French toast with Rosemary Blueberry sauce

Bilberry is THE best berry which grows in Finland, to my mind. It is a real superfood. This time I used it as a sauce for my brunch dessert, French toast. I added some rosemary to the sauce, to give the nice earthiness flavor and some lemon zest to give a twist. The combination really worked.

As I mentioned that bilberry is superfood, I think that also French toast is superfood :D Maybe not in a similar way, but it is super good to my soul... And when I make it using Finnish pulla, it is even better.

Many of the french toast recipes contain cinnamon and sugar, but with pulla, sugar does not need to be added since the pulla is already sweet pastry. And instead of cinnamon, I prefer cardamom which, as well, is ingredient of the pulla.

French toast
For 2 person
4 slice of day old Finnish pulla or french bread (about 2-3 cm thick slices)
1 large egg
2 dl milk
butter for cooking

Beat and milk together in a bowl. Place the bread in the bowl and let the bread soak up the egg on one side for about 1 minute, then turn and let soak on other side. Let any excess egg mixture drip off into bowl. Heat frying pan or griddle.

Melt a small amount of butter in pan. Place french toast pieces in pan and fry until golden on first side. Flip and cook other side until golden and crispy.

Rosemary Blueberry sauce
100 g bilberries (or blueberries)
50 g sugar
1 sprig of rosemary
1/4 lemon zest
1 tbsp lemon juice

Combine blueberries, rosemary, sugar and water in a saucepan, bring it to boil. Cook approx. 10 minutes, until sauce has thickened some amount. Cool. Season with lemon juice and zest of lemon.

Tribute to Finnish superfoods

Whipped porridges are quite common Finnish dishes, like porriges overall, and usually these whipped versions are made of semolina. The berries varies a lot, but the most favourite ones are lingonberry and redcurrant. But you can use any berries you like. The dish is often served as a dessert, with cold milk, since it is sweet. Altough, it can easily be a light lunch or breakfast as well, especially if the amount of sugar is reduced.

Today I wanted to prepare whipped porridge for light lunch, because we have done nothing but eaten all weekend. We celebrated our friend's 40th birthday and had so many nice breakfasts, lunches and dinners. So today it was good idea to eat a bit lighter... Instead of semolina I chose more healthier option for the flour, I used rye. And for berries, my preference is always bilberry. I just love them. So Finnish and so healthy!

If you haven't tried this dish yet, I really recommend to do so. What could be more Finnish than this?? A real superfoods!

Whipped Blueberry Rye Porridge
for 4 person
1 l water
pinch of salt
0,5 l blueberries (preferably bilberries)
100 ml sugar (optional, if you like sweet. I didn't use any)
300 ml rye flour

Boil the water in a pot, add salt and bilberries. Bring to a boil. Start adding rye flour whipping at the same time to avoid clods. After all flour has been added, cook over low heat 15 minutes. Let it cool.
Using mixer, whip the porridge until fluffy and light.
Enjoy with cold milk!