[shroomgirl]

just booked an offsite annual brunch a couple has to celebrate their tulips....
what a delight to write the options. Anyone have Spring Brunch ideas they'd like to share?

final menu.
fresh squeezed OJ
Good Coffee

sweet spicy pecans

Seafood Appetizer: oyster rockefeller (in fillo cups), shrimp remoulade, crabcake....plated and served to each guest


Entree: Pissonolet with local baby greens, poached farm eggs, lardons, roasted fingerlings, shallot dressing

basket of guyere biscuits

Dessert: Strawberry shortcake with lemon curd, berries, whipped cream

Snacky treats: amaretti, brownies, chocolate cups with chambord mousse, shortbreads

Just fun to celebrate Spring....and I love a good brunch.

Rest of the selection:
Choice of Demitasse of soup:
Cold Beet Soup with Goatsbeard Chevre and Sherry Syrup
Spring Carrot Dillweed Soup
Morel Mushroom Bisque
Asparagus Bisque
$6.50 per person

Or
New Orleans Seafood: Oysters Rockefeller, Shrimp Remoulade, Blue Crab Cake
$10.50 per person


Choice of Entrees:

*Pissonolet, baby green salad topped with poached farm egg, lardons and roasted fingerling potatoes
dressed with a shallot vinaigrette
Highly recommended as it's substantial enough but also light enough for a three course Brunch.

Eggs Sardou, poached farm eggs on a creamy artichoke and spinach with lardons

Cheesy Anson Mills Grit Cake (really good corn grits with sharp cheddar), topped with a poached eggs and served with andouille sausage

Poached farm eggs on blue crab cake with a spicy cream sauce

All served with baskets of tiny gruyere biscuits.

$18. per person


Desserts Choices:

Strawberry Crepes Fitzgerald, tender crepes filled with orange mascarpone and topped with a warm strawberry sauce

Chocolate Cup with Chambord Mousse and Raspberries

Strawberry Shortcake with Lemon Curd, Spring berries and slightly sweetened whipped cream

Lemon Brulee Tart with Fresh berries

$7.50 per person


Tiny Treats:

Bite size chocolate cups with Chambord mousse
Little lemon bars
Amaretti topped with pine nuts
Chocolate Brownie bites
Small Shortbread
$11 per person

[foodnfoto]

What beautiful menus Shroom! What do I have to do to get an invitation?
Tulips are my absolute favorites!

Two things I love in the spring are:
Creamy minted English pea soup-sounds ordinary, but it's wonderful!
Anything made with rhubarb-tarts, pies, turnovers, chutney, lightly poached in wine syrup on top of Greek Yogurt etc.

[shroomgirl]

rhubarb and lilacs are in season here together......must be about time, the old farmer that used to sell at Soulard (250+ year old market downtown, that has a handful of farmers and alot of brokers) 10 years ago told me he was the youngest in 1930 and the oldest in 1999.....had mint, dillweed, tied with string, lettuces, baby greens....actually they were probably thinnings, lilacs and green/red thin rhubarb. His sister died in 2000, he had heart problems in 2006, sweet thing was so appreciative when I made soup as a market demo and shared with him, he'd not had anything but Campbell's since sis passed.

Anyway as the oldest in his family, family had left him farms throughout the years. He was sitting on many millions of dollars in farmland and driving a beatup old truck etc..... I miss him.

Rhubarb is one of my very favorite things in the whole wide world.....right up there with gooseberries.

Rhubarb on chevre is pretty good too, or on lemon curd.....weird putting tart on tart but work

Shell peas never reach the cook pot.....the local season is fairly short and only a couple of farmers raise them.....normally they are just eaten out of hand.

Another beginning of Spring treat is sorrel.....again never gets home, always consumed raw at market or in car.

[Montelago]

Sounds like you have the menus pretty much set. I'm not sure that we could help you much. One thing I always serve for my Easter and Mother's day brunches is slow braised leg of spring lamb with minted heirloom tomato jam. Just a little pile served on a sweet corn blini.

[shroomgirl]

It's been a long very very wet, my feet are webbed spring/winter.....ugh.
It's time for spring food.
Menu was fun putting to gether and interesting to see what was selected ...including tiny treats.....

Just wanted to hear from more about what's on their menus. Spring brunch....what a glorious meal.

[kuan]

Sounds pretty cool. How do you make a cold beet soup, basically cold borscht?

[cape chef]

Shroom, I always, always admire your menus. Based on French technique and loaded with local ingredients.

[the_seraphim]

Originally Posted by foodnfoto

Two things I love in the spring are:
Creamy minted English pea soup-sounds ordinary, but it's wonderful!
Anything made with rhubarb-tarts, pies, turnovers, chutney, lightly poached in wine syrup on top of Greek Yogurt etc.

minted english pea soup? why english pea soup.....

im english and i dont even like pea soup.. no wait, hang on, the 3 soup servings i had yesterday and the one ive got left for breakfast.... hmmm..

ok nvm lol!

good menu, but can someone explain entrees and pissontherocks things and all the other things....

i know starter main and dessert, i know appertiser comes at the start and deserrts come at the end... but in between... i dunno! lol

also... what if your seafood allergic... no appertiser for me... (not allergic, just... eugh!) the rest of the things for appertisers seem a bit... fancy... but then perhaps it is just that (cheap for fancy ill grant you) a fancy brunch thingy....

its breakfast, elevenses, lunch, dinner, afternoon tea, supper

thats how i want it to be labeled lol!

why oh why does all foody things have to be in french! lol... i only speak english, (and a little mandarin, russian japanese and german but not much of each, just the essentials) fine.... ill learn french too

[shroomgirl]

1) several years ago one of Daniel Bouloud's cooks made butternut squash soup and basically told me the secret.....
saute onions in a pot, add any cubed veg. add water (not stock) just to the top of the veg. cover the pot and cook approx 20-30 minutes until done.
puree, run through a chinois. Works.

So beet soup....the above, oh yeah I forgot the salt, add salt too.....
I thin local chevre with alittle cream.....still thick but not chunky if that makes sense. Then reduce sherry vinegar with alittle honey or sugar, until it's syrup.

2) thanks CC.....yep that kind of defines the majority of my food.....mostly french technique with local ingredients.

3) Seraphim.... well, um, that's just one example of a bid I wrote......as I don't have a restaurant and am catering this brunch 11am-2:30pm....and since it is a small number of guests allergies are apparently not an issue.
As to rich soups, well yeah the bisques are cream base and they are very rich....but it's more of a cup than a bowl. The clients vaciliated between morel bisque and the seafood.....
Glad they went with the pissonolet, just a really beautiful salad entree....

Um, not all foody things are french.....I make Italian, Greek, Asian, Indian, Cajun....(not the andouille and grit cake, those are southern USA as is the crepes fitzgerald is from New Orleans as well as the short cake).....

Brunch to me is almost inherently southern american.....it's apart of the culture. Long leisurely multicourse meals with jazz bands.....south Louisiana is rendolent with Sunday brunch....cajun/creole french comes through.