Tags
alternative dining, asian, basil, Brooklyn, brunch, cake, cornmeal, dessert, food, foodie, muffins, New York, New York City, noodles, NYC, salad, shrimp, strawberries, supper club, tomatoes, watercress
It’s been a long time coming! Sunday Brunch is definitely one of my favorite parts of the weekend. Several of you had asked if I would be holding another dinner this month. Although this is not a dinner, I promise Sunday brunch will be just as good!
ABOUT THE MEAL Who doesn’t like a leisurely meal shared with friends, right? Because Sunday brunch is meant to be a relaxing close to the weekend, come anytime between 12 (noon) and 1 PM. The hot food will be covered and can be easily warmed up if it’s cold when you arrive. And for those who can’t function until they’ve had their caffeine fix, rest assured. I’ll have plenty of piping hot coffee ready to go.
We’ll start off brunch with my stir-fried breakfast noodle dish. This is one of those fantastic dishes that came about when I thought to myself, “Hmmm…I’m hungry and I have this and that. What can I make with it?” It was truly born out of experimentation since these noodles are generally used in soups. But, it turned out so much better than I expected. So now, you get to share in the deliciousness, too! Although this noodle dish by itself is not spicy, I highly recommend adding Sriracha sauce to it. Mmmm…Sriracha!
Anytime I go out to eat, I love having a variety of dishes. But, this is especially true at brunch. Everyone who dines out with me knows that I will try to get you to split two or more plates with me. So next up, we’ll move on to cornmeal muffins, baked tomato cups, and watercress mango salad with or without shrimp. With their cake-y saltiness that’ll melt in your mouth with every bite, the cornmeal muffins are a wonderful add-on to both the tomato cup and the salad. And if you want to kick it up a notch, they’re pretty tasty dipped in Sriracha sauce, too! Just sayin’!
If you’ve never had a baked tomato cup before, it is a beautiful display of brunch craftsmanship both visually and from a taste perspective. The cup is a carved out vine-ripened tomato filled with pancetta (or prosciutto), basil, and a whole egg that is baked to perfection. The flavors blend together to create that warm buzz that generally comes from excellent food.
For those of you who were at my Sticky Fingers Dinner earlier this year, the watercress mango salad with or without shrimp is going to look familiar to you. All of the little touches in this salad – the black-eyed peas, the red bell pepper, and sprouts – really make it phenomenal! It was such a hit that I’ve been waiting for the perfect opportunity to serve it again. For brunch, I’ll add shrimp to this already tasty salad to give it an extra boost of light protein.
Lastly, you can’t have brunch without the sweet stuff! We’ll be having lemon pound cake served with homemade blueberry compote. Yum! Need I say more about that? 🙂 There will also be fresh strawberries with spiced whipped cream. Spiced, as in warm spices – cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. Since I won’t buy pre-made whipped cream from the store anymore, I get to play around with flavors when I’m making my own. This is a version that I used for the filling of a chocolate cake roll at my Happy New Year dinner earlier this year. Just thinking about this flavored whipped cream makes my mouth water! You are in for a treat!
Remember, this meal is BYOB. You are encouraged to bring your own alcoholic beverage. Filtered tap water, orange juice, and coffee will be served.
To make your reservation, go to http://chopsticksorafork.brownpapertickets.com. Should you have questions about the meal, don’t hesitate to send an email at chopsticksorafork@gmail.com. I look forward to having you join me for Sunday Brunch!