Rick's French Toast with Strawberries

I'm about to share with you a little French toast* secret that I learned from the owner/head chef of the Alameda, the restaurant in Louisville, KY where I used to work. The secret to amazing French toast is...cheese. That's right. We always served Asiago cheese bread at the Alameda, but some days when it was really slow or we were opening early for lunch, Rick would slice up thick chunks of the cheese bread and turn them into the best French toast I've ever eaten. Sounds strange, but if you haven't tried cheese bread French toast, I'm telling you, you haven't lived.

We had some Asiago kaiser rolls left over from the pulled pork extravaganza, and since it was a lazy Sunday morning, I decided to bring Rick's French Toast to Portland. It's a pretty classic recipe: just mix up eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar, then dip the bread in there and fry it up. I simply topped it with some fresh, lightly mascerated strawberries and a dusting of powdered sugar. The slight saltiness from the cheese brings out the sweetness of the egg coating and the berries. Serve with coffee and public radio jazz. (Or a screwdriver and public radio bluegrass, if you're feeling feisty.)


*Make any mention of "Freedom Toast" and I'll slap you in the face with it.

Hangover Miang Khum

Question: What do you do when you're hungover and have a fridge full of left over pulled pork?
Answer: Turn it into Thai food!

Thai food is my ultimate hangover food. Something about the balance of all five taste sensations paired with the capsaicin high and fry oil create this magical cure-all that I just can't resist. After a big night out, I literally wake up craving Pad Kee Mao.

We had a good amount of left over pulled pork, but after all the festivities and vodka drinks, the thought of another pork sandwich made my stomach turn. Also, we were out of BBQ sauce. So, out came the Asian market bounty: soy, palm sugar, chili-garlic sauce, galangal (Thai ginger), Sriracha, fish sauce, and a handful of limes. I somehow managed to get all of that into a sauce pot and simmered it just a bit to dissolve the palm sugar, then poured it over the pork and let it marinate for a while. I figured something good would come of that.

After a slow, muddled thought process and some glazed over stares into the cupboards, I finally decided on a sort of Miang Khum-ish dish. Miang Khum is a traditional Thai street snack that usually involves shredded coconut, diced limes, ginger, roasted peanuts, dried shrimp, shallots, and diced chiles. All of this stuff gets sprinkled into a spinach leaf and wrapped up with a sweet brown sauce. It's sort of like a Thai taco bar. My friend Scott, the Thai aficionado, described it as little bites of flavor explosions...or something like that. My version was supposed to be a main dish, so the addition of pork made it significantly more substantial. It went something like this:

Dice up little piles of the following:

-roasted peanuts
-limes (skins and all)
-fresh mango
-chile peppers
-cilantro

Set aside. Take a head of cabbage and remove leaves, keeping them whole so they can hold the flavor explosions you're about to fill them with.

Make a dipping sauce. Mine was the same ingredients as the marinade. I think ideally it should be sweet, salty, tangy, and spicy. (i.e. palm sugar, fish sauce, soy, lime juice, chili-garlic sauce, ginger) Simmer until sugar is dissolved and you get a nice saucy consistency. Pour into a bowl and set aside.

Dice shallots and yellow bell peppers and saute until soft. Chop up marinated pork and add to saute pan. The slight char on the bits of pork add both flavor and texture.

Now the fun begins. Grab a cabbage leaf and fill it with all the stuff you just prepared. The amount of flavor that you get out of one bite is really astounding. You get saltiness from the peanuts and pork, sweetness from the mango, tanginess from the limes, spice from the chiles, brightness from the cilantro, and just enough fattiness from the pork to coat the unsettled stomach. And on top of all that, it's actually pretty healthy. Score!

So, there you have it: the perfect hangover food. Enjoy with some nice, quiet Thelonious Monk and a big glass of water.

Note: Adjust the amount of spice depending on how hungover you are and how much heat you can tolerate. Ideally, the more the better, in my opinion. Capsaicin, the spice-producing compound found in chile peppers, has many health benefits, including properties for hangover relief. Check it:

"It is common for people to experience pleasurable and even euphoriant effects from eating capsaicin-flavored foods. Folklore among self-described "pepperheads" attributes this to pain-stimulated release of endorphins."

See, no pain, no gain.