Help me with my brunch menu

[plantnerd]

This is for my family's xmas day brunch.  I'm serving around noon, and there will be 5 adults one baby.

Menu options:

eggs benedict

roasted asparagus

home fries

fresh fruit asst

sour cream coffee cake

southern sausage biscuits and gravy

cheese scrambled eggs

roasted corn salad

grapefruit halves w/ white wine syrup

blueberry muffins

potato and zucchini fritatta

maple bacon

wilted baby greens salad w/ goat cheese and dried cranberries

garlic crostini

grilled peaches w/ balsamic syrup and gingersnap crumbles

granola and dried fruit quickbread

this is the one I'm having trouble with...

hot bagels w/ cream cheese, lox, and capers

and....???

Which would ya'll rather chow on?  And any ideas for accompanaiments to the bagels?  Drinks are coffee, oj, champagne, and bloody mary's.

[Shantimama]

 Oh my - I haven't eaten breakfast yet and it ALL looks good to me right now!

I would go with whatever will be most enjoyable for you to prepare that morning. All of the menus are fantastic - your family is lucky!

[plantnerd]

Originally Posted by Shantimama 

 Oh my - I haven't eaten breakfast yet and it ALL looks good to me right now!

I would go with whatever will be most enjoyable for you to prepare that morning. All of the menus are fantastic - your family is lucky!

I'm lucky to have a small enough family to prepare something like this for LOL

The italian style one would be the easiest to make, but I made a fritatta last year so I'm thinking of maybe trying something different.  The eggs bennie appeals to me a lot as a "traditional" brunch food but I've never made a hollandaise before, although I did find a recipe for a fool proof blender hollanadaise, so...

[HollyBearsMom]

this one gets my vote because I love a good frittata!

potato and zucchini fritatta

maple bacon

wilted baby greens salad w/ goat cheese and dried cranberries

garlic crostini

grilled peaches w/ balsamic syrup and gingersnap crumbles

granola and dried fruit quickbread

However my family does love a big deli/bagel breafast so I am sure they would vote that way

I would do

• assorted bagels-plain, salt, everything, poppy
• cream cheese, you could also throw in flavored one (honey walnut?) if there is a sweet eater in the family
• smoked salmon/lox
• sliced onion,sliced tomatoes, capers, chopped dill
• sour cream
• chopped/sliced hardboiled eggs
• big kosher pickles, either whole or cut in quarters
• potatoe pancakes (you could go untraditional and do sweet potato ones) or even better- knishes!
• dessert could be black and white cookies or some kind of fruit tart. For something lighter a simple fruit salad topped with whipped greek yogurt

[plantnerd]

Originally Posted by HollyBearsMom 

this one gets my vote because I love a good frittata!

potato and zucchini fritatta

maple bacon

wilted baby greens salad w/ goat cheese and dried cranberries

garlic crostini

grilled peaches w/ balsamic syrup and gingersnap crumbles

granola and dried fruit quickbread

However my family does love big deli/bagel breafast so I am sure they would vote that way

I would do

• assorted bagels-plain, salt, everything, poppy
• cream cheese, you could also throw in flavored one (honey walnut?) if there is a sweet eater in the family
• smoked salmon/lox
• sliced onion,sliced  tomatoes, capers, chopped dill
• sour cream
• chopped/sliced hardboiled eggs
• big kosher pickles, either whole or cut in quarters
• potatoe pancakes (you could untraditional and do sweet potato ones or even better- knishes!
• dessert could be black and white cookies or some kind of fruit tart. For something lighter a simple fruit salad topped with whipped greek yogurt

Thanks for the tips, you rule you know.  Mmmmm, latkes!  I figured someone with more, ahem, yankee food experience would be a help on the bagels meal.  That sounds soooo good, and would be a different one for us.  DH would feel like he was back home :)

[HollyBearsMom]

Glad to help!! 

Is your husband from NYC??  They can be pretty particular about their bagels, LOL.  Its all in the water you know!!   

My moms neighbor in FLA would have them shipped to her from Katz Deli EVERY week in the winter.

[plantnerd]

He is, came down to charlotte after the navy and had the good sense to marry a southern girl. 

[HollyBearsMom]

I married a nice southern boy!  I guess it works both ways, LOL!

