Rosbottom - Sunday brunch: simple, delicious recipes for leisurely mornings

Brunch is cheerful, sociable and inciting. It is talk-compelling.
It puts you in a good temper, it makes you satisfied with yourself
and your fellow beings, it sweeps away the worries and cobwebs
of the week.

GUY BERINGER, Hunters Weekly (1895)

I grew up in the South, where an opportunity to entertain is never missed, even early in the day. When I was a young girl in my teens, frequent brunches were a popular way for my friends to get together. Our mothers (bless them!) spent hours preparing these morning fetes, usually held on weekends or during the holidays. The menus would include a mouthwatering array of homemade fare. There were baskets of pastries, scrambled eggs piled high on big platters, baked hams glistening with brilliant glazes, tender biscuits, bowls of fresh fruit salad, and pots of steaming hot coffee. Arranged and served buffet-style, these meals could have fed a multitude. Our parents loved brunches as much as we youngsters did. On fall weekends, they planned late-morning, pregame menus anchored by Southern favorites such as shrimp and grits or luscious stratas. For their own parties, stiffer libations like Bloody Marys were set out alongside the coffee urn.

After college, and newly married, I finally tried my own hand at brunch. My husband and most of our friends were graduate students on limited budgets. It didnt take us long to discover that weekend brunch was an inexpensive yet special way to socialize. I still recall the first invitation we received for Sunday brunch; no meal could have been simpler or more pleasurable. The hosts set the table with crisp linens and good china, but kept the food easy and uncomplicated. That menu is still clearly etched in my memory: there were popovers with butter and homemade jam, freshly squeezed orange juice, creamy scrambled eggs, and sauted sausages and bacon. We ate, talked, laughed, and lingered at the table for several hours.

My husband and I still plan plenty of morning gatherings, sometimes large-scale ones for bustling crowds, especially around the holidays, but more frequently small, cozy get-togethers with a handful of close friends. Whatever the format, I delight in entertaining at brunch, where the possibilities for creative food and leisurely conversation are endless.

Brunch is, in fact, a relatively new phenomenon. The word itself was coined in 1895 by Guy Beringer. In an article in a British magazine, Hunters Weekly, Beringer proposed a new meal, a blending of both breakfast and luncheon fare to be served around noon on Sunday, often after a morning of hunting. A few years later, brunches began to take hold in the States, and today their popularity spans the globe.

Its easy to understand why. Anything goes when it comes to brunch. You can polish the silver and iron those damask napkins when you want to be fancy, or use your everyday dishes and set the table in the kitchen to keep things light and casual. Start as early or as late in the morning as you like, and encourage guests to stay as long as they want. Menus can be flexible, too. Serve only three or four items, or set out a copious buffet.

The recipes in this collection include classic favorites as well as original creations, but all are versatile enough to fit into whatever brunch menu youre planning. In the chapter devoted to egg cookery, youll find inspiration for poaching, frying, baking, and scrambling. Another section stars practical, all-in-one baked dishes such as savory tarts with colorful fillings, rich creamy flans, and egg gratins. If you love griddled fare, youll be tempted to try some sublime pancakes, golden waffles with irresistible toppings, and both baked and pan-sauted versions of French toast. Fresh seasonal fruits, innovatively prepared, and baked goods, warm from the oven, add special touches to any brunch; youll find plenty of tempting choices for both. To round out a menu, interesting sides, including smoked fish, hashes, grits, and several potato variations, are ready to complement brunch main courses. A final chapter is dedicated to a variety of drinks. Some are enlivened with spirits, while others are virgin; a few are offered warm, others chilled; and several are perfect for launching a meal, while a couple make fine finales.

While creating and fine-tuning the recipes for this book, I along with a talented coterie of assistants sat down to sample our handiwork at all hours of the day. Sometimes we were biting into warm caramelized shallot and ham tarts at 10 A.M., eating fried eggs on a bed of wild mushrooms at noon, or downing another version of Bloody Marys at three in the afternoon. What we discovered is that brunch fare is gloriously simple and universally appealing. The possibilities for creating interesting recipes to serve at morning meals are endless, but we chose our favorite and best for this collection. I hope the special dishes on the following pages will keep you busy planning Sunday brunches all year long.