Torrijas de mi madre

mum’s eggy bread

This Spanish bread-and-butter pudding, usually made for Easter, is the one dish that really reminds me of my mum. She makes the best torrijas in the world – no contest.

Happy Easter Mum… the torrijas are on me when I’m next back home!

Omar x

Serves 6

Preparation time: 5 minutes, plus infusing and chilling Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

2 litres milk

300 g sugar

1 cinnamon stick

1 loaf day-old white bread

vegetable oil or mild olive oil for frying

2 eggs, beaten

For the cinnamon coating

100 g sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Method

Place the milk, sugar and cinnamon stick in a pan and bring almost to boiling point, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar.

Remove from the heat and leave for about 15 minutes so the milk is infused with the cinnamon aroma.

Cut the bread into slices about 2–3 cm thick. Place the bread slices in a large shallow dish and pour the milk over.

Chill for at least 2 hours, turning the slices over halfway through.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat – you need to be able to fry at least two slices of bread at a time. You could use butter instead of vegetable or olive oil but it’s best avoided and will burn more quickly.

When the oil is hot, quickly dip each slice of bread in the beaten egg so that it is fully coated, and then place in the hot oil. Take care – I’ve burnt my fingers too many times.

After a couple of minutes, flip them over and fry them for another minute or two until golden. Remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper.

Mix together the sugar and ground cinnamon and sprinkle it on both sides of the torrijas. Do this while they are still hot – the sugary coating will stick more easily.

Breathe in the lovely warm aroma of cinnamon and enjoy!

Boozy serving suggestion!

Another way of serving these is with a sticky wine syrup. You’ll need a bottle of good red wine – Spanish if possible – nothing too expensive. Place in a large pan with 200 g of sugar, 1 star anise and 1 cinnamon stick and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour the wine syrup over just-cooked torrijas and leave to cool before eating.

Their warm, sweet and cinnamon aroma is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face1