Lunar New Year in our family is just another excuse to get together to eat copious amounts of food. Typically we go to my mom’s home, where she cooks up lavish Korean dishes and the entire family eats like gluttons for both lunch and dinner.
Taking this into consideration I skipped on groceries today and figured I’d scrounge something up from the cupboards for breakfast. Maybe cold cereal?
To my pleasant surprise I found a panettone untouched in its box from Christmas. It was a bit too dry to eat alone but was still good enough to eat. Together with 3 over-ripe pears, Breakfast became panettone French toast with pear butter. The pear butter complemented this eggy sweet bread perfectly. The sesame seeds added a wonderful nutty crunch.
This dish may not be a typical Korean New Year dish, but it certainly felt like a holiday breakfast. Happy Lunar New Year.
Bon app!
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 pears cored (500g) peeled and sliced
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 5 grams fresh ginger
- 1 Panettone (the one I used was a 750g Pandora Classico)
- 5 eggs
- 1/2 cup cream or milk
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 cup hulled sesame seeds
- In a medium sauce pan melt the butter over medium heat then add the rest of the ingredients and stir often until the sugar has melted.
- Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 25 minutes
- Once the pears have become mushy, puree with blender and set aside
- Trim the crust of the panettone and slice into thick 1 1/2 inch slices (I sliced about 6 slices)set aside
- In wide large bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream or milk, salt and sugar until well blended
- Melt some butter on skillet pan on medium heat
- Soak the panettone on both sides in the egg/milk mixture then sprinkle with some sesame seeds
- Grill on each side for about 2 minutes
- Drizzle with pear butter and serve warm
Clever!