French Toast & Clementines (& how I met the beautiful Miss Alison Davies)
At this time of year, it’s nice to celebrate the clementine. What better way than at breakfast with some delicious French toast. Most Sunday’s this recipe was on my beautiful wife Alison’s menu. Alison loved French toast with Clementine or oranges. She made the best breakfasts ever. Believe me she was a great cook. I should know. I taught her.
I don’t know if I have ever told you the story of how we met? I was teaching at Neath Port Talbot College. Alison was one of my students. (OK, we were both 30 years old at the time). It was my first year as a teacher. Alison worked for the local gas board in their showroom in Neath Port Talbot. She decided that she wanted to work in hospitality and get a job at the local Marriott hotel in Swansea. She signed up for a cooking class and a supervisor’s course in hotel management, both one evening a week.
The class was full of students in white uniforms, so I really never noticed Alison, apart from her being the girl who was late for every class. One particular evening we had a power outage. I had to wait until all the students arrived to tell them that the class was cancelled. I’m standing there with a candle in my hand waiting for all the students to come down the corridor and tell them the bad news, one by one they came in on time. As usual, I was waiting for one person who was always late. As this beautiful young lady walks down the corridor towards me, I’m thinking she’s attractive. I wonder whose class she is taking.
All of a sudden, she says, “Chef Allison, I’m really sorry I’m late yet again. Have I missed anything yet?” All of a sudden it dawned on me that this beautiful, young lady is Alison Davies, the girl who is always late. In her gas board uniform, I didn’t recognize her, and she looked stunning. I told her the class was cancelled.
“That’s a shame” she said, “what will you do now?”
“You’re my last student,” I responded, “so I guess I’m off home.”
In her Walsh accent, she said, “Why don’t we go for a drink? I’ll buy.”
Coming from Newcastle, you don’t often get invited out by a beautiful woman who is also willing to pay. Off we went to the pub. That night started our twenty-year love affair.
I did buy the drinks. I should have guessed it was too good to be true. She ended up disliking the work at the hotel. After six months, she went back to sales. After we got married, Alison kept her name of Davies to avoid being called Alison Allison. It all worked out in the end, and our three fabulous boys are the proof.
Ingredients:
3 medium eggs (free range if possible)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 slices of your favorite bread
4 tablespoons Greek-style yogurt
2 clementine, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon local honey
1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
How to make:
Take a shallow dish and whisk the eggs and cinnamon together. Dip the sliced bread in the egg mixture, turning them a couple of times to coat.
Heat half tablespoon of butter in a large, non-stick frying pan and add the eggy bread. Cook over a medium heat for two to three minutes each side or until golden.
Transfer to a plate and cut each slice in half. Repeat with the remaining eggy bread.
Divide the French toast between four serving plates. Top with the yogurt and clementine slices. Drizzle over honey and scatter with pumpkin seeds to serve.