Reconciling with Brunch

I have a confession:  I've never liked brunch.  Originally intended as a meal for those who stayed up late the night before and were keen on sleeping in, brunch never made sense to me.  I have never mastered the fine art of sleeping in.  No matter how late I stay up the night before, I can never sleep in past 8:00.  I don't see it as a curse, though -- I take joy in getting up early, in the peace of the morning.  I'm also hungry in the morning, so waiting for brunch never really worked out for me. 

Saturday morning I decided to give it a chance.  I had wanted to try out a few recipes and we had some things lined up where we wouldn't be home around lunch time, so the opportunity was there.  The first recipe is one I've been dreaming about for quite some time: an eggplant pie.  A recent article in the Vegetarian Times prompted me to try out the recipe.  I go crazy for roasted eggplants, there's something about their texture and smokiness that makes my taste buds swoon.  I could eat baba ganouj at every meal and never tire of its creaminess, which essentially is what makes up this pie.  Instead of a traditional pie crust, I cooked up some buckwheat and pressed it into a pie plate.  While it didn't hold it's consistency like the way an apple pie would, it served as a great textural component at the base of the pie.  Garlic, onions, and carrots were mixed in with the eggplant puree, and the mushrooms really topped things off in an earthy way.  Hearty and full of flavor, this pie is definitely something I'd recreate, perhaps for a special occassion or a potluck dinner with friends.

Another recipe that I've been craving lately is the gluten-intollerant's answer to the British "eggs in a basket" -- instead of using bread to hug around the egg, we use a portobello mushroom.  The gill-less circular mark left when popping of the stem served as an inspiration one day a few years ago when Andrew and I were making dinner one night, and the combination was a success.  Eggs are a traditional component of brunch, so this seemed like a natural companion on our plates to the eggplant pie. 

To round things out, I toasted up a little sweetness from what was left over from the pumpkin pecan bread.  Brunch was served...and it totally won me over.

Eggplant Pie (quasi-inspired by Vegetarian Times)

• 3/4 cup cooked buckwheat (1/2 cup buckwheat cooked in 1 cup of water for 20 minutes, with all the water evaporated)
• 2 large eggplants, halved and baked at 400 degrees for 40 minutes or until soft - keep the oven on when you're done with this!
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped into thin circles
• 4 cloves of garlic, diced finely
• 3 tablespoons tomato sauce -- your favorite kind will do
• 4 white mushrooms, sliced thinly
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cardamom
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon cumin

So, don't be intimidated by all the steps here.  It's totally worth it, just take things at your own pace, and it will all work out, I promise.  So, you're here with your cooked buckwheat steaming from the pan and your eggplant all roasted and aromatic.  You've got the oven on and your pie plate ready.  Fantastic.  Spoon most of the buckwheat into the pie plate, spreading it out to form a thin layer.  A little bit of the buckwheat will naturally creep up the sides of the pie plate, which is a good thing.  Stick this into the oven for a bit while you work with the eggplant.  Using a fork, scrape the flesh from the skin of the eggplant into a bowl.  Transition to your stovetop:  in a saute pan, add a bit of water or olive oil and turn the burner onto medium heat.  Add your onions, cover, and let them get all soft and luscious.  Add in the carrots and garlic, and when the carrots are soft, add the eggplant mixture into the pan.  Stir things around to incorporate everything, and add your spices.  Turn off the heat and cover, letting things marry up a bit.  Take the pie crust out of the oven -- it should be a little more firm now.  Spoon the eggplant mixture into the crust and smooth things out so they're nice and even.  Top with a few spoonfuls of tomato sauce, spreading it around like you would on a pizza.  Add the mushroom slices in any sort of decorative way you desire, and put the whole plate into the oven -- it should still be at 400 degrees from the roasting of the eggplant, right?  Good.  Let cook for 35 minutes -- there really isn't a way to under cook things, but 35 minutes seemed to get it to the point where I was happy with its texture.  Experiment and see what works for you and your eggplant pie desires.  Serves 2 hungry brunch eaters.

Egg in a Portobello Mushroom

• 2 portobello mushrooms, stems carefully removed (sometimes the whole mushroom can break when you de-stem them, so care is necessary!)
• 2 eggs
• a bit of salt and pepper, to your liking.

So, your oven is on, and the eggplant pie is getting all amazing in there.  Perfect.  Using a paring knife, cut out the center of the mushroom, where the stem used to be.  Put the mushrooms in a baking skeet, and place the baking sheet in the oven.  The next part takes a bit of skill -- while the pan is in the oven, break open one egg into each mushroom.  I do this in the oven because carrying the baking sheet into the oven when it has the egg on it has gotten messy before, and this is the cleanest way to go about things.  Let cook for 20 minutes (at the 400 degree setting), or until the egg is set.  The egg looks really glossy this way and sometimes deceives me and looks not done when it really is -- use a knife to test things out.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and dig in for some earthy deliciousness.

What is your favorite brunch food?  Do you eat brunch often or do you prefer to stick with having breakfast and lunch at their usual times?
I hope you all have been enjoying the weekend and are gearing up for a great week ahead!