recipe: almond french toast

Ben and Mandy came over for brunch a few weeks ago, and I wanted to serve something light. We ended up having almond French toast and yogurt with berries. This French toast is fantastic. I mean, I always love French toast - but the addition of the almonds elevates this version.

Almond French Toast

Via Cook's Illustrated

• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar, divided
• 8 slices Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse Hearty White. (Original recipe also recommends Arnold Country Classics White, Thomas’ English Muffin Toasting Bread or a challah loaf sliced into 1/2-inch pieces.) 
• 1 1/2 cups milk, warmed to the touch
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons melted butter, plus 2 tablespoons for cooking
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon Triple Sec
• 1 teaspoon orange zest

In a food processor, combine almonds and 1 tablespoon brown sugar until coarsely ground, about 15 pulses.

Place bread on a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet. Place in a 300-degree oven for 16 minutes to dry the bread, flipping halfway through. The centers should remain slightly moist.

(The first two steps can be done the night before.)

Place the wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet in the oven and warm oven to 200 degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk milk, yolks, remaining 3 tablespoons brown sugar, cinnamon, 2 tablespoons melted butter, salt, vanilla, Triple Sec and orange zest. Pour mixture into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

Soak bread in milk mixture for just 20 seconds per side. Pick up bread with a slotted spatula and allow excess milk to drip off. Transfer slices to a baking sheet.

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the nut mixture over one side of each slice of bread.

Heat 1/2 tablespoon butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium-low heat. Place two slices of bread in the skillet, nut side down. Cook until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip bread and cook 3 to 4 more minutes.

Transfer cooked toast to the wire rack in the warmed oven.

Repeat with remaining butter and bread.

Serves 4.

recipe: peach sangria

This sangria recipe, which I made most recently for brunch after the marathon, is phenomenal. The recipe is simple: wine, peach schnapps, frozen lemonade concentrate and fruit. The frozen lemonade makes the drink sweet, and the schnapps gives it good fruit flavor. Your early-morning alcohol shouldn't be overwhelmingly booze-tasting, right?

I got this recipe from Camille a couple of years ago, and it's never failed to impress. It's the best sangria I've ever had, for sure.

Peach Sangria

• 1 bottle dry white wine
• 3/4 cup peach schnapps
• 6 tablespoons frozen lemonade concentrate
• peaches, apples, grapes, strawberries or other fruit of your choice

In a large pitcher, combine wine, schnapps and lemonade concentrate. Add fruit. Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight to blend flavors.

recipe: potato & rosemary strata

So many great things happened Saturday. For example: A dog came to hang out in my house.

That's Lily - isn't she sweet? She came to visit after the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon. Avery ran the race (yay, Avery!), and afterwards she came over to my house for brunch, along with Nathan, Lily and a few other friends.

Here's another shot of Lily, transfixed on a piece of food, no doubt.

The star of the brunch menu was a potato and rosemary strata. Because of the heaping amounts of various dairy products in this strata, I can't give you a first person review of this recipe, but, based on the reaction of everyone else, I'll put this in the "major success" category.

This is an America's Test Kitchen recipe. A couple of Decembers ago, right after Tony and I moved into our house, we hosted a Christmas brunch, and I made an ATK spinach strata, which also was a big success. So I had a lot of confidence going in that the potato and rosemary version would turn out well.

Potato & Rosemary Strata

Adapted from America's Test Kitchen

• 8-10, 1/2-inch slices of French or Italian bread
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and divided
• 12 ounces medium red potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• salt and pepper
• 2 shallots, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 6 ounces (or 1 1/2 cups shredded) cheese - recipe called for fontina, but I used a combo of mozzarella and provolone
• 6 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups half and half

Dry out the bread in the oven. Arrange slices on a baking sheet and bake at 225 degrees for about 40 minutes, turning over halfway through. 

When cool, butter one side of each piece, using 2 tablespoons butter.

Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add potatoes and 1 teaspoon salt. Boil potatoes until just tender when pierced with a paring knife, about 4 minutes. Drain.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet. Add potatoes and cook until beginning to brown, about 10 minutes.

Add shallots and cook about 1 minute. Add garlic and rosemary and cook 30 seconds. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Transfer potato mixture to medium bowl.

Add wine to skillet and simmer about 3 minutes until wine is reduced to 1/4 cup. Set aside.

Grease 8-inch square baking dish with 1 tablespoon butter. 

Arrange half of bread, buttered side up, in a single layer. Sprinkle half of the potato mixture and 1/2 cup cheese.

Top with remaining bread, remaining potato and another 1/2 cup cheese.

In a bowl, whisk eggs, reduced wine, half and half, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste.

Pour eggs over bread.

Cover strata with plastic wrap, and weigh down with canned goods.

(As you can see, there are many cans of black eyed peas in my house at any given time.)

Place casserole dish on a baking sheet to mitigate any spillage. (Lesson learned from that Christmas brunch.)

Refrigerate overnight. (Original recipe says to refrigerate anywhere from 1 to 24 hours.

