Around My French Table (80 page)

In a clean dry bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until they hold firm, glossy peaks. Fold the flour mixture into the beaten whites—don't be discouraged when you get a very thin batter dotted with clumps of whites that refuse to be folded in neatly.

Pour one quarter of the batter onto your hot waffle iron and use a metal spatula to spread it evenly over the grids. (Since I don't know the size of your waffler, here's what I suggest: pour the batter onto the center of the waffle iron, and then if it needs spreading, spread it out evenly by working the flat of your spatula in concentric circles. If you end up shy of the waffler's border, that's fine—you'll have pretty ruffly edges on your waffles.) Bake the waffle for about 2 minutes, or until the underside is nicely browned (again, the timing will depend on your waffler), then turn the waffle over and bake until golden. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Dust the waffles with confectioners' sugar and serve with ice cream and, if you like, caramel sauce and/or chocolate sauce.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

SERVING
My favorite way to serve these waffles is with cream and caramel sauce, but they're awfully good with ice cream . . . and with chocolate sauce. . . . No matter what you serve them with, you should dust the waffles with confectioners' sugar and cut them in half or in quarters. Dividing the waffles seems to make the pleasure last longer.

STORING
In a pinch, you can freeze the waffles and reheat them in a toaster or toaster oven, but that would be a shame, because they'd lose some of their lightness. These are really meant to be enjoyed as soon as they're made.

C
ALLED
PAIN PERDU,
OR LOST BREAD,
French toast is a dish born of thrift, a way to make a sweet and delicious dessert—and it's always dessert in France, never breakfast—from something that might otherwise be tossed out: stale bread. Never mind that these days the best French toast, like this sugar-crusted version, uses ingredients that cost more than the bread they're meant to rescue. If you've got an egg bread, like brioche or challah, that can be cut thick, you'll have a dessert that will be not only splendid but also typically French. (If you've got a presliced loaf, the slices will be thinner but fine; just soak and cook the bread for less time.)

When I'm in Paris, I might, in fact, have enough leftover brioche to make French toast, but when I'm in the U.S., it's a rare day when there's a loaf of brioche or challah that's
perdu,
and so when I want French toast, I have to go out and buy bread specifically for the purpose. I almost never plan far enough in advance to let the bread go stale, and if you're like me, you'll have to stale the bread yourself. Before you're ready to soak it, either toast it very, very lightly or, better yet, lay the slices out on a baking sheet and put them in a 200-degree-F oven just until they're slightly dry.

In a 9-×-13-inch baking pan (Pyrex is good for this), whisk together the eggs, yolks, milk, cream, ⅔ cup of the sugar, the vanilla, and salt. Add as many slices of bread as you can to the pan—you'll be working in batches—and allow the bread to soak for about 3 minutes on each side.

Put a large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat and add about tablespoons of the butter. When it melts and the bubbles subside, sprinkle the pan evenly with about 1½ tablespoons sugar and add as many slices of soaked bread as you can without crowding the pan. Cook the bread until it is deeply golden and crusty on the underside, then sprinkle the tops of the slices with sugar to lightly coat them and carefully flip them over; cook until the second side is equally browned and crusty. Transfer to a platter, cover loosely with foil, and keep warm while you cook the remaining bread. Before adding more slices of soaked bread, wipe the pan clean and add fresh butter and sugar.

Right before you serve the French toast, dust the slices with confectioners' sugar.

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

SERVING
Just because the French wouldn't serve this dessert with maple syrup doesn't mean you can't, but you might also want to try serving it with jam, a fruit coulis, some crème fraîche or whipped cream, or fruit. My favorite fruit accompaniments are Roasted Rhubarb (
[>]
) in spring and summer and Spice-Poached Apples or Pears (
[>]
) in fall and winter. With either of these, you'll have a wonderful fruit syrup to pour over the
pain perdu.

STORING
French toast must be served immediately. If you need to keep the toast warm for just a short while, put the slices on a heatproof platter, cover loosely with a foil tent, and put into a 200-degree-F oven.

E
VERY ONCE IN A WHILE, YOU COME ACROSS
an idea that's just so right, it makes you wonder why you haven't heard about it before, why it's not everywhere in the world, and why you didn't think of it yourself. The
coupetade,
a very simple dessert from central France (the name comes from
coupet,
the pottery dish in which it is traditionally baked), raises all these questions. In its most sublime incarnation, it combines two fabulous dishes—French toast and bread pudding—in a way that's so natural you might assume they were first joined at the dawn of time.

For the best
coupetade,
you first make French toast using a rich buttery bread, like brioche or challah, and a batter with enough sugar in it to caramelize both sides of the bread as it cooks. The French toast is particularly good, and served alone, it would be a worthy dessert, but the
coupetade
goes one step further, soaking the already soaked French toast in another egg-and-milk bath and then baking it into a pudding. (There are
coupetades
that skip the French toast part, but the combo
coupetade
is the heart-winner.) Yes, it's as rich as it sounds; it's also as good as you'd expect.

