Summer Sunday Brunch

Some of the menu items have recipes. Check them out

This weekend my famous cousin Sheldon Cohen was in town. You can check out his latest book, The Flying Canoe and scroll down for his bio. He’s won awards for illustrating several children’s book as well as directing animated films like “The Hockey Sweater”.

Naturally I had my family over for brunch and thought it would be a good opportunity to share the menu and start yet another stream of posts. (Don’t worry tomorrow I will share more of my favourite St Lawrence Market vendors).

I will be writing a series on menus. We all invite people over for dinner, brunch, cocktails, etc., and then have to decide what to serve. In doing the research for my cookbook, Once Upon a Feast – Every Kitchen Tells Its Stories, I discovered that many people get overwhelmed when having to decide on what type of food is appropriate for the occasion, how many dishes to serve and which beverages would complement them.

Summer Brunch Menu for Sheldon and the rest of the family. We were 10 and it was very casual.

Montreal Bagels (1 dozen) with lox (1 lb), cream cheese, and sliced red onion (If you’ve read my earlier post on bagels, you’ll understand)

Frittata with grilled red peppers, asparagus and artichoke hearts

Tomato slices with soft goat cheese rolled in dried Italian herbs, drizzled with a little seasoned rice wine vinegar, fresh ground pepper and fresh basil. This time I found beautiful vine-ripened red and yellow tomatoes that looked fabulous. (4-5 tomatoes and 4 oz goat cheese rolled in 2 tbsp Italian herbs)

Grilled lamb merguez sausages (from The Sausage King at the St Lawrence Market) (6 sausages cut in half after they were grilled)

Smoked trout (from Seafront at the St Lawrence Market) (1/2 lb)

Chickpea salad

Two kinds of hummus – I started with my classic recipe, divided it in half and added roasted red peppers and some chipotle chilli in adobo sauce to one and eggplant pesto from Bella Cucina Artful Food with a little fresh mint added for good measure to the other.

Pita (3-4 cut in wedges) to accompany the hummus and rosemary focaccia (1/2 loaf, sliced) as an alternative to bagels.

Fresh fruit salad – cantaloupe balls (from 1 medium sized fruit) with blueberries (1 cup) and strawberries (10 large, sliced), 1/4 cup fresh mint coarsely chopped, ¼ cup of freshly squeezed orange juice and the same amount of Grand Marnier (or whatever your favourite orange flavoured liqueur is).

Lemon Meringue cupcakes and chocolate cookies (for those with a serious sweet tooth)

Beverages: It was an early lunch so I just served fresh orange juice, coffee and tea. That said, Mimosa (orange juice and white wine) would be a wonderful choice.