Here’s my variation; the batter came from a recipe for Raspberry-cream-cheese stuffed french toast, but with this you don’t need the raspberry stuffing. (I serve it as a topping sometimes.)

So first — find a bakery that makes a proper Challah bread — the traditional Jewish sabbath bread, usually available on Fridays and Saturdays. Store-bought is OK in a pinch. The loaves we get are about 10 inches long; the full recipe for the batter makes just barely enough for one loaf. Slice the challah into 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch slices, and set aside for a few hours to dry — or if you’re in a rush, turn on an oven to its lowest setting (170 degrees usually?), let it preheat, then turn it off — then set the sliced bread in the oven for 10-20 minutes to dry out.

The batter is really what makes it — yes, you really do need all that cinnamon. The heavier the cream you can get the better. I like Trader Joe’s Heavy Cream that comes in the smallish plastic bottle; its butterfat is between 38% and 42%, whereas most grocery store heavy cream only makes it up to 36%. You can also use Manufacturing Cream (available from restaurant supply stores like Smart ‘n’ Final), though you have to buy that in half gallon sizes (the rest of the carton makes a spectacular whipped cream, too — add some vanilla and sugar and beat the heck out of it).

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf Challah, sliced and left to dry (on the counter or in a very low oven)
• 4 beaten eggs
• 1 cup very heavy cream — the heavier the better. (38% butterfat or more)
• 2 tablespoons (yes) vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons (also yes) cinnamon
• 1 cup sugar
• Butter for frying (again, high butterfat or “European style” if you can, and unsalted)

Equipment:

• Baking pan with wire rack on top (so air can circulate underneath the french toast when baking)
• Mixing bowl wide enough to fit the bread slices in to soak in the batter
• Frying pan
• Serving platter

Once the bread is nice and dry, mix up your batter, remove the bread from the oven if it was in there, and preheat the oven to 350°. Mix the batter so the cinnamon is as evenly distributed through the batter as you can get it, but don’t worry if it won’t mix all the way or you still have lumps. Put a frying pan on medium heat (enough to keep the butter melted and slightly brown, but not high enough to burn the butter when it gets too hot). I always end up having to move the frying pan on and off the heat to keep it at the right temperature.

Soak each slice in the batter on both sides for about 30 seconds, then fry them up, a few minutes on each side. The batter contacting the pan will firm up and brown nicely when that side is done.

Once each slice is well fried, place it in the oven on the wire rack baking pan; keep all the slices in the oven and add each one as you finish frying it. You can lean the slices against each other.

Keep the slices in the oven for 5-10 minutes, or until they crisp up just a little bit (the sides of the slices should dry nicely). Timing isn’t critical here; you can have the newest slices in only for a few minutes, and the older slices in for a while longer.

Once it’s all done, pull the slices out of the oven and serve. Add powdered sugar and syrup if you like, but the slices may not need it.

Best french toast ever.

Cue a few weeks later; I’d signed up for the “Something’s Fishy” class at Great News, probably the best casual cooking school and non-ripoff cookware store I know of. The class was taught by a couple of managers and chefs from Iowa Meat Farms and Siesel’s, which would be the best place I know of to get meat and occasionally seafood. (Even they admitted it was a bit weird for a meat place to do a seafood class, but it worked.)

Anyway, the other night I picked up a side of salmon (not sure what you call it) to try out. Their recipe was for plank-grilled salmon with maple-mustard glaze, which was really tasty when I had it at the class. I haven’t washed the grill in ages (I know, sacrilege, but it’s been too hot to do much outside next to a giant heat source), so I figured I’d try the recipe, but bake the salmon instead.

Here’s the salmon fresh out of the package:

The glaze is really simple — basically, you take some sweet onion (the recipe called for just a half, but I used a whole one), then sautee it to translucent, just before it starts to caramelize. (You don’t need the extra sugar in this case.) Then, add half a cup of whole-grain dijon mustard and a whole cup of maple syrup. Mix it up and bring it to a simmer; let it reduce for about 5 minutes, or more if you want it thicker. Be careful not to let it burn, since there’s a lot of sugar in there.

Brown isn’t always appetizing, but the end result is yummy.

Once the glaze is ready, let it cool down somewhat. Then brush and drizzle it all over the salmon, and put the salmon in the oven at 400 degrees. Let it go for between 10 and 20 minutes depending on the size of the piece; I added more glaze if needed at 10 minutes, and started checking it at about 15.

One of the key things about fish that I didn’t really get until now was that you can’t go off of time; you really need to check the fish and look for signs that it’s done. I started pulling back pieces of the salmon and checking to where it was touching the baking dish — after three or four times of doing that, it looked like there was only a tiny piece that was still raw-ish. This was also the point where the salmon’s fat started coming out of the piece of meat (as you can see a bit in the picture). Remembering that carryover does its thing and that it’s better to undercook fish than to overcook it, I pulled it out at this point and got a really tasty meal (and lunch and dinner the next day, too).

