What I Cooked (Last Weekend)

I could bore you with the reasons I cooked minimally this past week but I won’t. Instead, I’ll detail what I made last Sunday for a brunch for friends.

I generally structure my brunch menus the same: an egg dish, a breakfast meat, a sweet treat, fruit for health and wellness.

This time around, I made the following:

The egg dish: leek and gruyere quiche

Do not make this the day of, for brunch. It takes too long. I used the Joy of Cooking recipe for a classic quiche but added in about 1/2 cup of shredded gruyère cheese along with three leeks, sliced and sautéed until soft. I also only ever use this pie dough recipe.

Store the quiche in the fridge overnight and then reheat in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

The breakfast meat: Canadian bacon

Truthfully, a holdover from our eggs Benedict earlier this week.

The sweet treat: peach coffee cake

I have a habit of adding fruit to recipes without fruit and then crossing my fingers that it works. I used a family coffee cake recipe, shared at the very bottom of this note, and mixed in four peeled and cubed peaches.

How to peel a peach? Score the bottom and top of a the peach. Submerge in boiling water for about 90 seconds and then into an ice bath. If the peach is ripe, you should be able to easily remove the skin.

The fruit: mixed berries. That’s all.

Tips & tricks for hosting a brunch

• Set your table the night before. Do this always regardless of what meal you’re hosting but especially if you’re hosting earlier in the day.

• Pick a menu that includes a majority of items you can prepare in advance - unless you’re an early bird and get joy from waking up at the crack of dawn to whip everything together.

• Have snacks for later, in case people linger (if you want them to linger). Starve them if you want them to leave.

• To me, the hallmark of a good brunch is an assortment of beverages. Prepare as such - coffee, tea, mimosas, screwdrivers, water (if necessary).

Coffee Cake Recipe - I halved this and made it in a 9” cake pan! With the fruit, I had to bake it for about 55 minutes.

For the cake:
3 cups AP flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
3 eggs
7 tbsp melted butter

For the topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp melted butter

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13x9 baking pan.

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, brown sugar and sugar in a large bowl.

3. Whisk together buttermilk, eggs and melted butter in a small bowl.

4. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until combined.

5. Pour into your prepared baking pan.

6. Combine all topping ingredients in a separate bowl and then add to the top of the batter.

7. Bake for 40-45 minutes. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done.

8. Cool for 20 minutes before removing from the pan (if you want. Or just leave it in the pan).