With the brilliant idea that inviting my husband’s parents for brunch on Sunday morning would give us the push we need to get the rest of our house unpacked, and get our dining room and den looking nice, I’m now faced with the fact that they said yes. I do like my in-laws and I’m looking forward to having them over - it wasn’t possible in our tiny apartment, so now that we have a full-sized dining room with an actual dining room set, and a kitchen that’s fully-functional, it’s time to return their gracious invitations.
I have no idea what to serve. They’re foodies, just like us, and I’ve looked through a few of my cookbooks to no avail. I don’t need six or seven dishes, I just need maybe one or two main dishes and two side dishes, leaning more towards breakfast, but with a mixture of breakfast and lunch.
I know I’d like to do some sort of French toast/panckaes/waffles - probably French toast. If I do serve French toast, I want to serve a really rich challah bread French toast recipe.
Maybe an egg dish like a fritatta, preferably with meat. My FIL makes fried potatoes (and good ones), so I don’t want to do that. I was thinking we could do a frittata with vegetables on the side - but I’m not sure what KIND of vegetables (mr. e. is allergic to zucchini and squash, so those are out, unfortunately).
I’m not sure what I want to do. I’m open to just about anything! I’m also a decent cook, so I’m willing to tackle the more difficult recipes.
Anything you guys can throw at me would be great - thanks! I’ll do some more research on the 'net for myself, too, but I know there are good recipes floating around here, too.
You answered your own question: good fancy challah French Toast, fritatta with spicy Italian sausage, and asparagus, with either a simple butter dressing, or hollandaise. Serve with a decent “wake-me-up” cocktail, and you are golden!
It’s spring! Asparagus is in season! Other than that, the only advice I have for you is: Keep It Simple. Don’t try to overdo. Maybe some fresh strawberries, sliced and lightly sugared to go with your French Toast? Or maybe do a make-your-own-omelette bar with all kinds of goodies that you can prepare in advance. If you have a favorite breakfast or lunch dish, chances are they will like it, too. Have fun!
Fritattas are fabulous, and really easy. You can use just about any kind of filling–I’ve used potatoes and lots of other veggies.
How about stuffed French toast? I have several recipes that I’ve never tried, but it looks really yummy.
There’s a website out there somewhere with recipes from inns and bed-and-breakfastses–if I can find it, I’ll post the link. Lots of wonderful breakfast recipes there!
Home-made apple pie! If you can’t bake for shit [like me], buy one from a good bakery and put it in the oven when your in-laws are actually at your door.
A house smelling of apple pie, makes you look like a good little wife.
I’d go with Eggs Benedict XVI, but maybe you’re not religious folks.
French toast is a good one, especially with the good bread. One thing I like to do to dress it up is add something like Bailey’s Irish Cream or Frangelico to the egg batter. Not a lot - it IS breakfast, after all - but enough to give it some taste.
Flavored butters are good, too, and are easy and can be done in advance. Just throw some fruit in a blender (strawberries are good), add a bit of sugar or maple syrup or whatever sweetener you like, and mix a bit of it with soft unsalted butter. Fill small ramikens with it and serve with the french toast.
What else? Mimosas are always fun, if you’re that type of crowd. Frittatas are good, if you have a decent recipe. Too many are dry and dull. I think the latest Cook’s Illustrated has a “foolproof” frittata recipe, but I haven’t tried it so I can’t comment.
I’ve been doing simple omelets with wild leek & morel cheese in them, along with fried onions. Those are fantastic, but rely on the cheese, which may or may not be available in your area, and omelets are a pain to make for a crowd.
Another idea - a baked egg dish. I have a recipe that involves lining a baking pan with herbed croutons, then you layer on sausage, eggs, cheese, and onions and bake. It’s really good, I could dig out the recipe if you were interested. It’s a good one for a crowd.
Stuffed french toast is a great idea, but I bit labour intensive, dido for the frittatas. The trick you need is to be able to make it all in advance. Since you can make french toast and fritattas, I’d recommend making quiche.
If your not familiar with quiche, its French for "scrambled eggs in a pie crust. Its really as simple as mixing 3 eggs, 125ml heavy (whipping) cream, 250ml milk, season with salt and pepper. Pour this mixture into a pie crust and back until set (about 25min at 375F).
Quiche are great because you can either buy or make your own pie shells, and then fill the them with what ever you like. I’d recomment making a small quiche for each person, tailored to their specific tastes. I’m a BIG fan of bacon and sharp cheddar cheese in mine. Others prefer combinations like cooked spinach and feta, or smoked salmon and goats cheese. Or a simple version people seem to love is when you load it up with a bunch of different sauted mushrooms.
These can be made up to a week in advance (kept in the fridge), and then simply reheated to serve.
I’d then suggest serving these with an assortment of sweet rolls, some cheeses, some fresh fruit, and a nice simple salad.
But seriously, if you want to impress them, do as much as humanly possible the day before.
My mother-in-law loves quiche, but my father-in-law hates it. So when they come over, we usually serve a quiche for Sunday brunch, and get FiL something else to eat.
Especially this time of year your quiche options are great. Spinach/mushroom, or salmon/asparagus, would be my recommendations. I like to put either poppyseeds or dried herbs into the crust when I make it (herbs=mix of basil, parsley, and a very little oregano or thyme).
Or you could go with muffins, eggs, meat, and fruit salad.
My wife is always amused by my family: breakfast is often our biggest meal when we get together, whereas her family treats it as a time to do the crossword puzzle and grunt over coffee. There are benefits to both approaches.
For me, brunch is lunch food, but for my husband’s family, it’s breakfast food. That was my biggest issue to overcome - I wanted to go with about five different appetizers and then serve chocolate fondue for dessert, but my husband convinced me to go with breakfast food.
I appreciate all of the suggestions! Brunch was a success! I went with a French toast casserole of my mom’s that I got ready last night, and all I had to do was throw it in the oven to cook. Nummy. However, I took Athena’s advice and spiced up my mom’s recipe with a bit of Bailey’s - that was AWESOME! I loved the taste it gave the French toast. Quite yummy:).
I made fresh-squeezed orange juice, not to impress my in-laws, but because I grew up in a family with grandparents who had an orange tree in their backyard, and you just don’t have store-bought orange juice with brunch in our family. And the rest of the brunch (fruit salad and pepper-coated bacon) pretty much went without a hitch. We finished up, the boy and I cleaned up, and we watched our wedding video, then the 'rents went home.
So, first brunch was a success. Next time, though, we’re doing dinner because I can come up with a lot more food for dinner than I can for breakfast!
Man! Too bad it’s over. I was going to hijack the quiche idea and say that it would be kind of cool if you made tiny ones (like mini muffin size) and made a few different kinds, instead of one bigger customized one for each person. Oh well, there’s always next time.
I’ll do some more research on the 'net for myself, too, but I know there are good recipes floating around here, too.
