An inspired Sunday brunch

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A Sunday brunch menu with a shopping list and recipes

Leisurely weekend mornings and brunches are made for each other. I love the slow pace of Sunday morning over cups of coffee and the whole range of newspapers, browsing through the travel and food stories in the Sunday supplements. Sunday mornings also means taking the time out to stand and stare at the birds single-mindedly going about their business. It’s also a day when it’s perfectly normal to pour yourself a glass of wine (or a G&T) at 12 noon.

Some Sundays, I cook up a full traditional meal for lunch. And sometimes, all the inspirations gathered from travels, restaurant menus and exciting food websites goad me into cooking a beautiful Sunday brunch.

One of our Sunday brunch staples is toast, pancakes, eggs and potatoes which gets a two thumbs up from my family and friends. In our recent travels to Europe, I observed that the locals could easily make a meal from good bread, cheese and wine. So that is the inspiration for this brunch I cooked up a couple of weekends ago.

This brunch menu I’m sharing with you today comes together quite quickly. No pancakes in this one, but there are a couple of worthy substitutes, you’ll see.

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Shopping List for a Sunday brunch for 4

• A boule of sourdough bread (if you have the patience to make this yourself on a Sunday morning, go for it!)
• A bottle of orange marmalade
• Smoked Goat’s cheese (or any other cheese you fancy)
• 10 eggs
• Butter
• Spinach / or any other greens
• a kilo of mixed bell peppers
• 3 avocados
• Fresh herbs
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

ROASTING BELL PEPPERS

Start by preheating your oven to around 190 C.

Chop the bell peppers into quarters and then slice each one into 2-3 strips. Toss them in some olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs. Lay them out in a baking tray in a single layer. Bake for around 30 minutes or until the peppers are softened.

TOASTING THE BREAD

Slice the sourdough bread and place them on another baking tray. Drizzle some olive oil over these slices and bake for 5-7 minutes, or until they are toasted. Remove the toasted bread slices onto a tray and rub them gently with a clove of peeled garlic for that hint of garlic flavour.

GREEN SCRAMBLED EGGS

Meanwhile, we can get working on the eggs. Crack them in a large bowl. Season the eggs with salt and pepper. Add a good handful of chopped spinach or rocket, or whatever other greens you have around. Whisk everything until the whites and yolks are combined. Throw a knob of butter in the pan. Once the butter has melted, add the whole lot of eggs. On a medium flame, gently stir the eggs around until it starts forming curds. Keep stirring around, until the eggs are completely scrambled into small clumps, but still soft. Remove this into a bowl and keep aside. This is best done just before you are ready to set the brunch table.

MASHED AVOCADOS

Now, on to my favourite ingredient – the avocados. I would always have a tough time with these babies until my friend shared with me the trick to getting avocados to ripen perfectly. None of the stores / supermarkets sell ripened avocados as they need to be consumed immediately. When you buy raw avocados, wrap each one in a piece of newspaper and place it in a fruit / banana basket. The ripening bananas release a gas that helps ripen your avocados quickly. Check everyday by gently pressing on the flesh to see if it is yielding. Once it has reached this stage, refrigerate immediately and consume it asap.

For my Sunday brunch avocados, halve them lengthwise. Scoop out the flesh with the edge of a spoon, discard the stone. Mash the flesh with a fork, or chop roughly. Add this to a bowl. Immediately squeeze 2 lemons over this to preserve the green colour. Season with coarsely ground pepper and salt. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil and we are done! When you have a perfectly ripe avocado, it’s best to enjoy it in its most natural form and not do too much to it. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate this until ready to serve.

CHEESE!

Slice up the cheese or chop it into bite sized pieces. That was easy!

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Now comes the happy and fulfilling part, putting it all together!

Set your table with the platter of toasted and garlic rubbed bread slices.

Serve the scrambled eggs warm, with some extra seasoning on the side.

Layout the cheese and the marmalade.

The roasted bell peppers taste good both warm or cold. Sprinkle some extra dried herbs over the platter and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Sprinkle a chiffonade of fresh herbs over mashed avocados.

Slice up some watermelon or a platter of mixed fruits, flavoured yogurts, a loaf of homemade or store bought tea cake, will all add a little bit of extra deliciousness to the brunch table.

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Don’t forget a couple of bottles of rose wine and some virgin mojito for the teetotallers to wash it all down.

I hope this post inspires you to cook up a beautiful brunch for your family and friends.

This post was sponsored by the good folks at Axis Bank. You can watch Chef Vikas Khanna talk about his #Foodventures with breakfast in this video.

Don’t forget to check out #Foodventures by Axis Bank Dining Delights, for inspiring food videos, recipes and more!