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| Photo by Jen |
On Her Majesty's Service, Queen Elizabeth II and Brunch & Co warmly welcomed 10 lovely ladies to a surprise Jubilee party to celebrate Yasmin's birthday over the weekend. The brunch was arranged with military precision by Yasmin's wonderful husband Shams. Boyfriends & Husbands take note - the bar has been raised!!
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| Photo by Jen |
Our brunch was extra special today as we had my sister Jen over from Melbourne to help out - she is a true gourmet foodie and much more talented in the kitchen than me, so it was wonderful to have her working her magic on all the dishes. Thank you Jen!
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| Photo by Jen |
To start, we served a special amuse bouche of Heston Blumenthal's mushroom soup. Velvety smooth and enhanced with a powder of crushed porcini & shiitake mushrooms made by Jen. Delish! We served this in our special vintage tea cups and saucers to bring a more British feel to our Jubilee Brunch.
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| Photo by Jen |
For our starter, we served organic free range soft boiled eggs (hand carried from Australia by Jen especially for Brunch & Co) with gruyere cheese melted sourdough toast soldiers and spears of organic Nepalese asparagus. We also served this with a little pinch of pistachio dukkah for our guests to sprinkle on their eggs once cracked open.
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| Photo by Jen |
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| Photo by Jen - oozy, cheesey goodness! |
For our main course, we prepared Yotam Ottolenghi's fluffy "green" pancakes made with lots of spinach, spring onions & green chillies! Here are a few cooking - sooo good!
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| Photo by Jen |
We served these with golden pan fried cubes of haloumi cheese....
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| Photo by Jen |
...smoked salmon, lime & chilli butter and a salsa made with organic Nepalese tomatoes, cucumber, red onion tossed in a zingy dressing.
After our obligatory seat swap/tummy stretching exercise, our lovely guests tucked into a palate cleanser of lychee & coconut sorbet. We then had a very special birthday cake handmade by one of the very talented guests, Judy. As Yasmin is a keen photographer, the red velvet cake featured an SLR camera made with fondant & edible paint!! Totally amazing!!
For dessert, we served a deconstructed apple & rhubarb crumble consisting of stewed apples with a hint of rhubarb, crispy flaked almond crumble & homemade calvados (apple liqueur) ice cream. We made the crumble separately and served it in our little tea cups to ensure it stayed extra crispy! I think we pushed the alcohol content to the limit with the ice cream - I was worried I had added too much for it to freeze properly but it turned out creamy, smooth & deliciously calvadosy!
Well, another 10 lovely guests happily fed from the Brunch & Co kitchen. We are so glad to have been part of the surprise birthday celebration for Yasmin, it was a real pleasure.
Until next time, happy brunching!
Cheers,
Louise, Mark & Jen
After our obligatory seat swap/tummy stretching exercise, our lovely guests tucked into a palate cleanser of lychee & coconut sorbet. We then had a very special birthday cake handmade by one of the very talented guests, Judy. As Yasmin is a keen photographer, the red velvet cake featured an SLR camera made with fondant & edible paint!! Totally amazing!!
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| Photo by Jen |
For dessert, we served a deconstructed apple & rhubarb crumble consisting of stewed apples with a hint of rhubarb, crispy flaked almond crumble & homemade calvados (apple liqueur) ice cream. We made the crumble separately and served it in our little tea cups to ensure it stayed extra crispy! I think we pushed the alcohol content to the limit with the ice cream - I was worried I had added too much for it to freeze properly but it turned out creamy, smooth & deliciously calvadosy!
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| Photo by Jen |
Well, another 10 lovely guests happily fed from the Brunch & Co kitchen. We are so glad to have been part of the surprise birthday celebration for Yasmin, it was a real pleasure.
Until next time, happy brunching!
Cheers,
Louise, Mark & Jen
