Easy, No-Fail “Breakfast in Bed” for Mother’s Day

Editor’s Note: Just because I promised I would, the following are my notes from a May 11 appearance on the Dave Glover Show on KFTK-97.1 FM. The segment’s subject matter: a breakfast to impress any mother or wife, yet a meal that’s doable for someone of limited kitchen skills. The secret is using the freshest, best-quality indregients available. This is not a recipe, mind you, only a guideline.) 

Breakfast in Bed for Mom_GloverShow_5/11/12:

Omelet:

• Use organic, farm eggs (from a Farmers Market), add a little half and half, whisk together, add fresh veggies (sauteed, blanched, or raw, depending) and cheese of choice.
• Cook omelet in a little European butter (see below) using a non-stick skillet omelet pan and finish cooking under the broiler. Omelet will puff up amd magically slide right out of the pan. Turn onto a heated dinner plate.
• (My no fail personal fave omelet: sauteed wild mushrooms, small chunks of avocado, Alouette or Boursin cheese, king crabmeat. Garnish with long chives.)

Bacon:

• Hand-select bacon from Farmers Market. It’s far, far superior to and not much more expensive than grocery bacon. OR
• Make Spicy Caramelized Bacon: sprinkle any bacon with with a 5-pepper blend, then w/ brown sugar, and cook in oven. Chewy and with a little kick, it’s as good as bacon gets.

Bread:

• Warmed croissant from a bakery, preferably a French one (La Bonne Bouchee, Rue Lafayette, etc) OR
• Bays brand English Muffin OR
• Brioche toast (Whole Foods sells a fine one). 
• Toast can stay warm in oven. 

Butter:

• European butter or a French brand if you can find one. (This style butter is slow-churned, cultured, and has a higher butterfat content than butter made here. In France, butter is categorized by Appelation, just like wine.)

Jam/Preserves:

• Homemade and/or sourced from a Farmers Market, if possible
• Best quality at a grocer if not.
• Serve at room temp, in a small crock or bowl

Fresh Fruit:

• Hand-select fruit and berries. Use a melon baller for melon. (A toss in lemon juice w/ a little macerated fruit helps brighten the flavor and preserve the color.) Serve in a separate bowl.  

Fresh Juice:

• Store-bought, fresh OJ is fine.
• Better: hand-squeeze some yourself (orange, tangerine, pink grapefruit, mix it up). Making a glass or two takes but a minute.
• Best: make a mimosa using the above. Serve in a fluted glass.  

Garnish:

• Use an edible, fresh flower (marigold, impatiens, honeysuckle flowers, blossom from a fruit tree, an herb that’s flowering). Pick something from your yard…or snitch something from your neighbor’s. OR
• Make a few mini-tomato roses, using cherry tomatoes. They’re easy.

Extras:

• Favorite flower (or again, one from the yard) in bud vase
• Use the good china and the good silver that you never use
• Starch a linen napkin and fold it into a shape (learn how on the internet). It takes a minute.
• This is no time for cheap coffee. Use best-quality coffee (or if flavored, Highlander Grogg from Kaldi’s is a no-fail)
• Or tea (using loose tea and a teapot). Extras: a lemon twist and small bowl of unrefined sugar. (A nice touch: Sprinkle just a bit of the latter on the fruit at service.)
• For the high-maintenance coffee drinker: make a run to the coffeehouse and get her that damn latte, then serve it in her a favorite cup
• Salt and pepper. Offer her both–from a grinder. (If you don’t own a salt and pepper mill…well, you just must.)   

Reading Material:

• A daily newspaper or an unseen issue of a favorite magazine
• Better: the current issue of St. Louis Magazine. It doesn’t get any cuter than that cover.
• And don’t forget a Mother’s Day card, ya slacker. 

General:

• It’s the element of surprise–doing the unexpected–that’s key here. Consider every aspect of the meal, no matter how small. Every facet needs to be the best it can be. It all adds up. It’s the reason the best restaurants and hotels are the best. This meal can be that good, too.