next month, so that is what I will do. Thanks for the recipe.