Portuguese Rabanadas
By: Chrissie
Published: Friday, June 17, 2011 - 3:26pm

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

1 Whisk together the milk, eggs, vanilla extract and cinnamon.  Pour into a large flat pan or bowl and place the bread slices in it. 2 Let sit for half an hour and then flip the bread slices over.  Let sit for another half an hour. 3 For the syrup: 4 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. 5 Then add the port.  Keep boiling until the sauce is slightly thickened and like a syrup.  Remove from heat. 6 Frying: 7 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. 8 Repeat this for the rest of the slices.  (Hint:  Approximately 1 tbsp of butter for every two slices of bread when frying)

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.