Cheddar French Toast with Crab Hollandaise
This Cheddar French Toast with Crab Hollandaise is a game changer for #BrunchWeek. The toast is coated in Cabot cheddar, the hollandaise is made with your hand mixer, and the eggs are poached to perfection.
I hope y’all have been enjoying the #BrunchWeek recipes this week. I’m going to try to get through and re-share all of them on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +. Hopefully some of them will inspire you this weekend to cook up a delicious brunch at home for Mom. Or inspire your SPOUSE to cook up a delicious brunch at home….
What? It can happen!!
If they do, I hope they make this dish right here. This Cheddar French Toast is DA BOMB! Have you ever had savory French toast? I’ve made it once. I’m not quite sure the hubs like it, but I did. I thought it was pretty darned good. So, when I found out that we were getting a shipment from Cabot, I knew I had to make another batch.
You see, the hubs isn’t so much for sweets at breakfast. He’s a total egg, veggies, meat type of person. And that’s all well and good, but sometimes this kitchen hoor really does crave some slathered in butter and syrup waffles or pancakes. Or… FRENCH TOAST!! Yes! Bread, dipped in egg and milk, then fried until golden brown. I’m drooling. Is it lunch time yet? Wait. I just ate. Darnit!
Anyway.
Where was I? Oh yeah, no sweets for breakfast. So, in order to get some semblance of a French toast, waffle, or pancake fix, I resort to savory version of these brunch favorites. For some, this may open a WHOLE NEW WORLD of breakfast breads. For others, well, it’s just another recipe to add to your collection.
Brief interjection here. In an effort not to waste anything, and since I’m not a huge fun of runny eggs, I cooked up the whites from the egg yolks for the hollandaise. They were perfect for me!! Yes. I do love a good fried egg white. And now, back to this post.
But, I will admit, this one is slightly different than other recipes I’ve seen. I’ve repurposed this idea from a sandwich I ate for lunch once. It was a grilled cheese sandwich. They dipped the bread into Parmesan cheese before they toasted it up in the pan. It was the best Reuben ever! And it sparked his sandwich recipe here. Yeah.
I’m still drooling over that one.
Because of this recipe, I had this earmarked initially as Parmesan, but I saw that delicious, aged cheddar, and couldn’t resist!! Yup. I took thick slices of French bread, dipped them in egg and cream, then sprinkled them with this amazing Cabot cheddar before frying them up.
The whole house had the intoxicating aroma of delicious cheddar cheese. I.was.in.heaven!! I had to wear a bib I was drooling so bad from the aroma. Now, it’s French toast. So, you know there has to be some kind of sauce to over the bread. But I also tried a rarebit sauce. Beer cheese just didn’t seem like a good option. Then I saw a pin in Pinterest that had a hollandaise over Parmesan toast. Bingo! This cheddar French toast is going to have hollandaise on top!
But not just ANY hollandaise!
It’s going to have delicious, in season crab, mixed into the sauce. I did a crabernaise, so I thought a crab hollandaise was only the next logical step in my crabby sauce creations. And, boy, am I glad I did! This crab hollandaise was off da hook with the cheddar French toast. Seriously, it was the perfect “syrup” to go with this delicious dish.
Seriously. Just look at that sauce and tell me you can’t wait to get your fork on it!! I can’t wait to make it again! You know what the best part is? It’s made with a hand blender and a jar. Yup! You read me right. A hand blender and a jar. How easy is that? It’s similar to the method I used to make the crabernaise. SO simple, delicious, and so gonna make it again. Soon!
Oh yeah, and did I tell you? I made perfect poached eggs for the hubs to have on his toast. Just look at those white globes on top. And they weren’t overcooked at all! He cut into one and it just oozed that golden goodness he loves. I was more proud of that than anything else I made for dinner that day. Heck, those are probably the prettiest poached eggs I’ve made in… EVER!
Mmmmm. See that golden cheddar crust on the toast?
That perfectly poached egg buried under that crab hollandaise? Yup. Admit it. You’re jealous I had this for DINNER! DINNER! It could easily be made for brunch. Make the taste head of time and keep them warm in the oven while you cook the eggs. The hollandaise literally takes minutes to prepare. MINUTES! There’s no excuse now.
Cheddar French Toast with Crab Hollandaise
This Cheddar French Toast with Crab Hollandaise is a game changer for #BrunchWeek. The toast is coated in Cabot cheddar, the hollandaise is made with your hand mixer, and the eggs are poached to perfection.
Ingredients
For the French toast:
- 1/2 cup fat free half and half
- 12 large eggs, divided
- 2 teaspoons garlic salt, divided
- 1 teaspoon black pepper, divided
- 8 slices French bread, day old
- 1/2 cup grated Cabot chipotle cheddar cheese
For the hollandaise:
- 3 tablespoons margarine
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- pinch cayenne pepper
- 1/3 cup melted butter
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup back fin crabmeat
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200.
- Heat a large, nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat.
- Combine the half and half with four eggs and stir well with a whisk. Add the garlic salt and pepper and stir again.
- Dip the bread into the egg mixture. Place on a plate and sprinkle with a small amount (about 1 to 2 tablespoons) of cheese and gently press the cheese into bread. Cook 3 to 4 minutes per side. Place on a cooking sheet in the oven to keep warm until the rest of the toast are cooked.
- While the toasts are cooking heat a large saucepan full of water over medium heat, until bubbles just barely break the surface. Turn the temperature down just slightly so it stops bubbling.
- Crack an egg into a small cup or custard dish. Using a spoon or spatula, swirl the water into a circle and carefully slide the egg into the water. Cook 3 to 7 minutes or until the yolk is cooked to your liking.
- Carefully remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and place on a plate covered with paper towels. Repeat with remaining eggs.
- Place the butter in a microwave safe bowl and heat on high 90 seconds. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Place the eggs yolks and the lemon juice in the bottom of tall jar that’s wide enough to fit your hand mixer. Carefully, and slowly, pour the butter into the jar while the hand mixer is running. Continue to add the butter until it reaches your desired consistency then add just a little more. Fold in the crab and keep warm.
- Assemble two slices of toast on each of four plates. Place an egg on top of each piece of toast and top with the hollandaise and serve.
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Thank you to #BrunchWeek Sponsors: Red Star Yeast, Dixie Crystals, Cabot Cheese, Vidalia Onion Committee, Sage Fruits, Nielsen-Massey, KitchenIQ, and Le Creuset for providing the prizes free of charge. These companies also provided the bloggers with samples and product to use for #BrunchWeek. All opinions are my own.
I love this recipe Christie and I want to thank you again for all your hard work with this event. I look forward to it each year and really appreciate all the time and effort spent by you and Terri to make it so wonderful.
Thank you, Wendy! Your recipes were truly inspiring, too!! Can’t wait for next year.
Oh my gosh, my husband would LOVE this recipe. Ordering crab-something for brunch is his thing. Bookmarking this recipe to surprise him for Father’s Day or his birthday.
Thank you! It was rather good, if I do say so. The hubs DEVOURED his plate, so it must have been good. Hope yours like it!!