BRUNCH (the last word)

SOME HINTS FOR MAKING BRUNCH EASY, OR AT LEAST EASIER

In planning a brunch, I always look for dishes that can be made a day ahead and saved in the refrigerator overnight. There's nothing worse than having a lot going on in the kitchen while you're trying to mix and entertain your guests. And since I have only one oven, if two dishes have to be cooked at the same time, the recipes must call for them to be cooked at the same temperature, or at least within 25 degrees of each other, in which case I usually split the difference and adjust the timing. But this can be tricky. (Many years ago, a budding chef at a seduction dinner for me tried to make a souffle and broil a steak in the same oven at the same time. It didn't work of course, and the dinner was so late, and the effort to sort all this out so extensive, that we never got to the seduction. But we had a great laugh.) Some dishes can be partially cooked and saved in the refrigerator overnight, with cooking finished the next day. Do as much as you can ahead - that's why I leave the booze out of my bloody marys and let my guests make them as strong as they like.

Try to think about the tastes and colors and textures of the food you decide to serve, keeping in mind that the contrast is important. For instance, you don't want to serve three different things with cheese, even different kinds of cheese, as the main ingredient.

In my original menu, I recommended a sweet bread of some kind...cinnamon rolls, sweet biscuits, sticky buns. I usually try to find this kind of thing at my trip to Costco where I'm almost always successful.  And I often buy some kind of chocolate candies that I leave out in a little dish for those who absolutely must satisfy their sweet tooth at the end of the meal. You can use your imagination here for both the bread and the candy. Even chocolate kisses would be fine.

(If you're feeling energetic and want a recipe for easy sticky buns, let me know. And now that the brunch menu is complete, let me know what you'd like next.) Stay tuned.