THREE COURSE MEAL FROM STALE BREAD? WHO KNEW!

If you’re aiming to be a little more thrifty for January, check out these recipes by Patrick Ryan of the Firehouse Bakery who was showing viewers of the RTE’S Today Show how to cook a tasty three-course meal from stale bread!

For starters, he rustled up some bruschetta and crostini, with a side of hummus; for mains, it was Panzanella salad, and for desert the delicious Pain Perdu, which is essentially bread cooked in caramel.

Here’s the recipe for the sticky and delicious Pain Perdu (translated as ‘lost bread’):

Ingredients:

  • 2 thick cut slices of brioche
  • 1 egg
  • 50 g sugar
  • 50 g milk
  • a drop of vanilla essence
  • 2 tblsp caster sugar
  • a knob of butter
  • vanilla ice cream to serve

Method:

  1. Remove the crusts from the bread, portioning each slice into two. Whisk together the sugar, milk, vanilla and egg.
  2. Using a dry pan on a medium heat add 2 tablespoons of sugar. Allow the sugar to caramelise to a light golden colour. Add a tsp of butter and stir into the melted sugar.
  3. Dip each portion of brioche into the egg mix and add to the caramelised sugar. Cook until golden on all four sides.
  4. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

For all other recipes, check out the below links to the RTE website…

Basic Bruschetta and Crostini

Almost Instant Hummus

Panzanella Salad

Patrick runs baking and bread making classes in both Delgany and Heir Island in Co. Cork, so, if you fancy getting your hands dirty see www.firehouse.ie for full details.