My friend Matty & his wife Suzette live in a precious Mississippi Delta town called Cleveland, home to Delta State University and probably fifteen-thousand people. They’re entrepreneurs, and advocates for education and the community, and generally all-around fun people. They LOVE Cleveland, but Matty’s one complaint (until a year or so ago) was that if you wanted brunch on a weekend, you had to drive 2 hours to Memphis or Jackson. Let’s be honest here.. no matter how awesome a rural community’s food culture is, brunch is the ONE meal that small town versions of dives, restaurants, and clubs just CAN’T often compete with their big-city counterparts…even in the south. Which means that if you live in a smaller town, and like to entertain, hosting a brunch for your friends rather than a dinner party is always a super great idea. Still not sure? Let me sell you…
1) Who doesn’t like a reason for a cocktail in the middle of the day?
2) The food can be SO easy and almost all done in advance, making day-of prep a sinch.
3) You don’t have to go to bed with a kitchen sink overflowing with unwashed dishes and then wake up to deal with it the next morning
4) Everyone loves brunch food. Everyone.
5) As the party keeps getting more fun, it can keep going into the night!
See?
The first few brunches I hosted turned into sort of elaborate affairs…. once I baked biscuits from scratch THAT morning, fried chicken (to go on top of the biscuits, obvi), made a fruit salad from entirely fresh fruit, created from-scratch Bloody Marys and whipped fresh cream. It was all deeeee-licious and so fun, but by the end I was exhausted. Pooped. Wrung out.
And then, while talking to my mama about our Christmas brunch I had an epiphany….why make it all that morning? This brings me to my new go-to brunch party menu (which was adopted mostly from my mama’s version.) I’ve shared one staple with you before… garlic cheese grits souffle, and I introduced you to my biscuits last week… but you haven’t yet met Hot Fruit. Let me introduce you!
Most of my southern church or junior league cookbooks from the 60s-70s have a version of Hot Fruit… some call it “Hot Fruit Compote,” “Hot Fruit Salad,” or “Hot Fruit Cassarole” but my mama– who INSISTS that we have this anytime we’re having a holiday brunch– just calls it plain old Hot Fruit. There aren’t really that many photos of making it because, well… it’s basically just hot fruit. But y’all… the warmth, the sweetness, the tartness (of my particular version that I made for our Christmas morning) was truly something special on it’s own, BUT then we served it with biscuits, quail with tomato gravy, and garlic cheese grits. By their powers combined, dear folks, it became a brunch worth shouting about. My dad made the quail (I’ll get him to make it again so we can write the recipe down…. he’s a “throw stuff in a pot and experiment” kind of cook) but I followed my mama’s advice and put all the other dishes together the week before Christmas and froze it all. This allowed us to leisurely enjoy gift-opening and our coffee while most of our brunch cooked slowly and perfectly in the oven. It was dreamy.
The next time you have someone over for brunch, rather than deciding to showcase your prowess in the kitchen by killing yourself all at once, consider making delishy things that freeze well for a week or so. AND DEFINITELY make Hot Fruit. This version is the right amount of sweet, tart, warm, and gooey to really complement whatever else you’re making (waffles? check. omelet? oh yes. sausage? uh huh.) is super easy AND freezes well.
Hot Fruit
Serves 6
What you need:
Note: All Canned fruit is either in it’s own juice or in lite/reduced sugar syrup
1 Can Pinapple, drained (I go with chunks, but rings work)
1 Can Sour Cherries, drained
1 Can Peaches, drained
1 Can Pears, drained
2 small cans mandarin orange slices, drained
1/3 Cup flour
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of butter, cut into small pieces
zest of one orange
1/4 Cup Sherry (You could go with bourbon or brandy here, too probs)
What to do:
This one is SO easy, y’all. Drain the fruit juice (It’s a great idea to reserve this and freeze it in a plastic bag. It makes a great base for punch.) Mix in the sugar, flour, salt, sherry, and orange zest into the fruit, folding it in gently from the bottom. Pour it into a baking dish, and cover evenly with the slivers of butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or until bubbly. Serve warm.
Also: If you’re being super smart and heeding my advice about freezing it… hooray! All you need to do is mix it together, cover with saran wrap or aluminum foil (make sure the cover is pressed down to touch the top of the fruit) and freeze it. When you’re ready to cook it, pull it out of the freezer the night before to let it tha,w and then when you’re almost ready to eat, bake it as stated above. However, you may need to cook it for a few extra minutes (5 or 10) as the center might still be kind of hard. 🙂 Boom.
What’s your favorite brunch food? DO you have a favorite brunch place in your town (PLEASE share them with me. It’s the best meal of the day and I’m always looking for great spots.)
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