Certain combinations are just expected. Salt ‘n Pepper. Toast and Butter. Cheap bubbly and a headache.
Crime and Jail.
When it comes to food items, we usually group dishes by
origin, ethnicity or even time of day.
Bacon and Eggs at Breakfast, Grilled Reuben for Lunch and Prime Rib with
Twice Baked Potato at Dinner; all most comfy and expected, thank you very
much.
What if you were to attend a meal that served everything
from malted flour waffles with real maple syrup and strawberries to tortellini
with pesto and maybe a few slices of roast leg of lamb with rosemary
demi-glace. Start with a coffee, go to
a fresh juice, then maybe sparkling wine and finish with a beer.
“Chef, that sounds either in-SANE or a really good Brunch
menu!”
Indeed, it is both crazy and perfect, plonked right in the
middle of the day with a menu comprised of anything you like from any
breakfast, lunch or dinner you’ve ever had.
Nothing is off-limits:
Crepes filled with sweet cream cheese and topped with a
fruit compote? Yes!
Smoked Salmon with red onions, capers and spicy mustard on
toast points? Mmmm-Hmmm!
Fluffy Omelette made to order with your choice of
fillings? We can SPLIT it!
Bay Scallops with a creamy, White Wine-Chive sauce in a
delicate pastry shell? It looks VER-y
light…
Hazelnut Torte with Fresh Rasberry Sauce? Perfect…I’m gluten-free today!
See how easy it is to justify any food combination when you
put it under the heading of “Brunch?”
This year, I’m hosting a Brunch on Easter and can’t wait to
‘Wow my Crowd’ with the best Eggs Benedict in the Known and Unknown
Universe. And that’s just for starters,
but, let’s talk a little about what it takes to host an amazing meal in the
middle of the day. Let’s call it “The 3
Ps: Passion, Planning and Procurement.”
Passion: If it’s not bursting out of you, if
you couldn’t care less about serving pieces, if packaged sauce mix tastes the
same as the Real Deal, stop here and make a reservation at Denny’s. If, however, Perfection is your Goal and the
Journey is your Joy, please continue.
It’s Springtime and the Earth has awakened with pastel colors and
delicate aromas. People are smiling
again as the sun extends its glowing presence by a few more minutes each
day. Songbirds have returned to remind
us when to sleep and wake. The subtle hues of Spring ease us out of
Winter and prepare us for the next cycle of living: Summer.
And outdoor seating is back!
Spring has sprung, so, let your passion for food, faith,
family and friends manifest itself with one divine, glorious multi-sensory meal
at high noon.
Planning:
This is KEY. Our goal is to ENJOY
the day, not dread it and pray for it’s conclusion. Ready?
Let’s DO this! OK, first off,
build a menu on paper with a pencil. We
need 1-Egg dish, 1- Meat, 1- Fruit, 1-Special entrée’, 2-Pastries,
1-Charcouterie (cold meat and cheese).
Easy-Peasey. For the Egg dish,
do something that is baked like a Frittata, Quiche or Midwest Egg Bake
Casserole. Cook the day-of. Use fun ingredients and post them on a menu board
or calligraphy table tents. It gets
guests salivating before they even taste!
Egg is done.
Meat: roast
something, let it come to room temp or colder, slice it and fan it out on an
interesting wood cutting board or large serving platter. Can be done days ahead. Remember, we want the look of abundance and
symmetry. Add a ramekin(s) of condiments
that are appropriate and an interesting old fork for service. Meat done.
Fruit: DON’T make a fruit
salad!!! Please, please, please don’t go
to the effort of cutting fresh fruit into fork-sized pieces only to dump it
into a bowl. Arghhh! Cut your fruit into slices and arrange in
either concentric circles or in rows, keeping an eye to progressive color
changes and contrasts. This can be done
2 days prior and kept in Ziploc bags, neat and organized. A drop-dead gorgeous fruit platter is edible
art. Fruit done.
Special Entrée: I’m doing Eggs Benedict with Hollandaise from
scratch. Labor intensive, but, if you
can pull it off, the impression lasts years.
Easier ‘Special?’ hmmm…Leg of
Lamb…Canapes of Lox with all the fixins…Biscuits and real Sausage
Gravy…something with “Wow” factor that is a ‘fire and forget’ dish; impressive,
put it on a platter and never touch it again.
Special done.
Pastries: don’t even THINK of making your own unless
you are a trained professional or Austrian grandma. Your energies can be better spent
elsewhere. That’s why God invented
Market of Choice, Zupan’s, and Grand Central Baking. Spend money here, ladies and germs. One-bite pastries in little fluted paper cups
are a treat. Everyone loves this. Everyone.
Pastries done.
Charcouterie: People have to grab my arm and haul me away
from standing at a board of sliced deli meats and stinky cheeses, consuming the
entirety while talking to no one about the brilliance of flavors and textures,
regions and history. This board/marble
slab/slate is another work of art that is stand-alone. Construct it with an eye to symmetry and
function, add crackers and sliced interesting bread, 3 good mustards and walk
away. I’m thinking right now of
paper-thin Prosciutto and nearly liquid St. Andre’ Triple Cream…I need a
tissue, this is getting emotional.
Charcouterie done.
Procurement:
Don’t buy crap. Make sure that
everything that goes into your guest’s gullets is the best you can source. That does not mean the most expensive, it
means the BEST you can source. Fruit is
going to be your stickiest wicket; finding ripe, sweet fruit 3 days before your
brunch. Travel, look, smell, sample. Cheeses…if I may suggest a larger Fred Meyer
with a cheese dept. I went to one on
McLoughlin and they had a-MAZ-ing cheeses deeply discounted because they were
‘ripe.’ That’s the cheese I WANT!!! And speaking of crackers, Trader Joe’s is SO
much fun to shop! Olive tapenades, cool
crackers, nuts, all kinds of fun party things at great prices. For Big Meat items, here’s an inside tip from
a chef: go to Cash & Carry, now
called ‘Smart Food Service’ or something…wholesale pricing when feeding a large
group and they turn over their product daily.
The meat selection is excellent!
Lastly, as you get closer to Easter Sunday and start to get
a little stressed, remember why you’re doing this: You love your Family and Friends and want to
show it with food and service. They all
love you and will forgive any hiccups. If you are the spouse, be over-the-top
supportive and positive all day!
Relax. Have fun. Hug, kiss and laugh.
That’s why we’re here.
For each other.
Take care, God bless and remember:
“Food, Faith, Family and Friends
the Best Things in Life Aren’t Things.”
