Showing posts with label Baguette chicken lemon French toast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baguette chicken lemon French toast. Show all posts

Sunday, January 3, 2016

No Baguette Left Behind

This weekend we had an amazing cheese fondue but didn't come close to using up the extra 2 baguette I'd purchased (no I'm not sure why I bought so many either). Yesterday the poor things were nearly rock hard. But waste not, want not so I figured out a way to use them up. 

First, I made an adaptation of the rotisserie chicken with croutons you'd find in Paris. Influenced by Ina Garten's recipe I threw in a hit of lemon and I think it came out even better than Ina's. Imagine that. 

I preheated the oven to 375 and cut a lemon into quarters almost but not all the way through. I spread the quarters and stuck the lemon on the point of my rarely used Staub vertical roasting pan. I then placed my salt and peppered 3.5 lb chicken over that and threw it into the oven. 

Meanwhile, I cut 3/4 of a baguette into 1" cubes. After the chicken had roasted for 45 minutes I tossed the baguette cubes in the bottom of the vertical roaster and turned them until they'd absorbed the accumulated pan juices then returned the chicken to the oven for 20-40 minutes more until it was done (165 degrees in the breast and juices running clear. The temp will rise to 170 as it rests). While the chicken rested, I squeezed the roasted lemon over the croutons and served the two together. Yum! Just like rotisserie chicken with croutons in Paris except without the rotisserie. And not in Paris. I wish I'd taken a picture. Next time. 

But we were still left with 3/4 of a rapidly fossilizing baguette.  So I also cut that into 1" cubes and tossed it with 9 eggs I'd scrambled with 1 cup milk, 1/8 cup sugar, a pinch of salt and good sprinkle of cinnamon. I put the soggy cubes into an 8x8" buttered baking dish, covered with plastic wrap and left it in the fridge overnight. This morning I pulled it out, sprinkled one half with a good handful of chocolate chips to please my teen audience (I'm not such a chocoholic) then tossed it into a preheated 350 degree oven. 45 minutes later we had this beautiful French Toast casserole. 

I served with a liberal douse of maple syrup it was a hit all around. Next time I'd put chocolate chips over the whole thing.  Yum and no baguette left behind.