Oliver's Chili Peppers

Oliver's Chili Peppers

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Creating for Those we Love

Brunch on Mother's Day. Sounds cliché right? It is. In spite of that, I like to host a brunch every couple of years. It beats making reservations, eating buffet food, and dealing with the throngs of people. Plus, for our family, that seems to get larger by the moment, an intimate brunch was the perfect way to celebrate all that is MOM.


My challenge this year was to create a menu that was entirely gluten-free, but that all of my guests would enjoy. I had to present it in a way that would make our mothers feel honoured, and feed the dads well. Luckily, I picked up a few grocery items, and inspiration from a new store that opened recently called the Gluten-Free Marketplace. This store provided me some brunch favourites in GF form like English muffins and graham cracker crumbs. They even have perogies! (I understand that this is not a brunch food unless it is Christmas morning at my parents house, but hooray for GF perogies nonetheless!). 


Our menu consisted of favourites with a twist. Like the Roasted Red Pepper Eggs Benedict with Pesto and Shrimp, or Proscuitto Wrapped Asparagus with Smoky Mustard sauce. But, the knock-out favourite dish of the morning was the Strawberry Melon Gazpacho that I served as a starter course. Check out the recipe from Whole Foods. I added fresh mint leaves and S&P to create this remarkably refreshing cold soup. 


Surrounded by beautiful food we created a small moment in our sometimes chaotic world. And, while that day we celebrated how grateful we are for Mothers, we understood that we were in essence celebrating the great importance of sharing our time with the people we love.