There's nothing posh about brunch. It's a damned good excuse to hang out with friends at the weekend
The word "brunch" conjures up images of weekend queues of skinny jeans and trimmed beards outside hip eateries; young families in four-wheel drives carrying quinoa salads and rainbow macaroons to a friend's garden party; and just a general state of untroubled, comfortable being.
But that's only part of the picture. Brunch, for me, is an extended breakfast that should be enjoyed whenever you have time properly to engage in cooking and eating. The posh associations of the term aren't necessary at all. Quite the opposite: what I imagine is a bunch of lazy faces getting out of bed around 10am on a weekend morning and putting together a feast to be enjoyed by midday, when everybody can finally be bothered to make it to the table. It's a long meal that takes up a large chunk of the middle of the day, a proper celebration of food, but without the fanfare and worries that come with a full-blown dinner party; rather, it is a familial, booze-free (unless you count the bloody marys) and stress-free alternative.
Food-wise, although I am willing to spend an hour preparing one centrepiece dish – this invariably involves egg – the rest needs to be immediate, simple and unchallenging, in terms both of flavour and of the effort needed to make it. Essentially, everything should come out of the fridge, cupboard or local bakery: bread and butter, jams, coffee, fruit juice, a few mild cheeses, granola, yoghurt and some buttery pastries. This, plus the weekend papers, is all you need to spend half a day in unadulterated domestic bliss.
*Aubergine, potato, tomato*
There's a fair bit of preparation involved in this but this is a stunning, unusual dish that you can easily get hooked on. Serves four to six.
*4 medium tomatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm dice*
*½ small red onion, peeled and finely chopped*
*1 tbsp white-wine vinegar*
*15g parsley, chopped*
*1½ tbsp Sriracha (or other hot savoury chilli sauce)*
*Salt and black pepper*
*2 aubergines, cut into 3cm chunks*
*250ml olive oil*
*About 300ml sunflower oil*
*600g charlotte potatoes (or other waxy variety), peeled and cut into 3mm-thick slices*
*80g tahini paste*
*2½ tbsp lemon juice*
*1 small garlic clove, peeled and crushed*
*6 eggs*
*1 tsp sumac*
*1 tbsp coriander, chopped*
Put the peeled, diced tomatoes in a colander for half an hour to drain. Transfer to a medium bowl and add the chopped onion, vinegar, parsley, Sriracha and a quarter-teaspoon of salt. Mix gently and set aside.
Mix the aubergine with a teaspoon and a half of salt, place in a colander and set over a bowl for half an hour, to drain off any excess liquid. Transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper and pat dry.
In a 26cm sauté pan or skillet, put 200ml of olive oil and as much sunflower oil as you need to bring it 1cm up the sides of the pan. Place on a medium-high heat and, once hot, add the aubergine in batches and fry for three to four minutes, until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon, transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper and repeat with the rest of the aubergine. Leave the oil to cool, pour into a jar – you'll be able to use it for future frying – and wipe down the pan.
Bring a medium pan of water to a boil, add the potatoes and cook for three minutes. Drain, refresh under cold water and set aside to dry. Add two tablespoons of fresh olive oil to the skillet and place on a medium-high heat. Add the potatoes and fry for 10 minutes with a quarter-teaspoon of salt and a crack of black pepper, until cooked through and golden brown; turn them over from time to time. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
Put the tahini, 60ml of water, a tablespoon and a half of lemon juice, the garlic and a pinch of salt in a medium bowl, and whisk to a thick, pourable consistency. Spoon half the sauce over the potatoes and spread the aubergine on top. Follow this with the remaining tahini, then the tomatoes. Poach the eggs just before you are ready to serve and lay them on top of the tomatoes, along with a drizzle of the remaining oil, a sprinkle each of sumac and coriander, and the last of the lemon juice. Bring to the table in the pan.
*Super french toast*
This is a hybrid of bread pudding and french toast. You can make the pudding a day in advance and fry the bread at the last minute. To say this "needs" anything extra would be, frankly, decadent, but some stewed seasonal fruit or fresh berries would not go amiss. Brioche loaf is now sold in most supermarkets. Serves eight.
