Pamela’s Monday Musings

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The Anatomy of a Winter Brunch ☕️

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The Anatomy of a Winter Brunch ☕️

Pamela Salzman
Dec 12, 2022
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Share this post

The Anatomy of a Winter Brunch ☕️

pamelasalzman.substack.com

Happy Monday! ​​​​​​​

I hosted a post-bar mitzvah brunch for my sister-in-law and her husband’s out of town guests yesterday. I thought I would share the details so you can see how I approach hosting a brunch without stress.

The two most important strategies:

  1. Pick the menu quickly and early and move on

  2. Do as much ahead of time as possible

Other important tips:

  • Don’t bite off more than you can chew

  • Not everything has to be homemade

  • Disposables are 100% fine

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When doing a brunch after a bar mitzvah, you may have leftovers from the luncheon the day before or even the party, like fruit, extra cream cheese, or sweets. We were able to incorporate some of those leftovers into the brunch.

Here was my menu for 24 people, buffet-style. Invitation called for 9:30 am, open house style.

  • Regular and Decaf Coffee

  • Hot water and tea bags

  • Oat Milk and Regular Milk

  • Typical sweeteners

  • Orange Juice

  • Water

  • This was not a boozy crowd, so I did not serve alcohol.

  • Bagels and cream cheese (ordered 2 dozen bagels) 

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  • Lox and condiments (tomato, pickled red onion, cucumber, capers, lemon, fresh dill)

  • Avocado

  • Cream cheese

  • Butter

  • Frittatas 1 of each in pie plates. I do 8 eggs plus precooked vegetables in each.  Here’s one frittata on my site that you can use as a template recipe, but I have many. I originally planned to do 2 of each, but 1 of each was perfect.

    • Broccoli, roasted red pepper, onion

    • Mushroom, spinach, onion, thyme, gruyere

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  • Deli board with turkey, smoked turkey, three cheeses, Russian dressing, coleslaw

  • Apple Oatmeal bake (I used this recipe, swapped in pre-sauteed apples and doubled it in my Staub 12-inch braiser)

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  • 1 crumb cake 

  • 2 Coffee cakes (provided the recipe through Instagram and my Thanksgiving ebook. Only 1 was needed, but Hubs wanted enough leftovers.)

  • Assorted Trader Joe’s croissants (I buy them frozen and bake in the morning. They’re great!)

  • Mixed greens salad + fresh herbs and everyday salad dressing #2

  • Mixed berries

  • Citrus and pomegranate with mint

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Decor: I “borrowed” some centerpieces from the bar mitzvah party.

PREP AHEAD LIST AFTER I COMMITTED TO A MENU:

Order plates

Order coffee cups

Order flatware and napkins (I love these pre-rolled napkins+flatware.)

Bake crumb cake and freeze

Make salad dressing and freeze

Order bagels + cream cheese

Saute onions for frittata and freeze

Wednesday

Grocery shop for everything

Pickle onions

Thursday

Pull platters

Wash lettuces 

Fill water bottles and chill

Friday

Cut all citrus, wash and dry strawberries and blueberries (raspberries and blackberries will be done Sunday)

I saved the citrus rinds to use for a “Winter Simmer Pot” during the brunch.

Set buffet table

(Hubs does this) Assemble bar: ice bucket, tossware, coffee cups, sweeteners

Defrost salad dressing

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Saturday

Saute vegetables for frittatas

Coffee cakes

Slice cucumber for lox platter

Assemble Oatmeal Bake and refrigerate

Saturday overnight 

Defrost croissants at room temp

Defrost crumb cake in fridge

Defrost onions in fridge

Sunday

Music on (Hubs)

Make coffees and keep warm in carafes

Set up bar for all drinks (Hubs)

Assemble fruit salads

8:00 am Pick up bagels and cream cheese (Hubs)

Bake croissants

8:30 Bake frittatas

9:00 am Bake oatmeal

Add citrus rinds and a couple cinnamon sticks to a pot and cover with water. Simmer and continue to add water as needed.  It makes the house smell wonderful!

Assemble baked goods

Assemble lox platter

Toss salad

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xx, Pamela

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