It's snowing this morning, so instead of being a hundred miles from home by breakfast time, we were snowbound. Fortunately we had laid in provisions for a nice, simple brunch that took about 15 minutes of time in the kitchen:
- Bound for Glory Vermont Cheddar from The Cheese Shop
- A Poached Salmon, served warm with
- Jumbo Shrimp poached with the salmon, and
- A simple Dill-Boursin Cheese Sauce that I invented when I discovered I had no more heavy cream.
- For tea, Lorna had her favorite Anastasia Tea and I had a smoky Lapsang Souchong.
This simple brunch took almost no effort to prepare. I keep my clarified court-bouillon in the fridge, so the poaching the salmon and shrimp was a simple matter of putting it in a just-big-enough pot, covering with the cold court-bouillon, and bringing to just short of the boil. Instead of letting it cool all the way, I let it sit there while I made the sauce, a five-minute affair.
To make the sauce, I melted a tablespoon of butter and added as much flour to make a roux, added some milk to make a thin white sauce, added about a tablespoon of dried dill, then about a half of a small shallot-and-chive Boursin cheese. The cheese melted into the white sauce, thickening it nicely. I added a grind of black pepper and a pinch more dill and presto! We had a sauce to go with the salmon and shrimp.
I was reading while the salmon poached, so I only spent maybe 15 minutes in the kitchen: 5 setting up the poaching, 5 making the sauce and boiling water for tea, and 5 plating it all out attractively for a nice snowy morning brunch.