In the morning, remove strata from the fridge and sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. Remove plastic wrap and top with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.

Bake at 325 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes until edges and center are puffed and the edges pull slightly away from the dish. Cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Serves 6 to 9.

By the way, I made this strata to be gluten free, which was very easy. The only gluten-containing ingredient in the recipe is the bread, so I used a loaf of Against the Grain bread gluten-free bread instead, which was a seamless substitute. (Avery picked up the loaf and said she finds it at a specialty grocery store.) No one could tell the difference.

And since I included photos of a dog in this blog post, I'd feel bad if I also didn't include a photo of Victor. (Victor spent the party shut in the second bedroom to avoid any drama. Victor has met exactly two dogs in his life. The dogs see Victor as a new friend and are eager to come up and smell him. Victor sees the dogs as loud, large enemies that want to eat him. Things don't end so well.) So here he is, post-brunch, once the dog has left, sitting on the steps, still looking a tad bit terrified from the commotion.

recipe: bloody mary

A year ago, Tony and I hosted a big Christmas brunch open house for our friends. We served mimosas and sangria, and we also wanted to have Bloody Marys. But neither of us really knew how to make them. We asked around, but no one we knew had a good recipe either. So Tony sat down at the computer and and gave himself an education in the nuance and art that is Bloody Mary making. Thank you, Internet. They were a definite hit at brunch.

And now, just in time for the long holiday weekend, I will bestow that knowledge unto you. Here's the Bloody Mary that Tony made me a couple of weekends ago when we had our neighbors over for brunch:

After Tony perfected this recipe, I kind of got spoiled. I tried to drink a Bloody Mary from a mix once, and I couldn't finish it. It tasted like tomato poop.

Tony's Bloody Mary

• 2 shots vodka
• 8 ounces tomato juice
• 3 dashes worcestershire sauce
• 5 shakes Tabasco
• lots of pepper
• splash lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon horseradish
• celery stick

Combine vodka, tomato juice and seasonings in a shaker. Shake. Pour into glass over ice. Serve with a celery stick.

recipe: individual baked huevos rancheros

A few years ago, Tony and I were visiting our friends Andrew and Erin in New York, and I ordered huevos rancheros at brunch. And since then, I've been kind of obsessed with huevos rancheros for brunch. I order them at restaurants, and I make them at home regularly.

A few Fridays ago, I was talking to my friend Avery about what to serve at brunch the next day with my friend Jen and her boyfriend Andrew. Avery didn't hesitate when she suggested individual huevos rancheros. Clearly I was intrigued.

Oh my gosh, these things were a hit. First of all, they look impressive. They're a unique dish to serve. And they also taste so good.

Individual Baked Huevos Rancheros

Adapted from Simple Cooking in a Complex City

• 8 small flour tortillas
• 1 1/2 cups pico de gallo
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups eggs (about 10 eggs), beaten
• 1/2 cup colby jack or cheese of choice
• guacamole for serving
• sour cream for serving

Butter 8 cups in a muffin tin. I used jumbo muffin tins. (If using a regular muffin tin, cooking time may be shortened.)

Wrap tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave for 30 seconds to soften. Mold the 8 tortillas into the buttered muffin tins.

Divide the pico de gallo and black beans into each of the tortilla cups. (Note: I made my own pico de gallo with enough chopped tomatoes, hot banana peppers and onion to measure 1 1/2 cups, then added a splash of lemon juice, a splash of olive oil, salt and pepper. Stir to combine.)

Top each tortilla cup with 1/4 cup egg. (Make sure not to spill the egg between the tortilla cup and the muffin tin, or it makes a mess. Speaking from experience -- Tony ate that one.)

Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes.

Top with cheese and place back in the oven for 15 more minutes, or until eggs are firm.

Serve with guacamole and sour cream.

Makes 8 individual huevos rancheros and serves 4.

dining out: founding farmers

This was the Weekend of Brunch. 

Tony and I had brunch Saturday at our neighbors' house and brunch Sunday at Founding Farmers with my coworker Avery and her boyfriend Nathan. And aside from brunching, Tony and I didn't do much else for the rest of the weekend. Except relax at home with some DVDs and go for some jogs (to burn some of the calories).

The decor at Founding Farmers is beautiful. It's open and modern and has a classic farmhouse vibe at the same time. And the atmosphere is always bustling. But the best compliment I can give the restaurant is that the food is reliably good. It emphasizes its sustainability efforts and the locally sourced and seasonal food on its menu, which is fantastic, but that wouldn't mean a whole lot if the food didn't taste good.    

We started the meal by sharing a bag of beignets, which were fried and greasy and sugary and warm. They tasted like something you would find at a county fair. Served with dipping sauces on the side -- my favorite was the chocolate, of course.  

Drinks made in-house: my lemonade and Avery's spicy Bloody Mary.

Tony ordered Dogs and Rolls, which are fancy pants hot dogs. His favorite was on the end, a tomato chow chow dog with fresh tomatoes, pickled onions, and sweet and sour sauce.

