March brings the crocus and daffodil to our gardens as well as the beginning of chores and entertaining during the busy warmer months. Having guests in, while doing spring cleaning, replanting the garden, or worse, painting your house, can become work rather than a pleasure.
To solve that problem we suggest the brunch. What could be more pleasant than having friends in for a few hours on the weekend for a some conversation, good light food, and no house or garden work? Although, if you play your cards right, perhaps you might get volunteers for gardening information or, better yet, manual labor. We like brunch because it’s an inexpensive way to entertain in a casual manner. Most people think that if brunch is earlier in the day that you serve more breakfast type foods, while if you invite your guests for noon, or later, then you are obliged to serve more substantial foods. Here we are serving a meal based on a favorite egg dish which we have modified so that everyone can partake, and since Easter is not far off, we hoped you’d try it out now for use during the holiday when your family comes for the annual egg hunt.
It’s easy to decorate for a spring brunch. Just think flowers! After the cold, dark winter months, March brings tulips, daffodils, crocus, narcissus, forsythia, azaleas, and pussy willows. Place mats with flower motive or mixed plain ones in the colors of the season will brighten your mood, even if the temperature has dipped one last time before spring comes to stay. You don’t need fancy anything for a brunch. Your everyday china, flatware, and crystal are fine, but if you have flowered china get it out. Place flowers, as many as you can afford, around the house and on the table. One time we used the theme, April showers bring May flowers, and had small paper parasols to go along with the flowers, added water cans, and seed packets to the center of the table. It worked well. Another time we placed clay pots on top of each other, open side down and then open side up on top, filled the top ones with blooming bulbs, laid moss down the middle of the table like a runner, and placed new garden tools between the stacked pots. Voilá. For Easter fill a wire hen with colored hard boiled eggs, give Easter bunnies to the children present, and decorate with beautiful small hats, bought at a local party shop, reminiscent of the Easter Parade.
Lilies make any occasion festive. Add French wired ribbon for napkin rings and you have an elegant table. My own philosophy is that less is better in terms of table decorations so remember to sit at your table after you have decorated it, and see if you can see the other side, or if you feel overwhelmed. If so, remove some elements until it works better. You can always use some of the removed items on a buffet table, entrance hallway table, powder room, etc. Speaking of the powder room, now is the time to put away the formal winter hand towels, for something more suitable for the anticipated spring. You may want to replace those used shaped soaps with flower shaped ones, too. It truly is the little things that you do that tell your guests that you entertain well.
Now lets look at the menu and our notes about the recipes.
It is not true that "real men don’t eat quiche". This crustless quiche is hearty and you can substitute any vegetable you like for the spinach we used as long as you know your exchanges. Do remember if you use vegetables with a high water content like zucchini, to wring out that liquid before adding to the other ingredients. Asparagus, the harbinger of spring would be wonderful in this dish as would fennel. The Swiss cheese we use is real cheese only made with skim milk. It tastes like Swiss cheese, is as hard as Swiss cheese and can be grated. I guess what we’re saying here, is not to use the gummy cheese product that has no resemblance to any cheese, let alone Swiss.
For our sausage, we had the butcher coarsely grind some turkey breast, but you can use prepackaged ground turkey if you like. Just check the label to make sure it contains no skin and no more than 10% fat. Our recipe calls for Calvados to flavor the sausage which is an apple brandy from northern France. You don’t have to go out and purchase it for this one recipe; substitute an orange flavored liquor and your sausages will be as good. Many more people have Triple Sec or Grand Marnier in the liquor cabinet than Calvados. One more trick of the trade when preparing any pate or sausage, is to sauté a tiny bit of it to see if it’s nicely seasoned or if you need to add more herbs. You can then add more before preparing the final dish. Do start at a mid-point and then add more as you can never remove the herbs and pepper after they are added to the turkey mixture.
When I was preparing this meal, I had to purchase papaya, and to tell the truth, selecting a ripe papaya is different than selecting other fruits. Usually I use my nose and eyes when selecting summer fruits, but with a papaya you look for a yellow unblemished fruit that weighs heavy in the hand. It will give only lightly to the touch, but when you slice it in half the flesh will be sweet and soft. One more bit of advice before we get to the actual recipes, and that is to check the raspberries carefully. These wonderful, but expensive berries have a short shelf life and often mold from the middle of the container out. I usually ask when they arrived and always look underneath. If you see juice collecting, don’t buy them. I give them a gentle shake and if they are stuck together, I also leave them in the store. You can substitute any fresh berry for the raspberries and the dessert will still sing. To end your meal make sure that you have a variety of teas and some good brewed coffee; then your brunch is complete.
(for the recipes, click on The Recipes or click on the individual recipe above)
