An easy breezy brunch for any weather!

I had been wanting to invite our friends Sue and George over for quite a while and soon they’ll be departing for their cottage for most of the summer. I was wondering about what to do that would be easy when I was so busy getting ready for a book tour, Malice Domestic and Festival of Mystery. Sue and George are fun and relaxed so I decided on a simple brunch. By some miracle after trying Cleo's fabulous recipes, I still had a half-cup of maple syrup left, from a sugar bush here in the middle of Canada’s capital. And I had an idea: Maple syrup French toast. As the maple leaf appears on our Canadian flag, it's downright patriotic.

I thought if we softened up Sue and George with mimosas and some easy advance nibblies, then served the French toast with a bit of maple-glazed bacon and fruit, that would do the trick. It’s all very easy, so we could relax too.

As you can see, Sue likes the mimosas!

I decided to follow it with an easy lemon mousse with served with a few berries and a chocolate cookies. What a nice way to welcome spring weather!

Unfortunately, the day was freezing and blustery with hail and winds and rain. At midday we turned on every light in the living area and hoped the power didn’t go out. The upside was that this brunch, which would be nice and sunny even served outside, was warm and comforting in the bad weather. My DH squeezed large juicy oranges and popped a bottle of Prosecco, a dry Italian sparkling wine. We like it more than champagne and that’s good because it’s not expensive.

Here is the recipe for Maple French Toast and I have to say it was absolutely delicious.

3 eggs

½ cup maple syrup

½ cup 5 % cream (or milk or heavy cream – suit yourself!)

½ tsp real vanilla

6 slices of bread

I used homemade, but any white bread is fine, especially egg bread or rustic – my attempt with whole wheat bread was not so successful in this recipe.

2 tbsp butter

Beat the eggs, maple syrup, cream, vanilla and salt in a bowl.

Arrange the bread in a baking dish or lasagne dish.

Pour the mixture over it. You can make it the night before and it will be perfect for breakfast. The bread will soak up all the liquid. Yum. Make sure you let it rest at least an hour.

Melt butter in a heavy pan with even heat or use a griddle. Keep it to medium heat. Fry slices for about two minutes on each side. They should be golden. We ate ours with bacon drizzled with maple syrup and pepper and baked. Some people had extra maple syrup for the vitamins.

I didn't include the bacon recipe, because it still needs experimentation to get a nice rich color. Stay tuned.

Mimosas (my kind of recipe – two ingredients)

Some fresh orange juice

Some Procecco or your favourite sparkling wine or sparkling water (chilled)

Pour into glasses and serve.

Lemon Mousse

Ingredients

1 ¼ cup whipping cream

1 lemon juiced and zested

½ fine sugar or regular sugar put through the food processor

2 egg whites

Put the cream, lemon zest and sugar into a large bowl and whisk them together until the mixture starts to thicken. Add the lemon juice and whisk again until the mixture thickens further, don't let it get too stiff or you won't be able fold in the egg whites.

Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks and then fold them into the lemon mixture. Spoon the mousse into 4 glasses and chill. Decorate with extra zest if you like, or berries and small cookies.

We think we’ll make this brunch a tradition! With a griddle, we can whip up enough for a crowd easily.

I've decided to offer all these recipes to Charlotte Adams, currently run off her feet in The Busy Woman's Guide to Murder. After all, she's offered us a lot of time saving tips and that's only fair.

The Busy Woman’s Guide to Murder: a Charlotte Adams mystery (April 5, 2011)
A TOP PICK! RT Book Reviews, 4 1/2 stars

“Devotees of the classic mystery can do no better than this clever twister.” The Globe and Mail.

Friends, fun and food … isn’t that what it’s all about?

We use food for so many purposes: from seduction to staying alive, plus, of course, the delicious hit that the right dessert shoots straight into our pleasure centers. But I want to talk about one of the most important rituals for anyone who cooks: that is, celebrating friends and celebrating with friends.

This year I found myself in Florida on (wait for it!) Valentine’s Day! That’s right. My DH was at home, no doubt serenading the Princess Dachshunds while I enjoyed a writing week in Fort Myers with three of my closest friends who also happen to be mystery authors. Along with Joan Boswell in her lovely home, Sue Pike, Linda Wiken and I worked hard on our projects and we laughed hard. Then we shopped hard. We also had a lot of fun in the kitchen. We enjoy each other’s company and we love cooking together and don’t even mind cleaning up as a crew. That’s a great combo. For our romantic dinner for four ladies on February 14^th, I made my favorite party salmon dish. This is fast, easy, elegant and I always get asked for the recipe. Oh yes, and it looks good too. Like everything I make, you don’t have to be too precise.

