Weenie Brunch: Part 2
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.
, a 
.