Monte Cristo and Pastry Cream with Fruits for Dessert - For Weekends at Home...

Monte Cristo & Pastry Cream with Fruits

If you are ever visiting San Francisco, I would recommend the Mama's restaurant in North Beach for breakfast. And nope they are not paying me but just managed to win me over with their wonderful breakfast spread. So after two hours waiting in the queue outside, we had our breakfast for lunch. And I must say the food was worth the wait!!

Mama's Monte Cristo

I ordered their "Monte Cristo" which my friend had recommended to me and what caught my attention was how the sweet and salt balanced each other and it surpassed my expectations. The above picture is the Monte Cristo at Mama's and I promised my hubby I will make some for him. So whatever texture and taste I experienced, I tweaked and implemented it to make my version.

And I paired some Pastry Cream with Fruits and Whipped Cream to make individual portions for Desserts. Wanted something light and fruity to balance the Cheesy Monte Cristo.

Monte Cristo

The Pastry cream has been adapted from the site Joy of Baking - My frequent spot for Desserts.

Ingredients -

For Monte Cristo -

* Bread slices - 10 nos

* Swiss Cheese - 5 nos

* American Cheese Singles - 5 nos

* Turkey slices [Oven Roasted] - 10 nos

* Egg - 2 nos

* Milk - 1 cup

* Sugar - 2 tbsp

* Oil - For greasing the griddle

For Pastry Cream Dessert -

* Egg yolks - 4 nos

* Milk - 1 + 1/4 cups

* Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp

* Sugar - 1/4 cup [Increase / Decrease according to your interest]

* Corn Flour - 2 tbsp [sifted]

* Brandy - 1 tsp [Optional]

For Whipped Cream -

* Heavy Whipping Cream - 1 cup [atleast 30% Fat content]
* Sugar - 1/4 cup [Add more or less, according to your interest]
* Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp

For Assembling -

Fruits - Berries, Peaches, Pineapple [Add according to your choice]

Cooking -

For Monte Cristo -

1. Arrange the Swiss Cheese, Turkey slices and American Cheese in between the bread slices. The cheese when it melts acts as a binding agent for the bread slices, so arrange accordingly.

2. Beat the Eggs, Milk and Sugar [2 tbsp] in order to mix well.

3. Grease a griddle with Oil and let it get heated on stove on medium-heat.

4. Carefully take the arranged Bread slices and dip into the Egg and Milk mixture. Coat on all sides but make sure not to get the bread too soggy.

5. Place the dipped Bread slices onto the hot griddle. Using tongs turn the slices carefully and give a minute on each side or until it turns golden brown in color on each side. 

 For Pastry Cream Dessert-

1. In a bowl, beat the Egg yolks, milk, sugar, brandy, sifted Corn flour and vanilla extract with a whisk in order to incorporate the ingredients.

2. Place the Egg mixture on a Double boiler and keep whisking until it starts thickening. Once it thickens into a custard like texture, remove from the Double boiler.

3. Pour the Pastry Cream into the serving bowls and let it rest. This forms the bottom layer.

For Whipped Cream -
1. In a large cold bowl, add the Cream, Sugar and Vanilla Extract. Whip with a hand-mixer for about 5-7 mins to get a firm texture. Make sure not to over-beat, whip just until firm peaks form on the whisk. 

For Assembling the Dessert -

1. Once the Pastry Cream cools down, layer the Fruits of your choice and top it with Whipped Cream. 

2. Refrigerate it for at least an hour before serving. Best served as chilled.

Pastry Cream with Fruits

Sprinkle the Monte Cristo with some powdered sugar and pair it with Strawberry compote which I had made earlier. And to balance the cheesy Monte Cristo, we finished with the Pastry Cream and Fruits Dessert.

Cheers,