Brunch Magic with Boozy Baked French Toast

I adore brunch. It’s part of San Francisco’s food soul. We know how to Brunch in this city and we take our late morning meals very seriously. So it’s no surprise my family opted for a brunch mother’s day fiesta. We actually got to do it two weekends in a row since my folks were in town visiting the weekend before mother’s day and then the in-laws came over on actual mother’s day. The one drawback of hosting is the hostess is always running about the kitchen and prancing in and out of conversation like a little food fairy. For once I wanted to sit and chat and enjoy relaxing while also hosting so I turned to my girl, smittenkitchen for some ideas and man did she deliver! I played with her Baked Boozy French Toast recipe and it was a major hit. Super easy; prep the night before and then throw it in the oven the day of. That’s it. I paired it with soft scrambled eggs (ie. cook low and slow stirring constantly and you get the creamiest eggs ever) and some bacon that I baked off in the oven (400 degrees for 15 mins). I threw together a quick fruit salad (or have your brother-in-law do it which was what I did the second weekend) and an easy berry compote (optional but awesome) and we were set. I could spend the morning sipping far too many mimosas and not hoarding over the stove. So next time you want a brunch that wow’s the table but doesn’t make you wish you could clone yourself, try this French toast. It’s brunch magic!

A Food Challenge

I had an unanticipated random food challenge this week. By the devilish wiles of chance and fate I ended up with nearly two pounds of red bliss potatoes, 1 large onion, 2 leeks, 5 bunches of asparagus, one head of iceberg lettuce, the remains of a bunch of celery, a bag of baby greens, 3 pints of dying strawberries, 2 avocados, a handful of radishes and 4 defrosted skinless chicken breast. Luckily there was no partridge or pear tree to be had. To add to this dilemma was the fact that I only had two days to get this food cooked, eaten and leftovers frozen as the husband and I were heading out of town for the weekend and the following week marked the beginning of my two week trip across country for work, leaving husband to fend for himself in the kitchen! So I did what any other person would, I stood shivering in front of my open refrigerator scratching my head…. er, I mean, “assessing the situation.”

Once that proved fruitless I took to the web, facebooking, food blogging and emailing friends for inspiration. Lots of fun things came out of this exercise and I have certainly now added a ton to my “plan to cook at some point in the future” list. I already had my heart set on cooking a chicken casserole dish this week (see post next week) so with that in mind it became an asparagus battle. I mean what does one do with 5 large bunches of asparagus (never mind pounds of potatoes)? It is a rather daunting task. Particularly when one’s husband only kind of likes asparagus leaving ONE to really eat all 5 bunches of asparagus largely on one’s own!! And while I simply adore bacon wrapped, deep fried and other tastily fat filled asparagus delights, I do have a wedding to go to this weekend in a sunny local where a bathing suit may also be adorned (GASP!). As such, these types of delectable recipes will have to hold for another time.

But then I was thinking (a dangerous thing in fact)…..a little fat isn’t too terrible right? And some cheese? I mean, if you’re cooking, cheese really must to be involved. Everyone knows that. And hmm, don’t I just love bread. I do really love bread. It’s so flaky and crusty and chewy…..and…..uh oh, an idea was percolating. Frozen puff pastry dough, check. Onions for caramelizing, check. Extra Gruyere from said planned chicken casserole, check. Potatoes and asparagus, double check. I smell a tart coming on!

And so my little adventure resulted in a delightful tart (which further inspired a lovely salad) that would be supplemented by the creamy chicken tetrazzini being made later in the week. My food challenge response: Potato, Asparagus and Caramelized Onion Tart with a side spring salad. I didn't end up using every potato or aspargus spear so who knows, maybe I'll whip up a soup before we head out of town tomorrow, but this tart was definitely one hell of a tastey experiment!

