Father's Day Breakfast - Rabanadas

Photo: Chrissie

Ingredients

15 thick slices of day old bread with crusts trimmed

1/2 litr (2 cups) of whole milk

6 eggs lightly beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Syrup:

1 cinnamon stick (about 2 cm or 1 inch in length)

2 long strips of orange rind

4 tablespoons caster sugar or natural cane sugar

185 milliliters (3/4 cup) water

6 tablespoons of ruby port

For frying: butter (real butter, no margarine please)

Preparation

Whisk together the milk, eggs, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Pour into a large flat pan or bowl and place the bread slices in it.

Let sit for half an hour and then flip the bread slices over. Let sit for another half an hour.

For the syrup:

In a small stainless steel sauce pan, place the cinnamon stick, orange rind, sugar and water. Stir to dissolve the sugar and bring to a boil.

Then add the port. Keep boiling until the sauce is slightly thickened and like a syrup. Remove from heat.

Frying:

Heat 1 tbsp of butter in a non-stick frying pan. Shake the bread out of the milk mixture and fry until the underside is golden. Turn and cook until firm and golden. Serve right away with a little sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on top and the port wine syrup drizzled over top of it.

Repeat this for the rest of the slices. (Hint: Approximately 1 tbsp of butter for every two slices of bread when frying)

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About

This is a traditional Portuguese recipe normally served at Christmastime. However in our household it is served as a breakfast treat on any special occasion.