Recently I had some friends over for brunch, but almost as soon as I invited them, I realized I had another friend’s birthday party in the afternoon.  My friends were coming early, but this meant they would not be lingering for too long so I had to be able to prepare and serve something in short order.  I know there are types of entertainers who enjoy preparing everything in advance so they could mingle with the guests.  I have the opposite approach-my guests hang out with me in the kitchen while I do what I love best-cook.  In fact, I get them in on the act and ask people (who seem willing) to slice or stir or set the table.  That way it feels like we are preparing the meal together.  If someone doesn’t feel like lifting a finger, they don’t have to, but we’ll still congregate in the kitchen near the food and wine.

For this brunch, the meal I decided to make was really simple-Popovers, Eggs Poached in Tomato Sauce and a Mixed Greens Salad.

First the Popovers, which couldn’t be easier.  The key here is to not open the oven while they cook.  If you measure everything out correctly, you shouldn’t need to peek.  Here’s a recipe by Ina Garten, which appears on the Food Network’s website and in her book, Barefoot Contessa Parties! I find it foolproof:

POPOVERS

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus softened butter for greasing pans
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups milk, at room temperature

Directions

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Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Generously grease aluminum popover pans or Pyrex custard cups with softened butter. You’ll need enough pans to make 12 popovers. Place the pans in the oven for exactly 2 minutes to preheat. Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, salt, eggs, milk, and melted butter until smooth. The batter will be thin. Fill the popover pans less than half full and bake for exactly 30 minutes. Do not peek.

Meanwhile, I decided to make eggs, which I poached in tomato sauce.  I started by making a really simple sauce of crushed garlic, chopped onions, basil, crushed red pepper and crushed tomatoes.  I filled individual ramekins with the sauce to about halfway full.  Then I cracked a raw egg into each ramekin and grated some Pecorino Romano cheese on top, as well as freshly ground pepper and salt.  These went into the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until the eggs were fully poached, which is how I like it.

I served the meal with a salad of mixed greens, including arugula, mesculin and mache and cherry tomatoes.  It was so easy and delicious and ready in a flash!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 3:35 pm and is filed under Friends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.