Recipe: Matty Matheson’s Peanut Butter-, Nutella- and Banana-Stuffed French Toast

Photo: Courtesy of Murdoch Books / Quentin Bacon

The affable Canadian chef reckons this sweet sandwich is so good you’ll pass it down to your children and their children’s children.

Peanut butter, Nutella and banana are just fine apart, but when you unite them they evolve into something outstanding. They are the stars of Matty Matheson’s “pain farce” French toast – farce is an old word for stuffing one food inside another food, and here that threesome and other ingredients are crammed between slices of challah pain (aka bread).

“Peanut butter and banana sandwiches were a staple in our household, and this is the newest and brightest version for you to make and pass down to your children and their children’s children,” writes Matheson. “The challah is clutch for this. It has the perfect buttery, eggy goodness. It’s like a crazy Hot Pocket filled with bananas Foster, for freak’s sake.”

The recipe is from Soups, Salads, Sandwiches, the new cookbook from the affable Canadian chef turned The Bear star. That name says it all: it’s a collection of soup, salad and sandwich recipes – foods many of us eat at least once a day. Matheson writes that he hopes people can open the book “to any chapter and cook from [it] every day”. Alongside this dessert sandwich, there are recipes for tuna melts, chicken parm sandwiches and fried shrimp po’ boy, plus crispy lamb pho, creamy sausage soup and warm potato salad.

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“I’m giving you kitchen-shelf material here,” writes Matheson. “The next time you need me, open it again. Every time that you do, you will be filled with love and light. Embrace the pure joy of freewheeling cooking.”

Matty Matheson’s pain farce French toast

Serves 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1⅓ cups thickened cream
6 eggs
½ cup sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
⅓ cup unsalted butter, melted
Kosher salt (sea salt or coarse non-iodised salt), a pinch
8 slices challah bread, cut 2.5cm thick
1 tbsp unsalted butter, plus more for cooking
3 slightly unripe bananas, sliced lengthwise and then in half
1 cup mascarpone
1 cup Nutella

Method

In a large bowl, combine the cream, the eggs, ¼ cup of the sugar, the vanilla, cinnamon, melted butter and a pinch of salt. Then, soak all of your bread for a minute and really get it covered all over.

In a large pan over medium heat, add the remaining ¼ cup sugar with 2 tbsp of water. We’re going to make a caramel. Allow the mixture to come to boil; after 5 minutes the caramel will start to color at the edges. Gently whisk this for another 5 minutes, until the caramel begins to get darker. Turn off the heat and whisk in your remaining 1 tbsp butter, bringing the mixture to a simmer. Turn your heat to the lowest setting and gently add the bananas, cut-side down, and cook on low for 2 minutes. Immediately remove from the heat and make sure this doesn’t burn.

In a cast-iron pan, throw a little knob of butter. After it melts, start cooking your French toast in batches for 3 minutes on each side. Transfer each piece to a plate and keep that cast-iron buttery.

To assemble, take your French toast and add a swipe of mascarpone, some bananas and a few tablespoons of the Nutella. Top with another piece of French toast. Cut off the two short sides, slice lengthwise, and cut into thirds to create six small squares, or just cut it in half and eat. Repeat for the other three sandwiches.

Images and text from Soups, Salads, Sandwiches by Matty Matheson, photography by Quentin Bacon. Murdoch Books RRP $49.99.

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