This is a very Hungarian meal and may not be to everyone’s liking but Mum made it for me all through my childhood and I still make it for The Offspring [and myself].
Spinach sauce
1 large bunch of English spinach
2 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons of plain [all purpose?] flour
2 tablespoon of Peanut or olive oil
milk
Method
Begin by stripping the spinach leaves off the stalks and washing them AT LEAST 3 times. This is the part I dislike because it takes time and patience but if you don’t get all the minute bits of grit or sand or whatever it is off the spinach leaves your sauce will crunch between your teeth – most unpleasant!
Once the spinach is clean put a small amount of water to boil in the bottom of a pot large enough to hold all the spinach. When the water is boiling throw the spinach into the pot, cover and let the spinach wilt for no more than 1 minute. As soon as the spinach collapses into a green ball remove from heat, strain through a colander and refresh with a quick rinse under cold water. Let it drain.
While the spinach is draining peel the garlic and mash it with a heavy knife. I find the easiest way to do this is to use the back of the knife to scrape away at the cloves until they break down into a paste. Garlic presses are no good because you end up with small bits of garlic that can be rather overpowering when you bite on them.
Once the garlic is mashed make a white roux with the oil and flour in a pot large enough to hold the finished spinach sauce. To make the roux stir the flour and oil together over a gentle heat and keep stirring for about 2 minutes until the flour cooks. Do NOT let it go brown!
Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the mashed garlic. The roux can now sit for a little while.
Put the strained spinach onto a wooden chopping board and chop until very fine.
Add the chopped spinach to the roux and combine well until there are no lumps of white showing.
The next bit is a little hard to quantify but pour in at least 1 cup of cold milk and immediately stir into the spinach mixture. At this stage the sauce should be quite ‘wet’. If it looks too thick add a little more milk then return the pot to the heat and allow the sauce to come to a simmer. You must keep stirring [with a wooden spoon] until the sauce is completely cooked. Depending on quantities this could take ten minutes.
As the sauce simmers it will start to thicken and the spinach will ‘bleed’ that lovely green colour into the milk. The sauce is done when it has a nice overall green colour and has thickened to the point where you could almost eat it with a fork – so not runny but not like porridge either. Set aside while you make the french toast.
French Toast
The Hungarian version of french toast is called ‘Bundás kenyér’ and translates as ‘fur coated bread’ [bunda means fur coat. Don’t ask]. Each slice should be golden brown, slightly crunchy and sprinkled with salt, not sugar!
4 whole eggs
6 slices of bread – stale or fresh. [I allow roughly 1 egg to 1.5 slices of bread, depending on the size of the slices]
peanut oil for frying – should cover the bottom of the frying pan with a bit to spare but remember, you are not deep frying here.
Method
I use a heavy cast iron frying pan so it needs to be heated ahead of time while I prepare the rest of the ingredients. Adjust to suit your own pan.
While the oil and pan are heating, crack the eggs into a bowl and beat lightly with a fork – just enough to mix the white and the yolk.
Cut each slice of bread in half and arrange bread and egg mix near the frying pan. Place a serving plate within reach of the pan.
Once the oil is hot [it should be radiating heat but not quite smoking] dip a piece of bread into the egg, flip it with a fork and immediately lift out of the egg. Let the excess egg drip back into the bowl and then gently place the bread into the hot oil.
[Note : you have to be quick getting the bread into and out of the egg because you don’t want it to get soggy. If it gets soggy it will not fry to a crisp finish.]
Fry the bread in batches until the bottoms go a nice golden colour. Turn, fry the other side and then place onto the serving plate. You can drain the bread on kitchen towel if you want but I rarely bother.
Once the bread is all done, sprinkle with a little salt and it is ready to serve. Reheat the spinach just a little bit and stir the slight ‘crust’ on top until it reintegrates with the sauce.
To serve
Arrange slices of golden bread in a fan shape on a plate and pour half a ladle of spinach sauce next to the bread. It should look rather pretty. Then spoon some of the sauce onto the bread and eat the two together to get the combination of smooth, garlicky sauce and crisp, eggy bread. Enjoy!
