The Foodies brunch in Milton

Frances' avocado and fennel salad

When Frances moved to Milton recently, the Foodies decided to visit for brunch in the house she's just bought. Each of the Foodies brought a dish for brunch, which resulted in a typically delicious Foodies treat.

Frances house was filled with light, her colourful and brilliant artworks and beautiful decorating throughout the house (which delighted us all) and of course, the dining room table was covered with delicious and inviting food.

After brunch we wandered to the shops of Milton, where we browsed the shops and galleries.

It was a truly wonderful day and we are looking forward to our next event.

Foodies Colleen couldn't make it to our brunch – we missed her!

Always the animal lover, Christine made friends with Frances' cat

Kim took advantage of the shops in Milton and bought a pair of retro sunglasses

Frances enjoying what the shops had to offer

Chere spent a lot of time admiring Frances' artworks

Frances in her sun-filled kitchen

  

The Brunch Recipes 

Frances' orange and almond cake

Christine's parmesan scones with goats cheese and tapenade

Christine's Parmesan scones with goat's cheese and tapenade 1 1/2 cups (225g) s/r flour 30g butter 1/4 tspn ground black pepper, approx 1/4 cup (30g) finely grated parmesan cheese 3/4 cup (180ml) buttermilk, approx. 180g goat's milk feta bunch of flat leaf-parsley Tapenade: 200g seeded black olives (I marinaded mine in balsamic vinegar for extra flavour) 1 tblspn drained and rinsed capers 1 clover of garlic, quartered 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 5 drained anchovy fillets 1 tblsp lemon juice 1 tablespoon olive oil 1. Preheat oven to 200deg C/180 deg C fan-forced. Grease an oven tray 2. Sift flour into a large bowl and rub in the butter, then stir in the parmesan and black pepper. Using a knife mix in enough buttermilk to make a soft dough. Knead dough gently on a floured surface until smooth. 3. Press dough out to about 1.5cm thickness and cut out rounds to preferred size. Place scones, just touching each other, on the tray. 4. Bake scones about 20 minutes. Turn onto wire rack, cover, cool. To make the tapenade process all the ingredients until chopped coarsely. Kim's brunch bread cups

Kim's Brunch Bread Cups (add what you like, eg. corn, asparagus and cheese, tomato etc.) Prosciutto grated cheese chopped Spanish onions 3 tblsp. sour cream smoked salmon capers sliced mushrooms 12 slices bread spray olive oil 4 eggs Pre-heat oven to 180 C. Cut crusts off 12 slices bread, spray a large muffin pan and push bread down into each cup. Beat eggs, and add sour cream and put a spoon full of mixture into each cup. Fry prosciutto, half the onions, and sliced mushrooms until soft. Add a spoonful to half of the cups, top with some grated cheese and a spoonful of egg mixture until cup is full, top with extra fried prosciutto. Cut up smoked salmon into pieces, add Spanish onion, and capers and egg mixture until full, add extra salmon and capers on top. Cook until bread is crispy and egg is set.

Chere's almond cakes with poached figs and berry sauce

Chere's Almond cakes with poached figs and berry sauce 

Almond cakes

4 eggs

250 g sugar

250 g ground almonds

6 heaped tablespoons of stale, fine, soft white breadcrumbs

pinch of salt

Figs and berry sauce

8 – 12 figs

bottle of mixed whole berries in own juices

a small drop of vanilla essence and of rosewater

a tablespoon of pure maple syrup

½ cup fresh mandarin juice

Ideally, make the almond cakes and figs in berry sauce the day before:

If you don't have time for that, don't worry, just serve the cakes and sauce warm when you

cook it and they will taste great!

To make the almond cakes:

Beat the eggs well with an electric beater and gradually add the sugar.

Carefully fold in the ground almonds and breadcrumbs with a pinch of salt.

Butter and flour large muffin tins, pour in the mixture and bake on the centre shelf

of a preheated 175°C oven for approximately 35 – 40 mins (check mixture is cooked

with a skewer). Remove cakes from the oven and turn onto a cake cooler rack. Allow

to cool and store in an air tight container. These almonds cakes are better made the day

before.

To cook the figs and berries:

Heat the berries in their syrup, add vanilla, rosewater, maple syrup and mandarin juice until reduced

by about 1/3.

Blend the mixture and then push through a sieve so the sauce is smooth.

Gently reheat and gently poach the figs (which have been cut in halves) in this mixture for approximately 5 minutes.

Set this mixture of figs and berry syrup aside overnight in the fridge.

Just before serving, gently heat the cakes in a very low oven and heat the figs and berry sauce over a

low heat in a saucepan.

To serve:

Place an almond cake on a plate, place 4 or 5 halves on top and pour the sauce over and around

the cake. Serve with thick unsweetened cream or yoghurt.