(Durham) Carolina in My Mind

Have you ever had a yearning for something you didn’t know you had a yearning for? I think that best summarizes this week’s Cook Nerd post. The current environment has us reflecting on this time of year and what typically comes with it: graduations, LDOC’s (if you know, you know), and college lacrosse post-seasons. For us these are all captured fondly by our time in Durham, NC at Duke. In our theme of recreating dishes from our favorite eateries, we took a (remote) culinary trip to an all-time favorite/brunch staple - Nosh.

The dish of choice? The one and only Shoaf’s Toast. It’s safe to say, I didn’t know how much I missed this dish until we had a semblance of it on our plate. While the portion wasn’t as big, the nostalgia was all too real. For the best heartwarming effect, we suggest playing "Carolina In My Mind" by James Taylor while eating/prepping. 

The Ingredients:

-Whole grain sliced bread

-2 Bananas

-2 Eggs

-1 tsp Vanilla

-2 tbsp Cinnamon

-2 tbsp Milk

-Honey

-Syrup

-Peanut Butter

Recipe:

• Cut 4 slices of bread into triangular halves (It’s better this way). 
• Whisk the eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, and milk in a flat bowl until well mixed. 
• Drench 4 slices (8 triangles) of bread in the mixture and place on a skillet or griddle on med/high heat. Due to space concerns, I did 4 triangles at a time.
• Flip after 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Repeat for the other side. Once cooked, spread peanut butter on top of ½ of the slices of bread and close the “sandwich” with the others. (Pro tip: While the second side is cooking, you can spoon some peanut butter onto the top to allow the peanut butter to heat up a bit)
• Take the peanut butter/French toast sandwiches and place on the plate. Slice the banana thinly and spread them over the top.
• In a small bowl, mix 3 parts syrup with 1 part honey. I found that this makes the syrup a little thicker and gives it some great flavor when paired with the bananas.
• Drench the plate with the syrup/honey mixture. 
• Dust with powdered sugar…and VIOLA!

We hope you love this one as much as we do - it's going to be a Sunday staple in our house for a long time - until we can get back to Nosh in person, that is. 💙💙