Breakfast and Brunch Boards
Blogue de la présidente
Présidente et directrice générale des Fermes Burnbrae
4e génération d'agriculteurs
I was so taken by the beautiful cookbook On Boards by inspiring Canadian food stylist Lisa Dawn Bolton. Since its publication, I’ve really upped my “board” game. Traditionally, these meal-on-a-board options were filled with a variety of deli meats, cheeses, olives and gherkins but I’ve quickly learned that eggs can play a beautiful role on boards as well.
The advantage of displaying meals on boards is that you can serve family and friends with minimal trips to the kitchen, you can enjoy the gathering instead of fussing in the kitchen, and you have fewer serving bowls to clean up after the meal. It allows for everyone to choose the foods that they prefer to make their individual perfect snack or meal. Many boards use already-cooked foods (or those with minimal cooking), so it’s more about serving than cooking. An artistically arranged board is sure to impress your family and friends. I just love the way that sharing a board brings family and friends together.
Some things to keep in mind when creating boards: bump up the colour (fruits and vegetables work great for that), keep white or beige foods (cheese, crackers, hummus, etc.) separated by pops of colour (blueberries, grapes, carrots), have ample tongs or toothpicks available so people can easily choose their food in a sanitary way.
Breakfast and Brunch Boards
As you probably could have guessed, breakfast and brunch boards are my new favourites. Here are a few of my go-to boards.
The Ultimate Breakfast Board: This board features sliced EGGS2go! hard-boiled eggs, bacon or sausages, mini pancakes, an assortment of colourful fresh berries such as strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, sliced oranges, bananas and kiwi, and small bowls filled with nut butter, yogurt and maple syrup for drizzling and dipping.
The Quiche Board: We cut EGG Bakes! crustless quiches in half and place them around the board. We fill in gaps with a selection of cheeses, crackers, and flatbreads, and round it out with a crudité of carrots, celery, red peppers and a ranch-style dip.
The Bagel Board: Sesame and poppy seed bagels are sliced in half and surrounded by sliced hard boiled eggs, smoked salmon, capers, cream cheese, thinly sliced tomatoes, avocado, cucumbers and red onion. I sometimes like to offer bowl of egg salad instead of sliced hard boiled eggs. I make my egg salad with Eggs2Go! hard boiled eggs mixed with a little mayonnaise and Dijon mustard, topped with some pepper, salt and fresh dill.
The Bite-Size Board: This works great for brunch, snacks, or appetizers since it’s full of fun, bite-size options. Start with an assortment of EGG Bites! snack size crustless quiches in the Tex-Mex and Pizza Deluxe flavours. Add pepperoni slices, mozzarella cheese cubes, gherkin pickles, assorted olives and easy-to-grab cherry tomatoes and baby-cut carrots. Round it out with brightly coloured grapes and berries.
The Dips Board: The centrepiece of this board is an assortment of store-bought dips such as hummus, baba ghanouj, artichoke and asiago, guacamole, and tzatziki. Around the perimeter, add an assortment of crunchy vegetables, tortillas and crackers. And make it especially fancy by placing devilled eggs between the dips. Here’s the recipe we use with EGGS2go! Omega-3 Eggs.
These are just some fun examples, but the possibilities are endless. Use your imagination and see what you can create!
Margaret Hudson
President and CEO, Burnbrae Farms