Semi-Continental Breakfast for Overnight Company

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Overnight company is great! There’s only one thing that kind of gets in the way of the “fun” for me. If we stay up late when our friends are here, I don’t usually want to get up the next morning to make a big breakfast. I mean I LOVE freshly-made omelettes, pancakes and waffles. Who doesn’t?!! However these more traditional “full breakfast” entrées can be quite time-consuming to prepare. If you’re still sleepy and didn’t get as much rest as you need (which is bound to happen if you stayed up late the night before talking!), it’s no fun to have to do a lot of prep work for breakfast early in the morning.

I am a night-owl and I love to stay up until midnight or later. In fact, some of my best conversations with friends over the years have been at 1 and 2 am! But….that’s not going to make me too excited about getting up at 7 or 8 am the next morning to make a big, country breakfast for everyone. I’ve still found a way to be hospitable in those situations: preparing a “SEMI-CONTINENTAL” BREAKFAST!

We had overnight company this past Friday, and I served up one of a semi-continental breakfast for our guests. This made for a very relaxing Saturday morning

I served up a fresh fruit platter, homemade sausages that my oldest son made the day before on the smoker outside, individual quiches that I baked a couple weeks earlier and froze, blueberry bread that I made ahead of time and froze, and a couple quarts of store-bought yogurt (in two different flavors). Saturday morning, the sausage and quiches just needed to be taken out of the fridge and reheated. The breads were taken out of the freezer the night before and thawed in the fridge until serving time. The yogurt was just a simple matter of getting them out of the fridge. The only “work” was taking the fruit out of the fridge and arranging it on the platter (I had washed and cut it the night before.). So it really made for a simple meal to get on the buffet table (actually center island in our case).

This is actually one of my favorite breakfast menus. I have very fond memories of going to all-inclusive resorts in the Carribean and enjoying “semi-continental” breakfasts (meaning the usual coffee, tea, breads and fresh fruit are served, along with some hot foods like turkey sausage and eggs) in an outdoor dining area next to the beach. Wonderful fun! We try to recreate that same kind of experience during the spring and summer months when we have overnight guests. We’ll set up the breakfast bar in the kitchen, and then guests can fill their plates and head outdoors to eat—just as you do in a Carribean resort—only we’re sitting by our pool (with the fountains and water fountains going!) instead of the ocean. That’s what we did this past weekend.

Here is a photo of my son, Danny, with his homemade turkey sausages:

Here is a photo of our quiches:

I found the individual sized tartlett pans (which are made by Chicago Metallic) on Amazon.com. The URL is: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NA0CFA/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i01)This pan makes just the right sized quiche for a single serving. I posted my recipe for mushroom quiches on this blog last year, but here it is again:

INDIVIDUAL MUSHROOM QUICHES

Pastry for a double pie crust (top and bottom)
2 8-oz. cans button mushrooms
2 8-oz. Portabella mushrooms
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
3 large eggs
½ tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 cups shredded Swiss cheese

Roll out pie crust and put them into individual tartlett pans. Chop mushrooms in food processor or with chef's knife. Place butter and olive oil in a medium skillet and cook mushrooms over medium heat until all liquid is evaporated and mushrooms are brown and tender. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Divide mushrooms evenly among lined cups. In small bowl, combine egg, cream, salt and cayenne pepper and beat well. Pour egg mixture over mushrooms—about ¼ cup per tartlett cavity. Sprinkle each with grated cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until center of quiches is set. To serve warm, cool 5 minutes before removing from pans. To freeze, cool on wire rack and freeze in single layer until solid. Place in air tight freezer container in single layer. To reheat, place frozen quiches on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes until hot. Makes 16 breakfast-sized servings.

Here is a photo of our fruit platter and blueberry bread:
The blueberry bread recipe I used is one that I found online (http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/recipes/article_0b8b7e28-83c3-5523-9cce-f1dc123a2c07.html). My family and guests loved it! The bread tastes like a very moist blueberry muffin! The bread freezes well too. The only thing I did differently than the recipe is I used mini loaf pans instead of full-sized bread pans.

SOUR CREAM BLUEBERRY BREAD

1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour, divided
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons ( 3/4 stick) unsalted butter,
softened1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries (do not thaw)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Grease and flour two 7 1/2-by-3 1/2-inch metal loaf pans. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.In a small bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat butter with sugar in a large bowl until light. Add eggs, vanilla and sour cream; beat well. Blend in flour mixture; beat on medium-high speed for 1 minute. In a separate bowl, lightly toss blueberries with remaining 1 tablespoon flour. Carefully fold blueberries into batter.Set prepared pans on a larger baking sheet for easy handling; divide batter evenly between the pans. Sprinkle each loaf with 1/4 cup walnuts. Bake loaves about 45 minutes, until light golden brown and the center springs up when pushed lightly. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

As far as the fruit platter, I served up fresh strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, cantaloupe, grapes, orange slices. This was very colorful and fresh and tasty! Watermelon, honeydew, mango and papaya are also good choices. It’s nice to include fruit in a variety of colors.

Besides the foods I chose for our “semi continental” breakfast, some other easy but yummy morning food items for overnight guests include:

--Bagels and cream cheese
--Miniature muffins from the bakery
--English muffins and jams
--Individual boxes of cereal and milk
--Precooked turkey bacon that just needs to be reheated
--Breakfast bars
--“Gourmet” toaster strudels (rather than Pop Tarts!)
--Toaster or individual-sized oven hash browns
--Orange juice

Of course, a fresh pot of coffee and a kettle of hot water with a choice of regular caffeinated and herbal tea bags is also essential. There’s nothing like a freshly-brewed pot of coffee to wake up even the most sleepy hostess…and her guests too!
~Becky