FOOD:THERE'S SOMETHING very appealing about cooking brunch for friends. You can entertain on the cheap and get rid of people before dark. That may sound a bit cruel, but peppy and cheap are what hosts and hostesses should be aiming for these days.
No longer are we to slave over beef Wellingtons and precise spun-sugar work. It should be about feeding guests for €1.99 a head, a taxi-free party zone and no babysitter cash/hostage situation to come home to. Sure, we’ll miss the sing-song or drunken dancing to bad 1980s bands, red wine teeth and endless stream of babble, but instead there will be scintillating, but sombre chat about the economy, second-hand cars and allotments. (If that happens, spike everyone’s drink with cheap, duty-free vodka).
Brunch can sometimes be like a kid’s birthday party for adults. Everyone stands around feeling slightly awkward, wishing they could be at home or wishing they could have a stiff martini.
Once you’re over 35, everyone looks a little rough in the harsh morning light. Everyone is also encouraged to make friends with complete strangers.
Again, this is a much easier task over dinner and a few glasses of wine. You could alleviate the initial strained efforts by guests to be sociable by having a bouncy castle (only joking) or else you could just serve up some really tasty grub and turn on the telly, preferably a sports channel. You’ll find that what happens at a kid’s birthday party is exactly what happens at your first brunch party. The boys naturally bond with each other while watching sweaty men in tight clothing chasing balls, while the womenfolk roll their eyes and discuss the Women’s Movement.
Before you know it, no one wants to go home. This is when you must put your foot down, remind everyone that the party said noon-2pm, and that they should ring their parents and make sure someone is picking them up. If they still won’t go, just get their coats and throw them out. It may seem a bit harsh, but treat ’em mean and they will love you for it. Aim for Delia with a dash of Hitler, this summer.
St Tola goats’ cheese and thyme soufflé (serves four to six)
Courtesy of Chez Panisse in California.
1 small onion, halved
3 cloves
300ml milk
300ml cream
1 bay leaf
½ tsp black peppercorns
75g butter
40g plain flour
5 large eggs, separated
The leaves from two large springs of thyme, plus a few to garnish
175g soft St Tola cheese
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees/gas six. Stud the onion halves with the cloves and put them into a pan with the milk, cream, bay leaf and peppercorns.
Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and set aside for 20 minutes to infuse. Strain the milk and cream through a sieve and discard the flavouring ingredients.
Melt the butter, add the flour and cook over a medium heat for one minute to cook out the flour. Gradually whisk in the flavoured milk and cream until smooth and lump-free, then remove from the heat and cool slightly before beating in the egg yolks, thyme, cheese and cayenne pepper. Season with loads of black pepper.
Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks and gently fold them into the mixture.
Lightly butter a shallow oval ovenproof dish that measures 30x18 centimetres and is about five centimetres deep. Pour in the soufflé mixture, and bake for 30 minutes until the top is puffed up and golden, but the centre is still soft and creamy. Garnish with a few thyme leaves. Serve with a soft green salad.
Super-light carrot cake
From Tessa Kiros’s Falling Cloudberries. Use a 24cm spring form tin, greased, and bottom lined with baking paper.
4 eggs
250g caster sugar
185ml sunflower oil
300g flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate
2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch salt
400g grated carrots
Icing
175g soft butter
200g pack cream cheese
Zest of 1 lemon
200g icing sugar
Pre-heat an oven to 180 degrees/gas five. Grease a 24-centimetre spring-form tin and line the bottom with baking paper.
Beat the eggs with the caster sugar till they are pale, thick and creamy. Do this with an electric beater for five to 10 minutes. Add the sunflower oil and beat until combined.
Sieve all the dry ingredients together and then fold into the eggs and sugar mixture, then fold in the carrots. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 75 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
To make the icing, mix all the ingredients together by hand, rather than with a beater. Make sure the butter is soft. This makes enough icing to do the outside only. If you want to slice the cake in half horizontally and ice the middle as well, make one and a half times the recipe for icing. dkemp@irishtimes.com.
See also www.itsa.ie
Food cooked and styled by Domini Kemp and Maisha Lenihan
