G A T H E R - Brunch I&P style

Who doesn’t love a meal that comes between breakfast & lunch, where mimosas and Bloody Marys are perfectly acceptable?  Well, we sure do.

Sunday, we pulled some family & friends together and threw a brunch, Irving & Powell style.

We kept it pretty simple. It was... Sunday morning after all. It was a family affair, Vic’s mum took care of the salmon, following Stephanie Alexander’s classic recipe from the Cooks Companion. 
The bagels were probably the trickiest part.  Sydney's not the Big Apple.  We don’t have H&H Bagels on every 2nd corner.  
As we were keeping the menu very simple it meant the produce had to be key.  So we trekked from Freshwater to Bronte for Iggy’s Multi Seed Bagels, the best in Sydney. The Bloody Marys on the other hand were a piece of cake.  McClure’s makes the best Bloody Mary mix – it’s foolproof.  So, the next time you plan on doing brunch we recommend keeping it simple.  The gravlax has to be made in advance (tick), the Bloody Mary mix can be pulled from the pantry (tick), so all you have to worry about on the morning, is hightailing to Iggys for when the queue starts forming at day break (half the fun)!
Photography: Julie Adams

 
GRAVLAX

'The Cook's Companion'    Stephanie Alexander          Penguin         1996

• 1 large salmon fillet, skin on, pin boned
• 4 cloves garlic
• 400g sugar
• 500g rock salt
• 1 bunch dill, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup dry vermouth or vodka

If not already done so remove all visible bones from the fish with tweezers.

Crush garlic, and combine with sugar, salt, dill and spirits.

Lay a double thickness of cling wrap on the work surface, place half the salt mixture on the wrap and lay fish on top.

Cover with remaining salt and wrap the fish in the cling wrap.

Place in a large glass or ceramic dish. Place a board on top of the fish and weigh down with food tins etc.

Refrigerate overnight (or for 12 hours), then turn the fish over and leave another 12 hours.

Brush off remaining salt mixture and herbs. Pat the fish dry with paper towels.

Slice thinly removing the skin as you go.

MUSTARD SAUCE

• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 3 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• 4-6 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp freshly snipped dill leaves

 Combine mustard, vinegar, sugar. Vigorously whisk in oil to form an emulsion. Season and fold through dill.

You can make this in a small food processor, add the oil slowly.