Vogelheu
Vogelheu (literally, bird's hay) is a classic Swiss dinner and the perfect way to use up leftover bread and incorporate seasonal fruits into a meal.
It's basically bite-sized french toast.
In French there's no real distinction between big pieces of French toast, and bite-sized, it's all lost bread to them (Pain Perdu, recipe here). But in German, they have two names: the big pieces, Fotzelschnitten, and these little morsels, the bird's hay.
According to Sam, this is more likely to be eaten for dinner than for breakfast. It goes with any kind of compote or simple chopped seasonal fruit—the current abundance of cherries and strawberries are a perfect match.
Or (as my Canadian roots require me to mention) you can serve it with maple syrup.
300 g bread
knob of butter
a sprinkling of sugar and cinnamon
200 ml milk
2 eggs
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
Cut the bread into bite sized pieces.
Over medium heat, melt the butter in a large frying pan until spluttering.
Add the bread and sprinkle over a little bit of sugar and cinnamon. Fry until the bread is slightly golden.
In a large measuring cup, whisk together the milk, eggs, sugar, and cinnamon.
Pour the milk mixture over the bread and stir for about five minutes, or until the bread has soaked it up.
Serve with seasonal fruits, compotes, and maple syrup.
- You can use any kind of leftover bread you have. Fresher, whiter loaves will absorb the milk and eggs much faster, so if you are using something very grainy, or very stale, maybe add a bit more milk.
- It's nice for breakfast too.
Cookies for Breakfast?
Müesli Guetzli
