The Hipster Home

Here we are, team, at the butt end of last week’s Halloweenie Brunch! If you’re looking for Part 1, that’s over HERE. The remainder of my tweaked recipes, lessons learned and life-wisdom are as follows….

What’s better than a delicious mix of fresh fruit? A delicious mix of fruit PLUS sugar, lime and mint! I didn’t even notice that I only used three fruits to make this because it ended up being so well balanced, no troll fruits to be found. It’s an incredibly easy recipe that pays off in spades.

Lime-Mint Sugar Fruit Salad

Adapted from the Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Breakfast & Brunch

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoon minced fresh mint
• 2 teaspoons grated lime zest
• juice of 1 lime
• a mix of delicious-looking seasonal fruit
  • 1 cantaloupe, seeded, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
  • 1 cup grapes, halved
  • 1 pint strawberries, sliced
  • add what you like! get fancy and don’t forget to pre-taste for ripeness.

In a small bowl, stir together the sugar, minced mint, and lime zest. Set aside. In another bowl, combine the fruit. Drizzle the fruit with the lime juice and sir gently to coat. Sprinkle with the sugar mixture and turn the fruit once or twice to coat evenly. Transfer to a serving bowl and eat promptly. If you let it sit for too long, the lime looses it’s zing.

Next up, we have the preferred casserole of our party. We’ve got a WINNER! The herbs added an excellent, fresh kick and the texture was great. A few notes about cooking: when we added that first layer of bread cubes, the bottom seemed woefully sparse. We added between a 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup extra cubes. Don’t add too many or there might not be enough liquid to go around. Last note, the prosciutto was fairly stringy and mostly broken when I initially put it over the dish. The original recipe called for the removing of the slices to tear and serve each dish with a bit of meat. Instead, using 6 slices means there was enough crusty prosciutto for each scoop. Also: next time I think I’ll up the cheese.

Savory Brioche Pudding with Prosciutto

adapted from Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Breakfast & Brunch

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 tablespoon snipped fresh chives
• 6 eggs
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 3-4 cups loosely packed day-old brioche cubes
• 1/4 lb Gruyere cheese, grated
• 6 thin slices prosciutto

In a frying pan over medium-high heat, melt the 2 tablespoons butter. Add the onion and  cook, stirring, until softened but not browned, 3-5 minutes. Stir in the parsley and chives. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs. Whisk in the milk, salt and pepper until blended.

Butter a 9×13 baking dish. Place half of the brioche cubes in the prepared dish. Sprinkle evenly with half of the onion mixture and half of the Gruyere cheese. Do this again with the rest of the bread cubes, onion mixture, and Gruyere cheese. Slowly pour the milk mixture evenly over the layers. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or for up to overnight.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat to 375 F. Lay the prosciutto slices in a single layer on top of the pudding. Bake until puffed and golden brown, 45-50 minutes. SERVE. EAT. YUM!

People liked this eggy casserole too and I definitely enjoyed the leftovers but it needs some work. Frankly, the sun-dried tomatoes (yes, those from the Farmers’ Market) stuck out like sore thumbs. They never quite blended in and almost felt like raisins in the otherwise smooth overall consistency. These particular tomatoes also had a tang that works well in the pasta dishes but overwhelmed even the spicy sausage. Speaking of which, the sausage definitely wasn’t the main attraction either. Next time, this thing gets more cheese, double the sausage (1/2 lb sweet, 1/2 lb sweet pork sausage), and some other element, onions? veggies? instead of the tomatoes.

Sausage Strata with Cheddar Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

adapted from Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Breakfast & Brunch

• 1/2 sweet or hot sausage, meat crumbled
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup slivered dry-packed sundried tomatoes
• 8 large eggs
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• unsalted butter for the pan
• 12 slices soft white bread, sans crust
• 1/4 lb cheddar cheese, grated

In a frying pan over medium-high heat, cook the sausage meat, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until there is no pink, 10-12 minutes. Remove with a spoon and put it on a paper towel, to absorb some of the oil.

With about 1 tablespoon sausage juice left in the pan, add the onion to the hot pan. Cook, stirring frequently, until softened, 3-5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, remove from the heat. In a large bowl (we used a 4 cup liqud measuring cup, with a spout for easy pouring),  whisk the eggs. Whisk in the milk, salt, and pepper until blended.

Butter a 9×13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 of the bread slices in a single layer on the bottom of the prepared dish. You’ll likely have to break a slice in half  if they don’t all fit flat on the bottom. Top evenly with half of the sausage, half of the tomato mixture, and half of the grated cheddar cheese. Preeat with the rest of the bread, sausage, tomato and cheddar cheese.

Slowly pour the milk mixture evenly over the layers. Wrap securely in plastic wrap and regrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 . Bake until puffed and golden brown, 30-40 minutes. Remove and let it cool out for 5 mintues. SERVE. EAT. YUM!

Broiled Grapefruit

adapted from Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Breakfast & Brunch

Last note: I don’t have a picture for the broiled grapefruit and I honestly didn’t taste it. Of the 10 we made, only one was left. The rest? They  were scraped and slurped dry. How does one make a broiled grapefruit? Simply cut a grapefruit in half and sprinkle the top with brown sugar. Place it face-up on a foil-lined cookie sheet, turn on your oven’s broiler and let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Should look bubbly and sweet.

That’s all she wrote! I hope that you’ll give some of these recipes a shot on your own. If you do, send me a picture of how it turned out and definitely let me know if you had any tasty tweaks of your own.

