Themed Brunch

Recently, we needed to share some pretty great news with our families.  We decided it was best to communicate through food!

The Menu

Baby Quiche

Baby Green Salad with Baby Cucumbers

Balsamic Glazed Baby Zuchinni, Baby Squash, 

and Baby Bella Mushrooms

Baby Carrots

Babybel Cheese

I'm sure, by now, you've figured out our plan.  Kevin took things to the table, one at a time, and tried to announce their title with a straight face.  Finally, my mother said, "Hey! Are you trying to tell us something?"

Of course, this started with a long brainstorm about all the baby themed brunch appropriate foods I could think of.  I had to eliminate a few ideas, such as baby back ribs.

Baby zucchini looks just like their big counterparts.  The mini yellow squash are also called patty pans.  First, I reduced some balsamic vinegar over low heat for a few hours to make a thicker sweet glaze.

I cut up all the veggies, tossed them with olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper, and laid them out on a sheet pan to roast. Approx. 375 degrees for 30 minutes.  Them should be slightly softened and golden.  

For the baby quiche, I purchased pie crust sheets. I cut them out with a circle cutter and pushed them into a cupcake pan.  

I sprinkled feta cheese, sun dried tomatoes, and sliced asparagus into the little cups.  

Next, I whisked up 1 pint of heavy cream, salt and pepper, and 5 eggs.  I poured it into each cup and baked the baby quiche until the center was set.  Approx 25 minutes.

They will puff up while baking, so leave some room for expansion. 

Next, I chopped up some mixed baby lettuce and thinly sliced the baby cucumbers into half moon shapes.  

I put Kevin in charge of salad dressing. He put shallots, parsley, parsley stems, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper, in to the blender and slowly drizzled in olive oil while blending to create an emulsified vinaigrette.

The key is to drizzle the oil in slowly.  The ratio for a vinaigrette is 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil. If you exceed this ratio, your vinaigrette will break and separate.

We tossed the dressing with the cucumbers and lettuce, drizzled the roasted veggies with the basalmic reduction, popped the quiche out of the pan, and brunch was served.   

The baby quiche could house any ingredients you like! Bacon and swiss, ham and brie, goat cheese and roasted red peppers, broccoli and cheddar - the sky is the limit!

Everyone was pleased with this delicious and nutritious brunch and even more pleased with our big news!!

Out with the old, In with the new

Just got back from a much needed jog after a week of vacation binge eating and drinking.  We did make some fabulous things while I was galavanting the globe.  Sad to say, everyhting was consumed at record speed and there are no photographs to prove the existence. 

We were relaxing up at my Auntie Nancy's lakeside estate.

She has a spectacular garden with an abundance of herbs and vegetables.  In an effort to feed ourselves before the daunting 2 hour trip back to the big city of Chicago, we decided on BLEFGTs.  Whatever am I talking about?...you may ask.  A snappy new version of the time honored sandwich the BLT.  We added flair, of course, and had bacon, lettuce, egg, and fried green tomatoes on ours.  Boy oh boy, did our creativity pay off! 

In this scenario, it certainly helped that we were able to pluck the green tomatoes fresh just steps outside of the door.  In the meantime, I layed the bacon strips, 2 per person, on a baking sheet and placed them in the oven at 350.  I turned them over once, about half way through.  This is really the cleanest way to cook nice crispy bacon.  We sliced the green tomatoes thin.  Note: green tomatoes are much firmer than a red tomato.  You may not think they are ready to eat; but they are.  Next, we utilized the standard breading procedure.  The standard breading procedure should be used when breading anything: fish, chicken, eggplant, zucchini, and so on. 

You will need three vessels; a shallow, bowl, pie tin, or something comparable works best.  In the first dish, place flour seasoned with salt and pepper.  In the second dish, whisk up eggs with a dash of water.  In the third dish, you place your breading.  This can be the usual breadcrumbs, or panko, or something wild like corflakes or crushed crackers.  Carfeully coat your item to be breaded in each dish. Shake off excess flour, then cover with egg, then coat evenly with breading. Try your best to designate a wet hand and a dry hand so you don't ened up with stubby club fingers. 

We then browned our tomatoes in a saute pan with olive oil.  I toasted some english muffins brushed with butter in the oven, then topped them with the bacon, an overeasy egg, crisp romaine, and the hot fried green tomatoes.  Bon appetite! What a yummy brunch item.  I highly reccomend giving it a whirl and sneaking these extra veggies into your morning meal. 

The day we returned, my cousin blew into town on business so I wanted to cook a tasty lunch before his flight home.  After I racked my brain, I developed the idea to make tuna potato cakes.  Kinda like a crab cake, kinda like potato pancake; call it what you will; I call it easy and delicious!  In addition, you may just already have all of these items at home.

I shredded up three potatoes on the box grater, and squeezed out all the excess water.  I mixed them up with three cans of tuna, diced celery, diced red onion, , 2 eggs, salt and pepper, and 1/2 cup flour.  I formed them into cakes and browned them in olive oil.  In a seperate bowl, I whisked up sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon zest, lemon juice, thyme, and salt and pepper to make a creamy lemon herb drizzle.

I layed the cakes out on a platter and drizzled them with the sauce.  It looked lovely and they dissapeared quickly.  This is a perfect way to jazz up cheap ingredients.  Crab is expensive; tuna is cheap.  It can still be awesome!  Just elevate it with presentation, some fresh tasting citrus, and herbs, and voila!  Of course, you could add or remove things from these cakes.  Bell peppers, green onions, and parsley would be nice.  You could use celery root, or parsnip in place of the potato, or, no potato at all. 

These are two examples of old recipes or classics revamped to make something fabulous and new.  You probably have something in your repetoire that you could add one or two ingredients to and surprise everyone.  What are some classic recipes that you would like to see reworked?  Any ideas but don't know where to start?