*600ml full-fat milk*
*200ml double cream*
*1 orange, skin peeled into long strips (make sure you don't take any bitter pith with it)*
*3 long cinnamon sticks, broken in half*
*1 vanilla pod, cut in half lengthwise and seeds scraped out*
*400g brioche loaf, crusts cut off and discarded (or nibbled with good jam), cut into eight 2.5cm slices*
*6 eggs*
*40g caster sugar *
*60g unsalted butter*
*40g icing sugar*
*240g sour cream*
*Maple syrup, to serve*
Heat the oven to 170C/335F/gas mark 3. Put the milk, cream, orange skin, cinnamon, split vanilla pod and seeds in a medium saucepan. Heat gently on a medium-low heat until just before it comes to a boil – about five minutes – then turn off the heat and leave to infuse for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, line a 32cm x 22cm oven dish with baking paper and lay the brioche slices flat in the base.
Put the eggs and sugar in a bowl and whisk. Slowly whisk in the warm infused cream, then strain and pour two-thirds of the custard over the brioche, to cover. Tip the remaining custard into a wide, shallow bowl and set aside.
Bake the brioche for 20 minutes, until the custard is cooked through and golden brown. Remove and set aside to cool, then cut into eight roughly equal squares.
Put half the butter in a large nonstick frying pan and place on a medium-high heat. Dip half the bread squares into the bowl of reserved custard, transfer to a plate and sprinkle half a teaspoon of icing sugar on each square. Lay the brioche slices in the pan, sugar side down, and fry for 30 seconds to a minute, to caramelise the sugar. While they are frying, sprinkle half a teaspoon of icing sugar on the other side of each slice. Flip over and cook for another 30-60 seconds, until the sugar is dark brown and crisp, then remove from the pan and leave to rest on a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining brioche slices and butter.
To serve, place one slice of toast on each plate with two tablespoons of sour cream and as much maple syrup as you like.
• Yotam Ottolenghi is chef/patron of Ottolenghi and Nopi in London.
Follow Yotam on Twitter. Reported by guardian.co.uk 6 hours ago.
The word "brunch" conjures up images of weekend queues of skinny jeans and trimmed beards outside hip eateries; young families in four-wheel drives carrying quinoa salads and rainbow macaroons to a friend's garden party; and just a general state of untroubled, comfortable being.
But that's only part of the picture. Brunch, for me, is an extended breakfast that should be enjoyed whenever you have time properly to engage in cooking and eating. The posh associations of the term aren't necessary at all. Quite the opposite: what I imagine is a bunch of lazy faces getting out of bed around 10am on a weekend morning and putting together a feast to be enjoyed by midday, when everybody can finally be bothered to make it to the table. It's a long meal that takes up a large chunk of the middle of the day, a proper celebration of food, but without the fanfare and worries that come with a full-blown dinner party; rather, it is a familial, booze-free (unless you count the bloody marys) and stress-free alternative.
Food-wise, although I am willing to spend an hour preparing one centrepiece dish – this invariably involves egg – the rest needs to be immediate, simple and unchallenging, in terms both of flavour and of the effort needed to make it. Essentially, everything should come out of the fridge, cupboard or local bakery: bread and butter, jams, coffee, fruit juice, a few mild cheeses, granola, yoghurt and some buttery pastries. This, plus the weekend papers, is all you need to spend half a day in unadulterated domestic bliss.
*Aubergine, potato, tomato*
There's a fair bit of preparation involved in this but this is a stunning, unusual dish that you can easily get hooked on. Serves four to six.
*4 medium tomatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm dice*
*½ small red onion, peeled and finely chopped*
*1 tbsp white-wine vinegar*
*15g parsley, chopped*
*1½ tbsp Sriracha (or other hot savoury chilli sauce)*
*Salt and black pepper*
*2 aubergines, cut into 3cm chunks*
*250ml olive oil*
*About 300ml sunflower oil*
*600g charlotte potatoes (or other waxy variety), peeled and cut into 3mm-thick slices*
*80g tahini paste*
*2½ tbsp lemon juice*
*1 small garlic clove, peeled and crushed*
*6 eggs*
*1 tsp sumac*
*1 tbsp coriander, chopped*
Put the peeled, diced tomatoes in a colander for half an hour to drain. Transfer to a medium bowl and add the chopped onion, vinegar, parsley, Sriracha and a quarter-teaspoon of salt. Mix gently and set aside.