Homemade Biscuits Make Brunch a Major Hit

It seems like every time company comes to visit it’s a food whirlwind, trucking from one delicious eating opportunity to another. Maybe it’s related to my general life obsession with food and eating but no matter the reason it’s always an adventure. My folks were in town visiting recently and so Sunday brunch with my in-laws was a big item on the to-do list. We had been out to eat a ton so I figured we should do brunch at my house where people could relax and avoid the hassle that can be a restaurant brunch. However, I didn’t want to spend my entire morning in the kitchen so I had to do some research.

I found these spectacularly easy but delightfully delicious buttermilk chive biscuits while trolling smittenkitchen. Now I have never in my life made biscuits from scratch before, but armed with my new found obsession with bread making (and the pastry blender I picked up recently) I figured, what the heck.

And OH MY!!!! Easy to make especially with my little pastry cutter but you could certainly use your fingers to break the butter into the flour. The texture was sinful, flaky, buttery, light but rich in flavor. I could not stop eating these little guys! The best part --- after shaping the biscuits and placing them onto cookie sheets, I wrapped the whole thing in tinfoil and plopped it in the freezer the night before (and I am sure you could make them days in advance) and baked the biscuits up in no time flat straight from the freezer before we sat down to brunch. A major homemade touch that took maybe 10 minutes to mix the dough and form the biscuits and 15 minutes to cook. Easy as pie and a major winner on the brunch table. I will be making these again and again. Maybe next time I’ll add bacon pieces too!

Not Your Mom’s Banana Muffins

When we were really lucky, hadn’t recently sent my mom screaming toward the nearest psych ward with our incessant sibling wars, my little brother and I would periodically wake up to my mom’s homemade banana muffins before school. This was a serious treat folks. Not that pop tarts, toaster strudels, or those freaky Ovaltine breakfast ‘shakes’ we usually had weren’t the bees knees, but homemade banana muffins piping hot from the oven are serious drool worthy eats.

Now bananas and I have a rather contentious relationship. I actually quite adore the lovely yellow fruit. Sprinkled over any cereal, pancakes, with peanut butter and honey…any way you slice it, I am a fan. But I can’t help but feel the banana doesn’t quite love me back, or at least has a mean streak. I buy them in these big gorgeous bunches, hang them on high in my nifty wire hanging fruit baskets and then before I’ve made too big of a dent, the darn things are brown and spotty already. I am NOT one of those over-ripe banana lovers. In fact, there is a small window of time that the banana is in my favor when it’s not really green anymore with a good yellow hue and no sign of brown. I just can’t seem to eat them fast enough. I know, I know...there is always the 'don't buy so many option' or the 'put them in the frige once they are ripe to your liking' way of doing it, but I just can't seem to get my act together on this one. Enter the banana muffin.

Those deep dark brown dead bananas are perfect for muffins and breads. Their sugars are ripe for baking! So I took my mom’s recipe and played with it, coming up with what I think is quite a superb specimen of banana muffin glory. Not that mom's aren't fantastic, but I think mine do quite well with the hungry folks in my house.

Not Your Mom’s Banana Muffins
(A Girl and Her Kitchen)

½ cup butter (unsalted and room temp)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs (room temp)
¼ cup whole milk
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups whole wheat flour (can sub all purpose flour)
1 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1 cup toasted coconut flakes (optional)
Brown sugar (for sprinkling)

Preheat oven to 375º

In a bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.

In a second bowl, mash together bananas, milk and vanilla.

In a third bowl, cream butter and sugar using medium speed of an electric mixer (or use your super duper KitchenAid mixer). Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Add half the flour mixture and mix to combine. Add the banana, milk, vanilla mixture. Mix well. Add in the rest of the flour mixture and mix well.

Using a wooden spoon, fold in the chocolate chips and toasted coconut.

Spoon the batter into cupcake tins filling them 4/5 full (I use an ice cream scoop). Sprinkle each with a bit of brown sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes (if making mini muffins, bake for 15 minutes). They are cooked through when a small knife or toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean (save for some melted chocolate :). Enjoy!