Pain perdu with roasted strawberries, aged balsamic and Parmesan

Begin by soaking the pain perdu. Place the eggs and sugar in a bowl and mix to combine. Add the milk and cream and place the brioche slices into the bowl to soak up the liquid for a couple of minutes

For the strawberries, add the sugar to a pan with a drop of water and cook until it reaches a light caramel colour. Add the butter and then the strawberries. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and add a few turns of black pepper. Keep warm until ready to serve

Now make the pain perdu. Add the butter to a large frying pan and leave to slowly melt. As it starts to turn golden brown, add the soaked brioche and reduce the heat slightly so that the butter does not burn, but the heat is still strong enough to colour the bread

Cook the brioche for a couple of minutes on each side until golden brown, then remove from pan and place onto a baking tray. Sprinkle with some of the grated Parmesan and carefully gratinate under the grill

Place the pain perdu slices onto plates and spoon over some of the warm strawberries. Top with the Parmesan shavings, drizzle over some good quality balsamic vinegar and serve