A Classic Easter Brunch Menu: Crostini, Frittata and Oil Cake

Save your energy for visiting with your guests with this simple brunch menu.  Instead of the usual Bloody Mary, serve your guests a Bloody Monty.  This drink, based on Amaro Montenegro, is ideal for brunch.  Nibble on Crostini with Gorgonzola and Hazelnuts while you prepare a classic Frittata, and finish your meal with a delightful Orange-Marsala Olive Oil Cake accompanied with fresh berries.  Add a pot of hot coffee, and the meal is complete.

 

Bloody Monty

makes 4

8 ounces blood orange juice

4 ounces Amaro Montenegro

2 ounces Solerno Sicilian Blood Orange Liqueur

blood orange slices for garnish

 

Combine liquid ingredients, and pour into small glasses half-filled with ice.  Garnish with orange slices.

You may substitute Cara Cara or Navel oranges, and call it an Orange Monty!

 

You can stretch this topping as far as you like putting more or less atop each crostino.  

¼ -½  inch thick slices of baguette, about 10

8 ounces Gorgonzola dolce

4 ounces whole milk ricotta

½ cup hazelnuts, toasted, skinned and coarsely chopped

Basil leaves

1 clove of garlic, peeled and sliced in half lengthwise

Extra virgin olive oil

 

Grill bread on both sides until slightly warm and lightly marked.  Rub one side with garlic and brush the same side lightly with olive oil.  Break gorgonzola into small pieces.  Using a fork, combine it with the ricotta.  Spread the mixture on the garlic rubbed side of the bread.  Place basil (either tiny leaves or larger leaves cut in chiffonade) atop the cheese mixture. Dot the crostini with the prepared hazelnuts.  Arrange crostini on a serving platter and dribble a bit of extra virgin olive oil over them, allowing the oil to pool in the nooks and crannies of the topping.

 

serves 4

¼ cup thinly sliced green onions

2 medium zucchini, (about 12 ounces), thinly sliced

6 large eggs

¼ cup basil, cut in chiffonade

2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley

½ cup Mozzarella cheese, cut in ¼ inch cubes

¼ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Chives, to garnish

Olive oil

Tomatoes on the vine

 

To roast the tomatoes, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Coat tomatoes with oil.  Place on a baking sheet and roast on center rack until softened, about 20 minutes.

Adjust oven rack to about 6 inches from broiler.  Preheat broiler. Over medium heat warm 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy broiler-proof 9½-inch skillet.  Add green onions, zucchini, and a pinch of salt.  Saute until tender, about 10 minutes. With a fork blend eggs, basil, parsley, ¼ cup Mozzarella, ½ teaspoon salt, and a few twists of black pepper in a medium bowl.  

 

Carefully pour mixture into skillet. Cook over medium heat until bottom is set, about 7-8 minutes.  Sprinkle Parmigiano and remaining Fontina over frittata and place under broiler, cooking until the frittata puffs and the top colors lightly, about 3 minutes.  Use oven mitts to remove the skillet from the broiler.  Sprinkle with snipped chives.  Loosen frittata with a heatproof spatula, and serve from the skillet.

 

The fruity taste of olive oil marries beautifully with scent of orange and Marsala, with polenta lending its characteristic crunch to this delightful cake.  Make it the day before to allow the flavors time to marry and mellow.  I suggest a mildly flavored oil, such as Pascarosa from Puglia (www.pascarosa.com). Once cool, wrap the cake well in plastic or store under a cake dome.

 

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup coarsely ground polenta

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup fruity mild olive oil

5 large eggs, cold

1 cup dry Marsala

Zest of 1 organic orange

1 teaspoon orange extract

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups of mixed berries, rinsed and dried

¼ cup superfine sugar

¼ cup orange juice

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Adjust oven rack to center.  Butter and flour a 12-cup (or two 6-cup) Bundt pan(s).  Whisk together flour, polenta, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside. Fit a standing mixer with the whisk attachment.  Beat together olive oil, sugar, orange zest, and extracts until well mixed.  Add cold eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Continue to beat for 4 minutes after the last egg is added.  

 

Turn mixer to low and add ⅓ of the dry ingredients, mixing until almost blended.  Add ½ cup Marsala, and blend lightly.  Add half the remaining flour mixture, beating until almost blended.  Add the remaining Marsala, beating until almost blended.  Add the remaining dry ingredients and blend well.  Transfer the batter to the prepared pan(s.)  Bake on center rack for 50-60 minutes for a large pan, about 45 minutes if using smaller pans, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool 15 minutes on a rack.  Invert pan to remove, and invert again to finish cooling.

 

Combine superfine sugar and orange juice, stirring to completely dissolve sugar.  Toss with berries.  Serve cake with berries on the side.