Brunch

Mid morning get together's are their own genre to other meals, what is appropriate to serve guests during this time? It's not really a salad or sandwich meal and it has to be more like breakfast but more substantial.


My favourite brunch dish is a variation on the BLT, fried bacon and mushrooms wrapped in a wholemeal pita with homemade mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato. This works ok for one or two as it has to be eaten warm and quickly. This weekend I am making banana and coconut bread, feta and potato hash browns, maple and mustard sausages with grapes, bacon and caramelised onion quiches and for a sweet treat - chocolate and raspberry tiramisu, all washed down with copious amounts of coffee and juice.


The tiramisu recipe was given to me by N from J1s work, it is divine - for brunch I thought it would be good to have a layer of tartness and I think the raspberries work well to cut through the richness for this time of the morning.

Chocolate and Raspberry Tiramisu

3 eggs separated
1/3 cup caster sugar
250g mascarpone
1 cup thickened cream
1 1/2 tablespoons dutch-process cocoa
1 cup freshly brewed espresso coffee, cooled
1 1/2 tablespoons strega or marsala liqueur
250g savoiardi biscuits
100g raspberries pureed with 1 teaspoon sugar.

Beat egg yolks and 1/4 cup sugar until thick and pale, add mascarpone and combine well. Whisk cream and remaining sugar until stiff peaks form, add to mascarpone mixture and divide into 2 bowls. Sift cocoa into one bowl and mix. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, divide in half and fold each half into each bowl. Combine coffee and liquor. Dip the savoiardi biscuits into coffee mixture turning once and place in tray till you have one layer of biscuits down. Spread the chocolate mixture on top, then a layer of raspberry puree, another layer of dipped biscuits, then the plain mascarpone mixture. Finally sift over a layer of cocoa and/or grated chocolate. Best made one or two days before you want to eat.

Yesterday was J1's birthday, we went to see Varekai cirque du Soleil it felt like we had been transported either back or forward in time where you could watching humans do amazing feats. It was quite spectacular. We also took the kids ten pin bowling today, it was excellent fun well worth doing if you want to do something a little bit different.