How to Host a Perfect Summer Brunch
Everything from place settings, to etiquette, to recipes.
While we at The Coveteur are certainly hearty eaters (and healthy eaters!) we’d be reluctant to call ourselves elegant eaters. Whenever it happens that there’s a pizza, or box of cookies in the office (it happens pretty much every day, actually) the scene is more Discovery Channel than we’d like. Beyond total pizza carnage, our summer entertaining capabilities more or less begin and end with asking an attractive man to fix us a drink and...well...that’s as far as we get.
With that in mind, we asked Monique Otero of BrunchPants.com and Myka Meier at Beaumont Etiquette to give us a much-needed lesson in etiquette, along with three gorgeous place setting options, and three recipes for a summer brunch, family style dinner, and a ladies lunch. Be on the look out for the next installments, but below you’ll find everything you need to make your friends think you’re the next Miss Manners—but the cool, fun one, who doesn’t frown upon having a cocktail at (or, let’s be honest, before) noon.
A summer brunch calls for light, happy colors. “I went with a palette of blue, yellow, green and white, and I wove in citrus elements,” said Otero. “I used Key Limes as fun place card holders, and I wove lemons and limes into the floral arrangements.” The blue striped dishes are the Transatlantica pattern by Vista Alegre.
Etiquette
“When setting the table, make sure the water glass sits directly above the knife. If you are serving a soup, the spoon is always placed to the right of the knife.”
“Napkins can be placed to the left of the plate, or on top of the plate.”
“Name cards are placed on the upper left-hand side of the table setting.”
Menu
“This summer brunch menu plays off of the citrus theme.”
COCKTAIL
French 75 (gin, champagne, lemon juice, and sugar)
STARTER
Chilled yellow tomato gazpacho with micro basil (recipe below)
MAIN
Slow-cooked scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and chives, served with brioche toast points and caviar
DESSERT
Peach tart with goat cheese and honey
Recipe
INGREDIENTS:
-5 medium size yellow tomatoes, sliced in quarters
-2 yellow bell peppers, sliced in quarters
-1/2 yellow onion, roughly sliced
-1 clove of garlic
-1 peeled cucumber, sliced in quarters
-1 thick slice of white country bread softened with water
-1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
-1 tbsp sherry or red wine vinegar
-1/8 cup micro basil
-salt and pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS:
1. Add all of the ingredients into a blender except the micro basil.
2. Puree until slightly chunky.
3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Pour the gazpacho into bowls and garnished with a drizzle of olive oil and micro basil.
Creative Direction and Photography: Monique Otero – @brunchpants
Etiquette: Myka Meier – @mykameier
Tableware sourced from Jung Lee NY – @jungleeny
Photo studio - BFA Studios – @BFA