[plantnerd]

Originally Posted by HollyBearsMom 

I married a nice southern boy!  I guess it works both ways, LOL!

[plantnerd]

You should make him some biscuits and gravy for xmas, and I will make mine bagels and lox.

[HollyBearsMom]

Sounds like a plan! 

Whats the trick for light/fluffy beaten biscuits?  Mine are always a little dry/tough.  They are better now than they were 19 years ago when we were first married but they just are not the same as when we go "home".

[plantnerd]

Mix them with your hands, and only mix a couple of times, like there's no way the ingredients seem combined enough.  Get all of your ingredients cold.  You want big chunks of butter in there.  Lot's of it.  Brush them with more melted butter when you bake.  I know, the horror.

[plantnerd]

Ah, and try cake flour.  It's lower gluten and seems to help a lot of baked goods be less tough, and good biscuits should crumble apart in your hand when you try to spread honey and butter on them.  Oh man, I'm hungry now.

[HollyBearsMom]

Yum!! you can never have too much butter!  (okay now I sound like Paula Deen!  My inner voice even sounded southern as I wrote that!)

I do mix by hand but must be using too heavy of a touch.  Never even thought of using cake flour!

Ach!! so now I am hungry too!  a wam biscuit topped with more butter and a drizzle of honey would be so good right now...... 

[madskye]

This might be easier than eggs benedict

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Baked-Eggs-and-Mushrooms-in-Ham-Crisps-106150

in that you don't have to worry about poaching or making a hollandaise sauce. 

[cristeen]

I'm all about the biscuits and gravy.  Particularly on Xmas morning.  We have steak and eggs, biscuits and gravy.

But the recipe the pp posted - that is super easy and delicious.  If you top it with some hollandaise sauce, and have toast/english muffin on the side, it's essentially the same as eggs benedict with half the dishes.  I would never serve asparagus at this time of year in the northern hemisphere - it's out of season, expensive, been transported halfway across the world, and not nearly as tasty as good spring-time asparagus. 

As for mixing the biscuits, I literally add my milk and give it about 3 stirs with the spatula.  Turn it onto the board, gather it all together, squeeze it to adhere and maybe knead it once or twice.  I've actually managed to make biscuits that were too tender that way.  Alternatively, you can make an angel biscuit, which is a yeasted biscuit dough, and it's way more forgiving because of the long rise.  We always make them and shape them the night before, pop them in the fridge and pull them out and bake in the morning. 

[velochic]

Originally Posted by plantnerd 

Mix them with your hands, and only mix a couple of times, like there's no way the ingredients seem combined enough.  Get all of your ingredients cold.  You want big chunks of butter in there.  Lot's of it.  Brush them with more melted butter when you bake.  I know, the horror.

Or use leaf lard, which will make them flakier than butter.  (I know, I know... the never ending argument of butter vs. lard )  I agree that cold ingredients and minimal mixing is the main key to fluffy biscuits.

Also, when you are cutting the biscuits, don't twist the biscuit cutter as you're cutting.  Go straight down and straight back up.  The twisting seals the edges or something and they don't rise as well.  I use the White Lily recipe for my biscuits.

I like the biscuits and gravy menu, personally.  I would be worried that the eggs benedict would be difficult to keep warm doing everything else.  Your hollandaise is likely to break if you're not careful and spend enough time paying attention to it.  Plus there is no meat protein in your first option.  There's no reason you can't combine odds and ends of the different menus.  The bagels sound good.  You can do a bagel station of toast-your-own-bagels with cream cheese, lox, thinly slice red onion, capers and caviar.  That would be something you could do completely ahead of time and not have to worry about.  Another idea for a contrasting taste would be to make huevos rancheros for the egg dish.

It all sounds delicious and I would hope that anyone would appreciate the hard work you put into any of those menus.  Above all, don't stress yourself out.  It's not worth it.  I spent too many years worrying more about the menu and not enough about spending time with family on these occasions.  Happy Holidays!

[velochic]

Originally Posted by cristeen 
I would never serve asparagus at this time of year in the northern hemisphere - it's out of season, expensive, been transported halfway across the world, and not nearly as tasty as good spring-time asparagus.

I agree!

[babydanielsmom]

I vote for the Biscuits & Gravy ...but then again I'm from NC. :)