Veggie-filled Spring Brunch
Here are some of my favorite recipes that, together, make up a fresh and flavorful Spring Brunch. Most everything can be made in advance, which lets you spend less time in the kitchen and more time with your guests the day of your event. The menu includes Cauliflower Soup, Spinach and Mushroom Frittata, Herbed Focaccia, and a Lemon Tart. If you are serving a crowd and want to add a simple salad that you could pull together quickly, this Simple Strawberry Spinach Salad would be a great addition.
This menu could work for Mother’s Day, Easter, wedding/baby showers, or any excuse to celebrate Spring! Set a pretty table, buy some fresh flowers, prep your menu, and enjoy. If serving your Spring Brunch buffet style instead of a seated meal, you could keep the soup warm in a crock pot and serve it in mugs, pre-slice the focaccia and place it in a pretty basket, and display the sliced frittata and lemon tart on cake stands.
Cauliflower Soup
You’d be surprised how easily this Cauliflower Soup comes together! The recipe comes from the Lidey Heuck at the New York Times. This one is both vegan and low carb (without the croutons), and is a great use for that head of cauliflower you have sitting in your fridge. The first step is to infuse oil with rosemary. Don’t skip this step. It really adds amazing flavor to the soup. We did skip the croutons, however, as we served this with focaccia, but I’m sure they would be a delicious addition. Feel free to make this soup ahead of time and reheat it when ready to serve. Keep the rosemary oil separate and drizzle over the top just prior to serving.
Vegetable Frittata
A Frittata is a crustless quiche with an infinite number of flavor possibilities that is super easy to make. It differs from an omlette in that the ingredients are fully mixed and it is traditionally started on the stove and finished in the oven. With this in mind, you need to use a pan can go from stovetop to oven. Cast iron skillets, small dutch ovens, and oven safe saute pans work well. Some people use milk or cream in their frittatas. When they do so, the inside is a bit lighter and fluffier, similar to a quiche. My recipe skips the milk, focusing more on the vegetables and eggs. The recipe shown here is loaded with spinach, mushroom, onion, and topped with cheddar cheese. Frittatas are perfect for a spring brunch since they can be made ahead and served warm or at room temperature. Serving a crowd? Make two or three, varying the ingredients in each.
Herbed Focaccia
Making Herbed Focaccia from scratch takes a bit of time, but it’s worth it. This bread holds up wonderfully, so it can definitely be made a day ahead. The recipe makes a large bread which, the last time we made it, we served it with pasta one evening, and then again with brunch the following day!
We followed the recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction, using lots of fresh rosemary, thyme, garlic, and kosher salt on top. We used Sunrise Flour Mill Bread flour. This ancient grain is one my gluten sensitive family members tolerate well, but any all purpose flour will do. I used instant yeast, but regular “active dry” yeast will also work. There are lots of options for proofing this bread. When I did it, the first proof took place in the oven for 75 minutes, and the second proof took place in the fridge for 5 hours. You could easily leave it to proof the second time overnight if you wanted to bake it fresh the day of your brunch. I baked it on a large sheet pan for 25-30 minutes, and the result was scrumptious!
Lemon Tart
We came across this Lemon Tart recipe by Olga Massov at the Washington Post. For the most part, we followed the directions as written, and it came out perfectly. The only real adjustment we made was using Cup4Cup gluten free flour due to gluten sensitivities in our household. Our lemons had a thick pith, so instead of using the whole lemon, we followed the note in the recipe to zest the lemon, then remove the pith with a sharp paring knife before adding the rest of the lemon to the food processor.
As we read through the recipe, we realized we did not have a proper tart pan. What a fun excuse to add to our baking pan collection. We bought this 9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom for about twelve dollars. Having the removable bottom truly makes getting the tart out of the pan a breeze, and the resulting tart was very pretty!
The brightness of this lemon tart is a great way to finish off a spring brunch. It can be stored at a cool room temperature for up to a day, and in the fridge for three days. Make this in advance, and you are good to go the day of your brunch!
