Brunching With Da Ladies

Brunch was revived this morning after its brief hiatus. As usual, this morning's brunch was as much about the comfort we draw from one another's company as it is about the food. Nevertheless, the food always delights and this morning was no exception.

Cappuccinos, fruit juice, Anicka's famous scones, grapefruit, and smoked salmon hash were on the menu this morning, and I'm delighted that Anicka reminded me to copy down the scone recipe for posterity. So without further ado, here it is: the best scone recipe you'll ever taste.

Anicka's Famous Scones

• 1 large egg
• 1/2 c buttermilk
• 1 2/3 c flour
• 1 1/3 c oats
• 1/3 c sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 stick butter + 2 tbsp

Mix the egg and buttermilk first.

Then mix all the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter and mix with your hands until pea sized. Don't overmix, warns Anicka.

Add the egg/buttermilk mixture to the dry stuff and gently knead. Form the dough into a 6" circle and cut into wedges.

Bake for 20-22 minutes at 400 (for us, they were done in 16 minutes so watch them carefully).

Voila!

Weekend Brunch

Ah, brunch. There's so much to love about it. Anicka, Cristina, Catherine and I have brunching together pretty regularly for a while now. It's a tradition that greatly contributes to my sanity, and has been a forum for more than a few heartfelt and teary conversations. But don't let that mislead you, brunch is always fun and delicious. This week we had to brunch without Cristina, which is sad. So, Cristina, this post is dedicated to you. Now you don't have to feel like you've missed anything.

Coffee
So first thing's first. Coffee! In fact, I think "Can I have a coffee?" were the first words out of Anicka's mouth once she was through my door. My espresso maker is one tired old coffee machine, but it still does alright, I suppose. I'd love to get a new one eventually.


Scones
Anicka brought THE most delicious scones. I've been snacking on them all day. I hope I can entice Anicka to write a post on that recipe. They're spiced nicely and had dates and raisins. I think. According to Anicka, the key is mixing butter in with your hands in stead of a pastry cutter. She also recommends leaving the butter in biggish chunks.


Strata
My contribution was a stata that ended up being far more epic than it needed to be. It was cheese, sausage and sun dried tomato strata, which was pretty delicious although I would do a few things differently next time. I used Tofurky brand italian sausages, which really work well. Here's the recipe that served 4.

• 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes (not oil packed)


• 1 package Tofurky italian sausage


• 4 eggs


• 1 3/4 cups whole milk


• 2 teaspoons minced thyme


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 11 slices white sandwich bread


• 1/4 cup chopped onion


• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese


• 1/2 cup grated mozzerella cheese


• 1/4 cup goat cheese

1. First, soak the sundried tomatoes. Then cut the sausage into ovals and fry it up.

2. Grease a baking dish. Whisk eggs, milk, thyme, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Add sun-dried tomatoes, sausage, bread, onion, and parmesan. Transfer into the dish.

3. Cover and refridgerate for 4 hours. We didn't do this obviously.

4. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Sprinkle on mozzerella and goat cheese and bake another 5 minutes.

You couldn't notice the bread at all. I'm not sure if this is a bad thing or not. But you could experiment with adding more bread. Also, our strata was sadly burned on the bottom and top, so you might want to keep a closer eye on yours than I did.

Smoothies
Bargen the bargain hunter has discovered the joys of Choices' brown bag sales. Anyhow, she had bananas to contribute and made them into the most delightful smoothies - the perfect brunch dessert. I'm very sad to say that we neglected to photograph the smoothies. Dang. I think her method is pretty simple: bananas and french vanilla yogurt. She can correct me if I'm missing anything.