Sunday Brunch

For my first post of actual cooking I thought it would be fitting to do something typically "American."  Because it is Sunday I thought, why not brunch?  So in an effort to showcase one of my favorite meals, I decided to make a delicious brunch for myself and two great friends.

For people outside of the US who aren't familiar with the term "brunch," allow me to elaborate.  Brunch is a combination of breakfast and lunch (hence the name, brunch) typically eaten on a weekend or perhaps a holiday.  It can include both sweet and savory items such as pancakes, sausages, eggs, omelets etc., but my family tends to veer toward the sweet side.  Sometimes my mom and brother will make light and succulent fruit crepes on New Year's Day, which are always a hit.

Today I decided to make stuffed french toast with rhubarb compote and brown sugar bacon.  The rhubarb compote was basically a way to use the rhubarb my roommate and I got from our farm share.  I have never cooked with rhubarb before so it was a unique experience for me.  I expected the rhubarb to have more of a stringy celery-like texture because it looks very similar but it was different than I expected and it was also much more pleasant!  The compote turned out less syrupy than it was supposed to, which I believe is because I must not have boiled the mixture long enough.  It still had great flavor even though it was the wrong consistency.  The recipe I used for the rhubarb compote was from Bon Appétit on Epicurious.

As for the french toast, I sort of just made that up as I went along.  Although all of the bakeries in my neighborhood were closed today, I managed to find some decent challah-like bread that I cut into half-inch slices.  The stuffing was a mixture of plain cream cheese and sugar that I spread between two slices at a time making little sandwiches if you will.  Then I dunked each "sandwich" into the egg mixture (eggs, milk, bourbon vanilla) and then cooked in in a buttered pan.

The idea for brown sugar bacon came from family friends of ours.  One holiday my family had a brunch at our house and our guests made this unbelievable bacon that my family now makes anytime we have bacon (which isn't often).  It is very simple to do: all you do is start cooking the bacon in a pan and then sprinkle brown sugar over the bacon to your liking.  Healthy?  Absolutely not.  Delicious?  Most definitely.  Just make sure to not set the bacon on paper towels to soak up grease if that is your normal routine.  This bacon is way too sticky for that and you'll end up eating pieces of paper towel, not a good look.

To finish it off, my amazing friends decided to make mimosas to go along with the brunch.  They bought a peach champagne to mix with the orange juice to make an extra-fruity morning pick-me-up!

All in all it was a great first entry!  Until next time...