Mix the aubergine with a teaspoon and a half of salt, place in a colander and set over a bowl for half an hour, to drain off any excess liquid. Transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper and pat dry.
In a 26cm sauté pan or skillet, put 200ml of olive oil and as much sunflower oil as you need to bring it 1cm up the sides of the pan. Place on a medium-high heat and, once hot, add the aubergine in batches and fry for three to four minutes, until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon, transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper and repeat with the rest of the aubergine. Leave the oil to cool, pour into a jar – you'll be able to use it for future frying – and wipe down the pan.
Bring a medium pan of water to a boil, add the potatoes and cook for three minutes. Drain, refresh under cold water and set aside to dry. Add two tablespoons of fresh olive oil to the skillet and place on a medium-high heat. Add the potatoes and fry for 10 minutes with a quarter-teaspoon of salt and a crack of black pepper, until cooked through and golden brown; turn them over from time to time. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
Put the tahini, 60ml of water, a tablespoon and a half of lemon juice, the garlic and a pinch of salt in a medium bowl, and whisk to a thick, pourable consistency. Spoon half the sauce over the potatoes and spread the aubergine on top. Follow this with the remaining tahini, then the tomatoes. Poach the eggs just before you are ready to serve and lay them on top of the tomatoes, along with a drizzle of the remaining oil, a sprinkle each of sumac and coriander, and the last of the lemon juice. Bring to the table in the pan.
*Super french toast*
This is a hybrid of bread pudding and french toast. You can make the pudding a day in advance and fry the bread at the last minute. To say this "needs" anything extra would be, frankly, decadent, but some stewed seasonal fruit or fresh berries would not go amiss. Brioche loaf is now sold in most supermarkets. Serves eight.
*600ml full-fat milk*
*200ml double cream*
*1 orange, skin peeled into long strips (make sure you don't take any bitter pith with it)*
*3 long cinnamon sticks, broken in half*
*1 vanilla pod, cut in half lengthwise and seeds scraped out*
*400g brioche loaf, crusts cut off and discarded (or nibbled with good jam), cut into eight 2.5cm slices*
*6 eggs*
*40g caster sugar *
*60g unsalted butter*
*40g icing sugar*
*240g sour cream*
*Maple syrup, to serve*
Heat the oven to 170C/335F/gas mark 3. Put the milk, cream, orange skin, cinnamon, split vanilla pod and seeds in a medium saucepan. Heat gently on a medium-low heat until just before it comes to a boil – about five minutes – then turn off the heat and leave to infuse for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, line a 32cm x 22cm oven dish with baking paper and lay the brioche slices flat in the base.
Put the eggs and sugar in a bowl and whisk. Slowly whisk in the warm infused cream, then strain and pour two-thirds of the custard over the brioche, to cover. Tip the remaining custard into a wide, shallow bowl and set aside.
Bake the brioche for 20 minutes, until the custard is cooked through and golden brown. Remove and set aside to cool, then cut into eight roughly equal squares.
Put half the butter in a large nonstick frying pan and place on a medium-high heat. Dip half the bread squares into the bowl of reserved custard, transfer to a plate and sprinkle half a teaspoon of icing sugar on each square. Lay the brioche slices in the pan, sugar side down, and fry for 30 seconds to a minute, to caramelise the sugar. While they are frying, sprinkle half a teaspoon of icing sugar on the other side of each slice. Flip over and cook for another 30-60 seconds, until the sugar is dark brown and crisp, then remove from the pan and leave to rest on a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining brioche slices and butter.
To serve, place one slice of toast on each plate with two tablespoons of sour cream and as much maple syrup as you like.
• Yotam Ottolenghi is chef/patron of Ottolenghi and Nopi in London.
Follow Yotam on Twitter. Reported by guardian.co.uk 6 hours ago.