March 8th, 2018 at 6:39 am
I’ve never tried savory french toast, but I do like savory crepes. Maybe I’ll give this one a go.
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March 8th, 2018 at 7:43 pm
MMM…yes. I love savoury crepes as well. I sometimes make them with a thick bolognese sauce as the filling. Yum. 🙂
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March 6th, 2018 at 11:58 am
Spinach and eggs, two of my favourite ingredients. Garlic and bread are handy too. Food for thought 🙂
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March 6th, 2018 at 1:52 pm
-grin- I love thinking about food. 😀
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March 6th, 2018 at 9:32 am
This sounds so interesting and different and tasty, Andrea. I’m going to have to give it a try. Thanks for the recipe.
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March 6th, 2018 at 1:57 pm
Very welcome. 🙂 I’m not a huge spinach fan but I love it as a sauce and the crispy French toast gives it a nice texture.
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March 5th, 2018 at 8:23 am
Yum! I made your stuffed tomatoes the other day ~ you blogged about it ages ago ~ and it was yummy too. So I will give this a try, maybe even tonight. There is nothing else on the menu and eggs and spinach in the fridge. 🙂
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March 5th, 2018 at 8:26 am
-grin- It’s Fate. 🙂 If you or your Man are not really into garlic just reduce it to a very small one, or half of one. It’ll still flavour the roux and if you like it you can always add more next time. 😀
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March 5th, 2018 at 3:02 am
Looks delicious
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March 5th, 2018 at 8:21 am
Thank you. It’s not for the faint of heart as there is a lot of garlic in the roux but we love it. 🙂
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March 5th, 2018 at 8:29 am
I love garlic. Not a problem for me.
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March 5th, 2018 at 7:14 pm
Ah hah! A kindred spirit. 😀
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March 6th, 2018 at 12:34 am
lol
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March 5th, 2018 at 2:03 am
You’re making me hungry and I just ate breakfast!
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March 5th, 2018 at 8:22 am
lmao – sorry?
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March 4th, 2018 at 6:51 pm
This sounds comforting and healthy. But what is ‘English’ spinach?
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March 4th, 2018 at 10:23 pm
Hah! Language strikes again. For some reason we Aussies call spinach ‘English’, perhaps to distinguish it from silverbeet? Basically it’s just spinach. 🙂
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March 4th, 2018 at 6:02 pm
Wow, I love bundás kenyér, I am so surprised to see it here. My grandma used to make it from slightly dry bread and dig it into milk and then to the egg to make it smooth.
And I know it sounds crazy, but we eat the spenach souce with fine sugar.
One of the best dishes from my childhood.
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March 4th, 2018 at 10:27 pm
Oh wow…sugar?? My Dad used to eat lettuce with a dressing of lemon juice and sugar so perhaps it’s not so odd.
Re the bundás kenyér, Mum would use stale bread too but she wouldn’t let the bread soak up the egg coz we all liked it crisp – almost like schnitzel.
Isn’t it interesting how there can be so many delicious variations of the same dish?
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March 4th, 2018 at 11:25 pm
I love the crispy variation too, my best friend’s mum always make it to be crispy, and that is also great! I have a friend who does it as a sandwitch, filled with cheese and sausage (with paprika),I like that too.
Come to think of it, I love bundás kenyér in every shape and form 😀
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March 5th, 2018 at 8:23 am
Oh! Oh! That sandwich one sounds a lot like the Croque Monsieurs I loved in Paris. Ham and cheese inside two bits of bread, dipped in egg and fried. Damn, now I’m starting to drool. 😀 😀
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March 4th, 2018 at 10:49 pm
Never repeat that to a Portuguese-speaking person as bundas means something very different 🙂
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March 5th, 2018 at 8:24 am
lmao – bad Pinky! It’s that little accent over the ‘a’ that makes all the difference. :p
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March 4th, 2018 at 2:19 pm
Emegherd! Yummmmm! 😀
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March 4th, 2018 at 10:28 pm
-grin- Yes, it is. And healthy too. Well…the spinach is. 😀
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