Savory Soy and Ginger Salmon

4 salmon fillets (4 – 6 oz)

2 tablespoons light soy sauce

2 teaspoons grated ginger root

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Combine the soy, ginger, garlic and sesame oil in a bowl.

Place salmon fillets in baking dish or deep plate and spread with marinade from bowl.

Marinate for 20 minutes. You can also put marinade and salmon in a freezer bag and marinate longer in the fridge. Your choice.

Transfer to a cookie or baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.

Bake at 425 for 20 minutes. Serve. If you’re feeling all fancy, garnish with lime wedges. I forgot this part. I did remember to prepare asparagus slathered with olive oil and sea salt (and baked at the same time and temp as the salmon). The team made wonderful basmati rice and a lovely crisp salad.

This recipe serves four really good friends.

Of course, you can double the recipe to serve eight friends or make half for two. If you are doing it for one, make two and eat the second one the next day. You deserve it.

Mary Jane Maffini likes easy recipes because she has a lot to do and not much time to do it. Charlotte Adams, her organizer sleuth, has to manage her time too or things can get very dangerous, as you will see in The Busy Woman’s Guide to Murder (coming April 5^th). Even Charlotte could make this dish.

Visit Mary Jane at www.maryjanemaffini.com and sign up for her newsletter for book news, contests recipes and other fun stuff.

Now, kill two New Year’s resolutions with one recipe!

I am thrilled to graduate to a regular rotation with this wonderful group of friends on Mystery Lovers Kitchen. I feel honored to be invited and I’ll be showing up very third Saturday with a big grin on my face (and maybe the odd bit of chocolate). But to kick things off, I thought I’d behave and get in that serious New Year’s ‘remake ourselves’ mode.

Chances are that this January many of you (like me) are engaged in the annual obsession to reorganize the same closets and cupboards we have been ignoring for the other eleven months. Hey, we’re busy. As I have an organizer sleuth in the Charlotte Adams series, it’s really important that I don’t let myself slip into total chaos. The optics would be bad.

So back to work: when you rummage in the back of those kitchen cupboards you’ll probably find a stack of canned and packaged staples that you stocked up on back in the distant past. What is it with those bulk purchases? I mean, how many sardines can you eat? As this organizing binge coincides with the annual January urge to spend less, with luck you can use it to your delicious and economical advantage.

This recipe is an adaptation of an ancient James Beard recipe from a battered cookbook. I was searching for a corn casserole and came across the earlier versions of this. It was a hit with my family and later with my daughter’s children. The result? Everyone in the family including my three grandsons can make this corn casserole and it is often part of family dinners and even shows up on Thanksgiving. The best part? You can’t really go wrong if you add a little more or a little less of any ingredient. We’re not talking layer cake or soufflé here.

So you can mess around with additional ingredients or your favorite seasonings and the stuff you have in your fridge: I always have parsley and green onions in mine. It’s a good dish for those days when the snow keeps you from the three grocery stores that you shop at each week (survey says). Plus the price is right and it doesn’t get much easier! If fact, it’s faster to make than it is to type up.

Preheat the oven to 375.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten

1 12 oz. can of corn niblets, preferably from the back of your cupboard

Liquid from drained can of corn

Milk added to liquid from corn should add up to 1 cup

Salt and pepper to taste

Paprika if you like

Optional: chopped red pepper, chopped ham or cooked crumbled bacon.

Optional: chopped parley and chopped green onion sautéed in butter

Optional: chopped mild (or livelier!) green chilies. Bet you found a can or two of those back there too!

Directions:

Melt the butter and add the flour. Stir constantly for two minutes over medium heat. It will foam up nicely. Try not to let it brown, although the world won’t end if it does. Add the milk (and corn liquid) and bring to a boil, stirring, until it thickens.

Add the corn and seasonings. Allow the mixture to cool slightly.

Add the beaten eggs and any of those optional suggestions. The chopped, sautéed red pepper and ham are particularly fabulous if you want to make a light lunch out of it.

Transfer into buttered baking dish and bake for 30 minutes, or until top is set. What the heck, it's so easy you could make two.

Of course, in the summer when corn is fresh, you could get a snazzy dish with delicious fresh corn and seasonings. I know that, but never mind. This IS winter, where I am, and I like things easy. And neat! I hope you will too.

I know that Charlotte Adams would approve of this recipe, not that she can cook to save her life.