Brilliant Brunch Bash
Turn Breakfast into a ‘breakfeast’ and have yourself a Brilliant Brunch Bash to liven up the grey days of winter and give your friends a much-needed treat!
Breakfast as any cook knows, can be a demanding and complicated meal, asking for the skills of a mathematical genius to get the ingredients cooked to perfection all ready at the same time!
One of the best daytime parties to hold is a Brunch party, but people are often put off by the impossibility of producing a ‘Full English’ for a crowd of people. Some say that it’s only brunch if you go out to a restaurant, but if you’re prepared to fly in the face of convention, you’re our type of person!!
Most people would agree that breakfast is the best meal of the day – but how to juggle all the magic ingredients to feed all your hungry friends at the same time? If you haven’t got hot plates and warmers fit for a professional, we’ve got lots of ideas that will help you to dazzle the taste-buds of your lucky friends! The secret is to have trays or dishes of delicious things that can be easily prepared well in advance then put into the oven when you’re ready to party then just slice and serve!
The best brunch party I remember had a magic recipe that combined the best bits of breakfast all together in one roasting pan. The recipe came from an invaluable little book called the Food Aid cookbook edited by Delia Smith…..
BRILLIANT BACON AND EGG BRUNCH
Preheat oven to 200 degrees centigrade. You’ll need a roasting tin or deep baking dish 2 inches deep and 8 inches in diameter or equivalent to serve 6 people…
So double your ingredients and dish size for 12 and so on…
To serve 6
250 g sweet cure or smoked bacon
110 Gruyere or Emmental (Swiss cheese)
10 large eggs
1 tablespoon milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
150 ml soured cream
Lay strips of the best smoked or sweet cured bacon you can find across a large fairly deep roasting tin overlapping to cover the base and sides. Then arrange the slices of cheese over the bacon.
Now take a large mixing bowl and whisk the eggs in it, together with the milk, freshly ground black pepper and a little salt (be careful with that because of the bacon). Pour the egg mixture all over the cheese and bacon, then spoon blobs of sour cream all over the top. Transfer the dish/dishes to the pre heated oven and cook for 25 – 30 minutes or longer until it looks beautifully golden and puffy, but firmly set – a bit like a soufflé!
Another great treasure trove of recipes for your Brilliant Brunch Bash can be found online at nigella.com – for another great savoury dish the Croque Monsieur Bake is a winner, and the Apple and Blackberry Küchen is a sweet, but not too sweet yeasty dough baked in a slab and topped as you like with fruit, nuts or both!
Then of course, jamieoliver.com is a great go to for tasty breakfast recipes. If you simply have to have French toast with bacon and maple syrup, or three way eggs benedict, he’s your man!
Credit: John Allen photography
Then for the all important lubrication! The great thing about your Brilliant Brunch Bash is that you can be generous with the Prosecco or the Cava. No need to look any further for your tipple of choice – and you can choose something to suit your budget from the massive selection available of both. If you can run to it, get a few bottles of Champagne in for the purists, but I defy you to be able to tell the difference when you’re mixing it with orange, peach or cranberry juice! The ubiquitous Bucks Fizz is a great brunch standby, but what about ringing the changes with a Bellini?
Credit: buzzfeed.com for an unusual twist on the Bellini- a Bellini Slushie.
Search drinksupermarket.com for their Funkin Pro White Peach purée that makes a respectable Bellini if you can’t get over to Harry’s Bar in Venice for breakfast?! Or a wonderfully healthy green smoothie to tickle the taste-buds… cucumber, apple, pear, celery, ginger, fresh mint, lime and spinach are fave ingredients as a way of livening you up in the morning!
Finally, plan for your wind-up strategy! We all ended up at the last brunch party with a massive casserole and baked potatoes for supper because nobody would go home!!
If you have enjoyed reading about our Brilliant Brunch Bash ideas, take a look at this for more inspiration: https://www.tlc-ltd.co.uk/festive-brunch-tips-taylor-lynn-corporation/