The D.C. location of Founding Farmers is near Foggy Bottom. There always seems to be a small crowd of people waiting for tables, so I recommend making a reservation. We made our reservation mid-week for Sunday brunch.  

<3

And while I'm on the subject of delicious food that is very, very bad for you, may I present this mint chocolate, cream-filled homemade doughnut, which one of the other guests brought to brunch Saturday at our neighbors' house. Yes. 

<3

From the archives:

entertaining: brunch on the grill

entertaining: berries and brunch

dining out: matchbox

entertaining: brunch on the grill

After a summer of unrelenting humidity and temperatures topping 90 degrees most days, yesterday most definitely was a welcome break. The humidity and high temperatures took a vacation -- like most everything else in Washington in August in an election year. And the beautiful weather was a reminder that summer won't last forever and that fall will be here eventually. 

Tony and I spent most of the afternoon outside with Ben and Mandy on the pool deck of their apartment. We came for brunch and stayed to swim -- two of my favorite weekend things. Ben made brunch on the grill at the deck, which was fitting for the day. 

First up, grilled French toast, which was soaked in a batter that included Grand Marnier. Topped with strawberries, also mixed with Grand Marnier, and Cool Whip.  

On the side, grilled nectarines and plums, served over spiced yogurt. That's Greek yogurt, cinnamon, honey, toasted walnuts, and orange zest. 

And this watermelon wasn't grilled, but I have to mention it because this is the first watermelon I've seen in I-don't-know-how-long that actually has seeds. Ben and Mandy got it from their CSA, and I can't say that it tasted any different than seedless watermelons I buy at the grocery store, but it was nostalgic. It brought me back to my childhood, when I would eat the seeds and worry about watermelons growing in my belly.

Rounding out the meal were grilled Canadian bacon and homemade Bloody Marys. A fine meal. And before anyone realized it, it was 4 o'clock. Sunday, you were perfect.

entertaining: berries and brunch

The beauty of Sunday's brunch was its simplicity. Granola with Greek yogurt and fresh blueberries and strawberries. Hard boiled eggs. Raspberry lemonade. Tony and I woke up Sunday morning, put everything in serving bowls, and, voila, instant brunch with Camille and Matt. 

The raspberry lemonade was the only homemade part of the brunch. It's pink, which is fun. And it's a nice summer drink, a good combo of sweet and tart. 

Raspberry Lemonade

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 6 ounces raspberries
• 8 lemons
• 4 cups water

Combine sugar and 1 cup water in a saucepan, and heat on low until sugar dissolves, making a simple syrup. Cool. 

Puree raspberries in a food processor. Strain the berries to separate out the seeds. Discard the seeds. 

Juice the lemons.

Combine simple syrup, raspberry puree, and lemon juice in a large pitcher. Add 4 cups water. Chill and serve over ice. 

recipe: brigadeiros

I impressed myself with these little chocolate candies. They definitely taste amazing, but they also look so darn good. It's not very often that what I make looks just as good as the picture in the cookbook.

Brigadeiros are a Brazilian chocolate candy, named after a World War II brigadier who popularized the bite-sized treats, and now they're served at birthday parties.  

It was too hot to turn on the oven in our house last week, and the recipe, which I adapted from America's Test Kitchen, cooks on the stovetop, so I gave it a try. 

Brigadeiros

• 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• sprinkles (about 2 ounces) 

In a saucepan, mix the three ingredients. Cook on low heat, stirring frequently with a spatula, for 20-25 minutes. 

Cool chocolate in a greased 8-by-8 dish in the refrigerator for at least a half hour. 

Roll the chocolate into balls, using about 1 tablespoon of chocolate per ball. 

Pour sprinkles into a small bowl. Roll each ball into the sprinkles to coat completely. Makes 32 candies. Store in the refrigerator.

<3

This batch of brigadeiros turned out to be a threefer. I put out part of the batch when Ben and Mandy came over for cocktails Friday. I put some more out for brunch Sunday for Camille and Matt. And the rest I packaged up to bring to Scott and Michele when we met their new baby, who is absolutely adorable. Don't you agree? Introducing ... Baby O!  

dining out: matchbox

I've eaten at the Matchbox on Barracks Row several time for dinner, but Sunday was the first time I was there for brunch. And it was good. In fact, I prefer their brunch menu to their pizzas.

Tony and I met up with Dena. She became buddies with Tony with when they worked together in Augusta, Ga., and now we all live in D.C. We got to Matchbox about 11 a.m. and there was no wait, which was a first for me at Matchbox. Score. A jazz band was playing. Double score. And the food was fabulous. Triple score.

We all shared a cast-iron skillet of cinnamon rolls. Now I'm going to have to keep an eye out for a cast iron skillet because I want to make these at home.

I ordered the huevos rancheros, and I particularly enjoyed the flaky tortilla. Dena ordered the crabcake benedict, and Tony got the apple and pear salad, and both reported their meals were tasty.

Matchbox has several locations, and the Barracks Row restaurant is at 521 Eighth St. S.E.