The summer houseguest season is here and with it the challenge of keeping a houseful fed, watered and happy while remaining cheerful yourself –and getting a bit of time at the pool, beach, hammock or whatever. I nearly always enjoy making dinner, but three full meals a day for a group can be a little wearying, particularly after a couple of days.
Brunch is a natural solution here, and one of my favorite brunches is a sandwich buffet –but not the usual spread of cold cuts and condiments that has bored captives of conference rooms for generations. This is more a kit of parts that allows your guests to make a variety of delicious warm meals –all with little preparation or intervention from yours truly. I set out loaves of good crusty bread, a couple of cheeses that melt well (English clothbound cheddar, gruyere and young goat’s gouda are favorites), sliced tomatoes and avocados (drizzled with lemon or lime juice to keep them from browning), crisp bacon (cooked in the oven the night before), eggs, mayonnaise (both plain and spiced with some chipotle chili powder), dijon mustard and a simple green salad.
From this, guests can move in the lunch direction with grilled cheese sandwiches (with or without tomato and/or avocado slices), keep things breakfast-y with eggs and toast or fried egg sandwiches (with or without cheese or bacon), or split the difference with my personal favorite, a BLT (or, as they should be called, BLTMs — the M standing for mayonnaise, which is a critical ingredient in this sublimely delicious sandwich). All I need to do is fry the odd egg and supervise some broiling. And if I’m lucky, someone will volunteer to do the dishes while I read the paper.
Here’s a little video with the details.
