Entertaining Deconstructed: Spring Breakfast + tips for hard boiling eggs

Happy Monday!  Thank you to everyone who replied in the chat to the question “what would you like to see more of in the newsletter.”  I have tallied all the subjects and requests and will tackle them over the next few months!  One of the most popular requests I receive is about easy entertaining and the non-food tips too.  I recently had a few friends over for a very last-minute weekday breakfast.  I didn’t even have time to pull together florals for the table.  The moral of the story is that we had the best time even without florals!

Whenever I host a breakfast or brunch, I try to find a good balance of savory and sweet.  Bread, pastries, cake and fruit is NOT a balanced meal.  Here’s what I made:

Menu

Mushroom, Onion, Greens Frittata

Strawberry Quinoa Salad

Fruit Platter with Citrus, Kiwis and Edible Flowers

Toast (I made Food for Life Ezekiel toast only because I was out of Wildgrain, my favorite)

Avocado

Aji Verde Sauce (this was already made and the best condiment for eggs and avocado toast)

Coffee and Matcha

Prep

Day before:

• Sauté all vegetables for frittata and store in a container in fridge. (I have actually frozen sautéed onions successfully.  FYI)

• Crack all eggs for frittata and store in a separate container in fridge.

• Wash herbs for quinoa salad.

• Wash strawberries for quinoa salad.

• Slice citrus (how to cut citrus beautifully) and kiwis for fruit platter.

• Make aji verde sauce (I happened to have had this already made.)

• Set table.

Morning of:

• Beat eggs, combine with pre-cooked vegetables, season with salt and bake in pie plate.

• Cook quinoa.

• Assemble everything.

  

  Decor

• I love a frittata in a cast iron skillet, but since I was putting everything on my dining room table, and even though I always use trivets with hot things, I decided to bake in a ceramic pie plate.

  

• Quinoa salad in this bowl.

  

• Fruit and Toast on plates similar to this one.

  

• Aji verde sauce in this Weck jar. (Weck jars great storage-to-table option.)

  

• I used my everyday plates, flatware, glasses, and mugs.

  

• Pacific Placemats by Libeco. The color is ’flax’, although I bought them on Smallable and the color there is Khaki.

  

  Recipes

  Strawberry and Quinoa Salad (adapted from Quicker Than Quick)

  Serves 4

  This can be adapted with different fruits and different nuts or seeds.

  3 cups cooked quinoa

  2 tablespoons unrefined cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil

  2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

  ½ teaspoon sea salt

  ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

  1 cup small fresh mint leaves

  ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

  1 cup hulled and chopped fresh strawberries

  ¼ cup toasted sliced almonds or chopped pistachios

  Place the quinoa in a medium-size bowl. Mix in the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

  When ready to serve, mix in the mint, parsley, and strawberries. Top with the almonds.

  

  Aji Verde Sauce (the best sauce ever that goes with everything! Adapted from Kitchen Matters)

  Blend in a blender:

  1 to 2 jalapeño peppers, seeds and ribs removed (I use 1½ with no seeds)

  1 cup fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems

  2 tablespoons grated pecorino or Parmesan cheese (omit for vegan/DF)

  1 medium-size garlic clove

  1 tablespoon unrefined, cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil

  1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

  1½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (from about ½ lime)

  ½ cup soy-free Vegenaise or your favorite mayonnaise

  ½ teaspoon sea salt

  Freshly ground black pepper

I love the Zwilling Enfinigy Personal Blender.  They are offering my community a free extra blender jar with purchase of the blender if you use the code PAMELAS !

Consider being a paid subscriber to get even more musings!  Today I am sharing a delicious and versatile frittata, as well as my tips for cooking and peeling hard-boiled eggs!