Generously butter a 9-×-13-inch baking pan. Have a roasting pan at hand that's large enough to hold the baking pan, and line a plate with a double thickness of paper towels.

TO MAKE THE FRENCH TOAST:
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, and milk together until smooth and well blended.

Put a large skillet over medium heat and toss in 2 tablespoons of the butter. While it's melting, soak 2 or 3 slices of bread in the egg mixture (how many slices you soak at a time will depend on how many slices you can fit in your skillet), making sure that each side gets a soak. When the butter bubbles have subsided, add the bread to the pan, and put more slices into the bowl to soak. Cook the bread for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until both sides are golden and crusty. Transfer to the paper-towel-lined plate and continue soaking and sauteing the pieces of bread, adding more butter to the skillet as needed, until you've cooked the lot.

Cut the slices of bread in half on the diagonal, so you have 16 triangles, and arrange them in the baking pan. Don't worry about being even, just tuck the slices in as best you can. Then nestle the fruit pieces under, over, and between the triangles.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

TO MAKE THE CUSTARD:
Whisk together the eggs and sugar in a bowl until foamy. Beat in the vanilla, then whisk in the milk until the mixture is smooth.

Place the baking pan in the roasting pan and slowly pour the custard over the bread and fruit. Allow the pudding to stand for 10 minutes to give the custard a little time to start soaking into the bread.

Pour enough hot water into the roaster to come about halfway up the sides of the baking pan and very, very carefully slide the setup into the oven. Bake the
coupetade
for 1½ to ¾ hours, or until the custard is set—a knife inserted into the custard will come out clean. Transfer the baking pan to a rack and allow the
coupetade
to come to room temperature.

Traditionally the
coupetade
is chilled before serving, but it's also delicious at room temperature.

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

SERVING
The
coupetade
is meant to be served cold, but I think it's very good at room temperature too. Although it can come to the table unadorned, just like "normal" French toast, it benefits from a drizzle of pure maple syrup.

STORING
Although it is best served the day it is made, the
coupetade
can be cooled to room temperature, covered well, and refrigerated overnight. If you keep it too long, the custard may break and weep—not a pretty sight, but not a fatal one: weepy custard is perfectly edible.

T
HERE WAS A MOMENT WHEN
I
WAS CONVINCED
that all Parisian dinner-party givers either had the same magic touch with chocolate mousse or bought their great mousse from the same place and passed it off as their own. And I was almost right, but it took me years to discover the truth: just about every perfect mousse I ever had at a friend's house was made following the recipe on the back of a bar of Nestlé Dessert Chocolate. Everyone made it, but no one admitted to it—not even when asked point-blank for the recipe. In the end, it was my friend Martine Collet who clued me in, handing me a bar of the chocolate, pointing to the recipe, and exclaiming "
Voilà!
" as she kissed me on both cheeks. It felt like a rite of passage.

If you make the recipe as written below, you'll have the quintessential French dinner-party mousse; if you add your own little touches, you'll be doing exactly what my French friends do (see Bonne Idée for some hints).

The recipe can easily be doubled.

Gently melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water or in a microwave oven on medium power.

If necessary, transfer the chocolate to a bowl that can hold all the ingredients. Using a whisk, stir the egg yolks into the chocolate one at a time.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a bowl with a hand mixer, beat the egg whites with the salt until they start to form peaks. Beating all the while, gradually add the sugar. Continue to beat until the whites are shiny and hold medium-firm peaks.

Spoon about one quarter of the whites over the melted chocolate and stir with the whisk until the mixture is almost smooth. (Stirring in a bit of the whites lightens the chocolate and makes the next step easier.) Spoon the rest of the whites over the chocolate and, using the whisk or a large rubber spatula, very carefully fold them in. Be as thorough as you can without overworking the mixture—it's better to have a few white streaks than to beat the bubbles out of the mousse by over mixing (actually, I find the streaks appealing).

Spoon the mousse into a serving bowl or individual bowls and serve it now, or cover it and keep it in the refrigerator until you're ready for dessert. Serve with whipped cream or crème fraîche, if you like.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

SERVING
Before the mousse sets, spoon it into individual cups—I love the way the mousse looks in martini glasses—or put it in a pretty serving bowl. I like to top it with lightly whipped heavy cream or crème fraîche. You don't have to stop there—the mousse is delicious with fresh berries, chocolate shavings, crushed candied nuts, nut brittle, or even pulverized Heath Bar bits.

STORING
Covered well, the mousse will keep overnight in the refrigerator, although it does get denser as it stands.

BONNE IDÉE
To give the mousse a mocha flavor, add 1 tablespoon strong coffee to the bowl with the chocolate to be melted. Alternatively, you can add another flavor when you whisk in the egg yolks, such as 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon pure almond extract, ⅛ teaspoon pure peppermint extract, or a drop or two of pure orange oil.