My
friend Matty & his wife Suzette live in a precious Mississippi
Delta town called Cleveland, home to Delta State University and probably
fifteen-thousand people. They're entrepreneurs, and advocates for
education and the community, and generally all-around fun people. They
LOVE Cleveland, but Matty's one complaint (until a year or so ago) was
that if you wanted brunch on a weekend, you had to drive 2 hours to
Memphis or Jackson. Let's be honest here.. no matter how awesome a rural
community's food culture is, brunch is the ONE meal that small town
versions
of dives, restaurants, and clubs just CAN'T often compete with their
big-city
counterparts...even in the south. Which means that if you live in a
smaller town, and like to entertain, hosting a brunch for your friends
rather than a dinner party is always a super great idea. Still not sure?
Let me sell you...
1) Who doesn't like a reason for a cocktail in the middle of the day?
2) The food can be SO easy and almost all done in advance, making day-of prep a sinch.
3)
You don't have to go to bed with a kitchen sink overflowing with
unwashed dishes and then wake up to deal with it the next morning
4) Everyone loves brunch food. Everyone.
5) As the party keeps getting more fun, it can keep going into the night!
See?
The
first few brunches I hosted turned into sort of elaborate affairs....
once I baked biscuits from scratch THAT morning, fried chicken (to go on
top of the biscuits, obvi), made a fruit salad from entirely fresh
fruit, created from-scratch Bloody Marys and whipped fresh cream. It was
all deeeee-licious and so fun, but by the end I was exhausted. Pooped. Wrung out.
And
then, while talking to my mama about our Christmas brunch I had an
epiphany....why make it all that morning? This brings me to my new go-to
brunch party menu (which was adopted mostly from my mama's version.)
I've shared one staple with you before... garlic cheese grits souffle, and I introduced you to my biscuits last week... but you haven't yet met Hot Fruit. Let me introduce you!
Most
of my southern church or junior league cookbooks from the 60s-70s have a
version of Hot Fruit... some call it "Hot Fruit Compote," "Hot Fruit
Salad," or "Hot Fruit Cassarole" but my mama-- who INSISTS that we have
this anytime we're having a holiday brunch-- just calls it plain old Hot
Fruit. There aren't really that many photos of making it because,
well... it's basically just hot fruit. But y'all... the warmth, the
sweetness, the tartness (of my particular version that I made for our
Christmas morning) was truly something special on it's own, BUT then we
served it with biscuits, quail with tomato gravy, and garlic cheese grits.
By their powers combined, dear folks, it became a brunch worth shouting
about. My dad made the quail (I'll get him to make it again so we can
write the recipe down.... he's a "throw stuff in a pot and experiment"
kind of cook) but I followed my mama's advice and put all the other
dishes together the week before Christmas and froze it all. This allowed
us to leisurely enjoy gift-opening and our coffee while most of our
brunch cooked slowly and perfectly in the oven. It was dreamy.
The
next time you have someone over for brunch, rather than deciding to
showcase your prowess in the kitchen by killing yourself all at once,
consider making delishy things that freeze well for a week or so. AND
DEFINITELY make Hot Fruit. This version is the right amount of sweet,
tart, warm, and gooey to really complement whatever else you're making
(waffles? check. omelet? oh yes. sausage? uh huh.) is super easy AND
freezes well.
Hot Fruit
Serves 6
What you need:
Note: All Canned fruit is either in it's own juice or in lite/reduced sugar syrup
1 Can Pinapple, drained (I go with chunks, but rings work)
1 Can Sour Cherries, drained
1 Can Peaches, drained
1 Can Pears, drained
2 small cans mandarin orange slices, drained
1/3 Cup flour
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of butter, cut into small pieces
zest of one orange
1/4 Cup Sherry (You could go with bourbon or brandy here, too probs)
What to do:
This
one is SO easy, y'all. Drain the fruit juice (It's a great idea to
reserve this and freeze it in a plastic bag. It makes a great base for
punch.) Mix in the sugar, flour, salt, sherry, and orange zest into the
fruit, folding it in gently from the bottom. Pour it into a baking dish,
and cover evenly with the slivers of butter. Bake at 350 degrees for
10-15 minutes, or until bubbly. Serve warm.
Also: If
you're being super smart and heeding my advice about freezing it...
hooray! All you need to do is mix it together, cover with saran wrap or
aluminum foil (make sure the cover is pressed down to touch the top of
the fruit) and freeze it. When you're ready to cook it, pull it out of
the freezer the night before to let it tha,w and then when you're
almost ready to eat, bake it as stated above. However, you may need to
cook it for a few extra minutes (5 or 10) as the center might still be
kind of hard. :) Boom.
What's
your favorite brunch food? DO you have a favorite brunch place in your
town (PLEASE share them with me. It's the best meal of the day and I'm
always looking for great spots.)
Labels: alcohol, breakfast or brunch, fall, fruit, holiday, hospitality, side dish, spring, winter