As a kid, my family scarcely celebrated Halloween. It was all Autumn/Fall Fairs/Festivals in the church parking lot. There were never tricks or treats, definitely no haunted houses and only absolutely nots for any spirited home decorations. Now that I’m an adult, I can celebrate the holiday as I see fit! There was no great costume idea this year, so it was all about the other Halloween  activities.  What do I constantly have plenty of? A desire to cook! For lots of people! Let’s throw a brunch!  As I told my guests:

“What can help with a long day of drinking, parties and candy? Something delicious and hearty and a little alcoholic… wait a second, BRUNCH!”

Besides pre-baking my old standby zucchini bread recipe (from Simply Recipes) the day before, I also picked up some important ingredients from a local deli, Lucca Ravioli Co, the store on the corner and the new Whole Foods. THANK HEAVENS my two casseroles needed to sit and could be assembled and chilled the night before. That made cooking for 12 people so much easier!

It’s at this point in the post that I’ll confess to copping most recipes from a book I picked up at the library. It sang to me. The Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Breakfast & Brunch was just sitting there on the shelf, pretty and hopeful. I flipped through, knew that these were some good looking recipes (sometimes you can just tell) and was then particularly inspired to get brunch cookin’. So what did I make??

• Rustic Apple Galettes
• Poblano and Cheddar Scones (adapted from the Smitten Kitchen’s Jalapeno-cheddar scones recipe)
• Zucchini Bread (from Simply Recipes)
• Lime-Mint Sugar Fruit Salad
• Broiled Grapefruit
• Savory Brioche Pudding with Prosciutto
• Sausage Strata with Ceddar Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
• BACON!!!!

Since this is obviously a HUGE menu and posting the adapted recipes will take quite a bit of screen time, this is part 1 of the Weenie Brunch. Let’s start with what we had out while people arrived: the apple galettes, jalapeno/poblano-cheddar scones and zucchini bread. How did each turn out? Let’s review.

• Rustic Apple Galettes- Holy Moly. SO crusty and delicious! I felt like a pro when I made this because I actually remembered to flour the pizza peel and managed to slide it off onto the baking stone in one SWOOSH. People really liked this one. The plum jam really kicked the apple up a notch.
• Poblano and Cheddar Scones- A brief confession: the Mr. actually put this recipe together while I was working o the galettes. He did a bang-up wonderful job and these scones were delicious! Flaky and buttery with a nice taste-bud kick, he says they were easy enough to bake that he’ll likely do it again another Saturday morning. This recipe is also great because its an atypical use of those billion poblano peppers we have from the CSA box.
• Zucchini Bread (from Simply Recipes)- This bread was pretty good but because it was baked the day before, less impressive than the previous two baked goods. It’s hard to compete with hot-fresh-from-the-oven. This is good on the day you make it, still warm from baking.

Down to the nitty gritty? Recipes below! (but don’t forget to check back later this week when I post Weenie Brunch: Part 2)

Poblano and Cheddar Scones

Adapted from Peter Oleyer at Calexico Carne Asada in Brooklyn, via NYMag and  Smitten Kitchen

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick or 4 ounces) cold butter, diced
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3 eggs, divided
• 1/4 pound sharp Cheddar cheese, diced (or grated)
• 1 Poblano pepper, roasted, skinned and minced

Preheat oven to 400. Place the minced Pobalno pepper in a small bowl with Cheddar cheese and coat with 1 tbs. of flour. In another bowl, combine the rest of the flour with baking powder and salt. Cut in remaining butter with a fork until the butter is pea-size.

Lightly whip eggs and cream and add to the flour-and-butter mixture. Using a wooden spoon, fold mixture until it begins to come together. Add the Cheddar-and-poblano mixture to the dough and mix until everything is incorporated.

Turn out the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead gently for less than one minute. Roll dough ¾- to 1-inch thick and cut into 8 triangles. Brush with egg wash and place on well-oiled baking sheet.

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Eat immediately!

(oops, I only got a picture of the filling! Well it made a BEAUTIFUL galettes!)

Rustic Apple Galettes

Adapted from the Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Breakfast & Brunch

For the dough:

• 1 cup al-purpose flour
• 1/3 cake flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 3-4 tablespoons cold whole milk

For the filling:

• 4 apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons jam (I used plum, the recipe specifically called for apricot, go nuts)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose plane flour
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 1 large egg beaten with
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon sugar

In a large bowl, combine the all-purpose and cake flours, sugar and salt and stir to mix. Scatter the butter and shortening pieces over the flour mixture. Using a fork, toss to coat with the flour. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in the butter and shortening until the mixture forms large, coarse crumbs the size of large peas. Drizzle 3 tablespoons of the milk over the mixture and toss with the fork until the dough is evenly moist and begins to come together in a mass but does not form a ball. Slowly drizzle tin the remaining milk by teaspoons, if the mixture still seems dry (which mine did, I used 5 tablespoons of milk!).

Transfer the dough to a work surface and shape into a 6-inch disk. Wrap the disk tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled, about 1 hour or for up to overnight.

Position rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 375 F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet pan with parchment paper.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Let stand a few minutes to soften. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 9-by-14 inch rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. Trim the edges even. Carefully roll the dough around the pin, transfer it to the prepared pan, and unroll it.

To make the filling, in a large bowl, gently toss together the apples, jam, sugar, flour, lemon juice, and cinnamon until evenly distributed. Spread the filling evenly over the dough, leaving a 1 1/2-inch plain border on all sides. Fold the border up and over the filling, forming lose pleats around the corners and leaving the center open. Drizzle the melted butter over the filling. Brush the dough border with the egg mixture, then sprinkle it with the sugar. You will not need all of the egg mixture. (whoops, just realized I forgot to use heavy cream on the egg mixture, turned out great anyways!)

Bake until the crust is golden brown and the apples are tender when poked with a toothpick, about 40 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool on the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.