PAIN perdu

I’m staring at the last of the (stale) crusty white bloomer. And all i really want to do is to moisten the bread and toast it crisp and maybe put some ice cream in between slices. Or have a leftover chicken sandwich.

But i can’t eat crusty bread. I can’t eat crust fragant chewy bread. All i can eat is gardenia bread. (Don’t get me started on soft chewy gummy white tasteless sticky mush that passes of as bread that keeps for donkey’s years. I actually like my bread to deteriorate in condition within a few days. )

All because my wisdom tooth (the third one!*) has decided it would be a good time to grow, leaving me with swollen gums on the lower right side of my face. (PAIN.)

And i refuse to compromise on my ethics and eat gardenia. I did rather starve.  So while wallowing in pain, i started playing around with words. Pain in the a**. Pain in the neck. Painkiller. Painstaking. Pain Perdu. Bingo.

The first time i read of Pain perdu, was when i first began learning how to cook. My mom dumped me at the library expecting me to borrow something simple, easy and well local. And i had to bring home Crave.  Crave was a different world altogether from what i knew. I read for the first time in my life words like souffle and saute and, of course, pain perdu.

At that point, i had no idea i was simply making a custard to dip bread into. It was exotic, thrilling and captivating. I recall slowly turning the bread (yes, it was gardenia and not a broiche) over in the pan, slowly counting the seconds to a minute.

But now at midnight, it really is the simplest solution to my hunger. And possibly one of the most delicious.

I present to you my take on pain perdu for those in pain^.

Pain Perdu with yogurt strawberry cream.

Pain perdu.
- stale bread, sliced not too thinly nor not too thickly, approximately the width of my 2nd finger.
- 2 egg yolks + 1 egg
- 1/2 cup of milk (You could also use half and half. Which i prefer. Or half full cream milk and half single cream.)
- pinch of salt
- 2 1/2 tbsp vanilla sugar (or you could use caster sugar and add a dash of vanilla extract or use vanilla beans if you have lots to spare)
- butter

1. In a bowl, mix egg, sugar and salt together. Add in the milk after all the sugar is dissolved. Pour  mixture into a shallow dish.
2. Place bread in the dish to soak, while bread is soaking, prepare the pan.
3.  Heat up a frying pan over low heat. Melt the butter.
4. While butter is melting, flip the bread over in the dish. By now the bread should have soaked up the custard and should be firm and heavy but not about to disintegrate or break.
5. Slowly place bread in pan. Cook over a low-medium flame until both sides are golden. Warning : it is only a matter of seconds it turns from golden to too brown.
6. Cool on a cake rack, while you prepare the yogurt cream. Or if hunger has overcame you by this point, simply put it in mouth and eat.

Yogurt Strawberry Cream

Really this cream is a cheat. By rights i should be telling you to saute or, better yet, flambe some strawberries in cointreau and maybe than pureeing them and folding them into whipped cream or a creme chantilly or a lightened pastry cream. But I have no strawberries nor am i about to rush off to my closest 24 hour supermarket in my pjs and face mask.

- 2 tbsp of yogurt.
- 1 1/2 tbsp of cream, whipping or double.
- 1 1/2 tbsp of strawberry jam. (Could be more, could be less, up to you.)
- 2 tsp vanilla sugar (Feel free to increase or decrease the amount, depanding on how sweet is your jam or how sour is your yogurt or how developed or underdeveloped your sweet tooth is.)

1. Mix yogurt and cream and sugar together.
2. Fold in jam.
3. Serve with the toast. Or eat in with cereals or health bars or with your fingers.

Serve toast with cream. Eat in joy.

Until you realize, the pain has not subsided, the swelling is getting worst and maybe its time to see the dentist.

*the 2nd wisdom tooth, decided to sprout in the middle of a plane flight from Seoul to Singapore after a family holiday. I think due to the different air pressure or something, it actually hurt worse. Bright side, it could have decided to grow from Singapore to Seoul.

^Obviously wisdom teeth, do not come with the ability to be witty.