Tuesday, October 3, 2006

The Real Break Fast Menu - or a Great Brunch

Well I wrote before about what I'd be serving to break the fast after Yom Kippur and naturally there were a few changes. Because some of my guests had to cancel at the last minute....too sick to venture out, I didn't make a couple of the dishes I originally intended, but here's the final menu (with tons of left overs, I might add). Jewish or not, it makes a great Sunday brunch.

Menu

Black Bean Salad

Praline Kugel

Swiss Chard & Cheese Squares

Platter of smoked trout, salmon, marinated herring, lox (a different sort of smoked salmon)

Another platter of gefilte fish (my honey's favorite)

Assortment of cheeses - cream cheese (for the lox & bagels), Manchego(my favorite), Comte (a raw cow's milk French cheese), Brie

Lots of bread - St Urbain Bagels, fancy challah and a wonderful whole grain and pumpkin seed bread from Whole Foods (I also bought their jalapeno cornbread and Ace Bakery rosemary focaccia, but didn't serve either - into the freezer they go for drop in visits, because they're so easy to dress up)

And we can't forget desserts....

Poires Bourguigonne (Pears poached in sweet red wine)

Tunisian Date Cake (because it was such a hit last week)


Honey Cake (because there was so much left over from last week)

And because I'll be hosting this week's WHB - Weekend Herb Blogging, I thought I'd point out all the herbs I used for this feast.....
oregano and baby arugula for the Israeli Salad, fresh mint and dried thyme & oregano plus lots of fresh mint for the Black Bean Salad, parsley, dill and swiss chard for the Swiss Chard & Cheese Casserole, and more fresh mint to top the poached pears for dessert.

Related links:

3 comments:

neil said...

You do the absolute best feasts, my mouth is still watering from your Indian one. Everything looks so tasty here, especially the salads - must be the first taste of summer we are having here that makes them look so good.

Harry and Eddie said...

Hope your holidays went well, Ruth. I must say, your menu is way more exotic and daring than what I remember my gradmother serving for her fast-breaking meal. What I remember is: tuna salad, herring in cream sauce, bagels, cottage cheese with canned peaches, noodle kugel, and assorted pastries. It never varied -- EVER!

Sara said...

I agree with Neil - it all looks fantastic. I especially like the look of the pears and the date cake.