Holiday Brunch Menu

My best friend and her hubby were to come down to the big smoke for our holiday brunch today, but sadly the weather in god’s country prevented this from happening. So JT and I enjoyed an elaborate Mexican brunch all to ourselves.

The menu:

Whole wheat pesto pin wheels (gluten light)
Southwestern corn chowder
Heuvos Rancheros
Lemon squares with vanilla ice cream and strawberry coulis

Southwestern Corn Chowder (an adaptation of Michael Smith’s Southwestern Corn Soup)

Serves 4; 3/4 cup portions

2 tablespoons of corn, vegetable or olive oil
2 small onions, thinly sliced (I omitted onions as Michael doesn’t like them!)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 1/2 cups frozen corn
1 tablespoon of cumin powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
2 cups of chicken broth, homemade or canned (I used sodium reduced)
1 ancho pepper (I only had dried)
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
2 tbsp pancetta, crispy fried
4 tbsp crème fraiche
2 tbsp cilantro oil


Heat oil and sauté onions until soft. Add garlic and sauté just until you can smell it. Add cumin and smoked paprika and stir until combined. Add ancho pepper.
Add 2 cups of corn and stock. Cook until corn is very soft. Add cilantro.
With an immersion blender, blend until corn is creamed well. Press through a fine seive to get all the corn skin. Add lime juice and stir well.
Garnish with 1 tbsp crème fraiche, pancetta and cilantro oil. Serve warm.
Enjoy!


Filed under: Breakfast/Brunch, Main Courses, Menus, Recipes, Soups Tagged: corn chowder, Gluten Free, Menus, Mexican, Recipes