Brunch the Right Way

By Rachelle Bowden in Food on May 21, 2005 11:20AM

Sometimes Chicagoist is in the mood to entertain, but not hold a big, expensive, planning-way-in-advance dinner party. We find the best thing to do is have a brunch. Brunch is a great way to have friends over, enjoy a meal that stays with you most of the afternoon, and doesn’t involve mixing a lot of cocktails (well, not usually, anyway). Chicagoist has a couple of good brunch buddies, two friends from the marathon training group, who can take down quite a good number of eggs and slices of French toast. In fact, right after finishing the marathon, our vocabulary is full of one sentence: “I can eat what I want, I just finished a marathon.” Yeah, because we’re all running like Kenyans. Truth be told, Chicagoist has only been able to use this excuse for about three weeks before the food catches up to us, and the Kenyans are usually finished, showered, and on their flight back home before we cross the finish line.

Brunch can be massive or light, casual or elegant…it just depends on your mood. But one thing brunch reminds Chicagoist of is the time we went dog sledding (stay with me here). The morning after our first night out, sleeping with no tent on a frozen lake, and on top of our boots so they wouldn’t freeze, with little ice “forests” forming on the sleeping bag from the moisture in our breath, we were starved. Breakfast was being made by one of the guides and it smelled great. The best smell came from the blueberry muffins being made in a cast iron skillet. Normally Chicagoist is not a big fan of overly heavy skillets, but in this case, we were willing to make an exception. Cast iron bakes so nicely because it heats more evenly that other pans, so the muffin mix turned out warm and moist throughout, and the butter just melted right into it. Maybe it’s because it was cooked right under our makeshift oven, fueled by chips of wood. Maybe it’s because it was so Little-House-on-the-Prairie, with all of us tearing out pieces of muffin from the pan so haphazardly. Or maybe it was because we had burned off thousands of calories trying to keep warm during the night. Whatever the reason, muffins in a cast iron skillet cook perfectly and make quite an impression on your table. Just remember to put down a trivet before putting the pan on the table or your brunch will be remembered for the huge fire instead of the food.

Blueberry Muffins in Cast Iron Skillet – Recipe pilfered from Dr. Dean Ornish’s Everyday Cooking. Unless otherwise directed, you use the same oven temp and cooking time as directed for regular muffin pans for whichever recipe you choose. This makes 12 muffins.

1 C. whole wheat flour
1 C. unbleached all-purpose flour
3 T. sugar
1 T. baking powder
½ t. salt (optional)
½ t. ground nutmeg
½ t. ground cinnamon
¼ liquid egg substitute or 2 egg whites
1 C. skim milk
¼ unsweetened applesauce (We’ve never found this, we use regular)
1 t. vanilla extract
1 C. fresh or frozen blueberries

Topping: dust with a mixture of 1 T. sugar and ½ t. ground cinnamon if you like.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray cast iron pan with non-stick spray.

In a medium bowl, combine whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir to blend well. In a small bowl, combine egg substitute, milk, applesauce, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth and add to dry ingredients. Stir with a fork just until batter is blended, do not overmix or the batter will get really gummy/sticky. Gently stir in the blueberries (if frozen, keep frozen until mixing, otherwise your batter will turn completely blue. Unless you are having a Smurf party, not a good look). Pour batter into the skillet and sprinkle with sugar/cinnamon topping mixture. Bake about 15 minutes, when the muffin top looks golden brown. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, and serve. It’s a way to add a little something special to your brunch. And you know the saying…if you’re not the lead dog, the view never changes.

Thanks Colleen!