Here’s the final prize:

Serve it with some more of the glaze on the side.

The other things I really liked at the fish class were the bacon-wrapped margarita-glazed scallops and the steak that went with it. I have to say that I’ve been to a couple of really good steak restaurants, but none of those could match the steak at this class. It’s enough to make me want to take these guys’ beef class when it comes up next.

So here I present my dragon scrambled eggs.

INGREDIENTS:
4 to 6 eggs, shell-pasteurized if possible (eggs will be cooked wet at lower temperature, so better be safe than sorry)
1 tablespoon (more or less) of cream cheese
Pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Butter for the frying pan

DIRECTIONS:
Crack the eggs into a bowl, and beat with a fork for 30 seconds or so. Take the dollop of cream cheese cold from the refrigerator, and add it to the bowl. Break up the cream cheese a bit with a fork, and continue beating. Add the salt, continue beating. Your goal is not to get the ingredients to mix completely; rather, the cream cheese will be in small chunks or lumps. Add the cinnamon, and beat some more. Note that it will be very difficult to get the cinnamon into the mixture — it will want to coat the bowl instead. Just do as best you can.

Heat up the frying pan low to medium hot; you want to slowly cook the eggs, more slowly than normal scrambled eggs. Add a good dollop (half to one tablespoon) of butter, and let it melt and coat the pan. Dump the egg mixture from the bowl into the pan. Stir it around slowly with a spatula or other device. Once the eggs start to set, flip chunks over so the still-raw top can cook a little bit. Once the eggs look almost set, plate them quickly; they’ll set up a bit as they get plated, and you don’t want to cook them any more!

Serves 1 to 2, depending on if you have side dishes. I usually don’t.

Remove excess fat from steak. In a small bowl, mix butter or margarine, oil, garlic, seasoned salt and seasoned pepper until blended. Spread on all sides of steak. Mix bread crumbs and cheese. Press into butter mixture on steak, coating steak well. Place steak in a brown paper grocery bag. Fold end over and secure with staples or paper clips. Preheat oven 375 degrees. Place bag on a rimmed baking sheet and bake 30 minutes. For medium rare steak, increase oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake 15 minutes longer, a total of 45 minutes. For medium well steak, reduce heat from 425 degrees to 375 degrees and bake 5 minutes longer before removing from oven, a total of 50 minutes. Remove steak from bag. Let stand 5 minutes before carving into thin slices. Makes 4 to 6 servings. Yummy..yummy!!!! Lots of love and hugs..Mom

INGREDIENTS:
2 and a half cups finely crushed vanilla wafers (Nila wafers, for example)
1 cup powdered sugar, plus extra for coating
1 cup finely chopped nuts
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup (or more; the danger comes from the full cup of brandy Gerri uses)
3 Tablespoons corn syrup

DIRECTIONS:
Mix vanilla wafers, sugar, nuts, and cocoa. Add corn syrup and brandy.
Mix well with hands or whatever’s convenient. Roll into 1 inch balls, then roll around in powdered sugar to coat.

Notes:
* 1 cup crushed graham crackers can be substituted for vanilla wafers, if desired. Never tried this variation, though.
* Balls may be rolled in granulated or superfine sugar instead of powdered sugar — Gerri prefers them rolled in granulated sugar.
* Wafers, nuts, sugar, and cocoa can be put through a grinder or food processor to make them as fine as possible.

INGREDIENTS:
2 and 1/4 cups pastry flour (makes cookies lighter)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt (very important; we left it out as kids, not knowing how much it helps flavor)
1 cup (2 sticks or 1/2 pound) of softened butter
3/4 cup granulated (white) sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon (not teaspoon) of vanilla or other flavoring extract
2 eggs
2 cups (12 ounce package) of Toll House semi-sweet chocolate morsels (or other morsel product — they have lots.)

DIRECTIONS:
Start by combining the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl (not the main mixing bowl).

Melt the butter in another bowl, and mix together with the brown sugar till the brown sugar is as dissolved (or suspended) in the butter as it will get.

In the mixing bowl, add the granulated sugar and the extract, then pour in the melted butter and brown sugar. Let it cool somewhat so that the eggs don’t cook when you add them. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate morsels, then immerse the bowl in ice water or put it in the refrigerator to chill the dough.

Drop rounded tablespoon sized portions onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes at 375 degrees F. Note, the temperature is somewhat important — our oven is about 50 degrees cooler than what the temperature is set at, so do as Alton Brown says and get an oven thermometer.

Note that to play with this recipe even more, you can substitute things like peppermint or rum extract for the vanilla extract, or try different flavored morsels — I tried cappucino morsels once, and that wasn’t very exciting, but the mint and raspberry ones sound pretty good.