When we started workshopping ideas for the Slow Sunday feature in our seasonal magazine, designer Louise Stettler described lazy brunches with her family which always include a favourite frittata-style eggy bake that morphs with the seasons.
‘It can have fresh herbs, asparagus, chorizo, olives, wild garlic… but always lots of cheese!’ Perhaps it was because our meeting was just before lunch, but our appetites were suitably whetted, and we started chipping in with ways to riff on this theme and the kinds of drinks we’d like for our own DIY bottomless brunches!
Louise’s family-recipe ‘frittata’ for long, lazy brunches
Makes 8-12 servings
10 eggs
230g Gouda, diced
230g cheddar, diced
240ml cottage cheese
240ml sour cream
2 heaped tbsp plain flour
3 tbsp melted butter
1tsp baking powder
Handful of jarred green chillies, de-seeded and diced (optional)
Beat the eggs and then add all the other ingredients, beating together until well combined. Pour into a large, deep, greased ovenproof dish and bake at 180°C for 45mins – 1hr, or until golden brown.
Serving options:
Sliced avocado, dollop of chipotle salsa and coriander and mimosas!
Sliced/cubed fried chorizo
Griddled asparagus
Fried sliced mushrooms
Smoked salmon, fresh chives & dill
Griddled corn on the cob, crème fraiche, paprika
Bitter leaves with sharp vinaigrette
Chopped soft herbs – mint, chives, chervil, tarragon, parsley
A glass of fizz feels celebratory and decadent and works well with such a mix of flavours or pick a rosé – a particularly good match if you dial up the Mediterranean-style ingredients.
It’s maybe not surprising that our colleagues’ ideal Sundays featured wine at some point (though not always the main focus!). Sunday roasts are still an essential for lots of us, including for buyer Toby Morrhall.
Cooking for friends
‘My perfect Sunday involves cooking for friends. I would spend the morning prepping. Starter would be a mussel mousse – an involved Raymond Blanc recipe but worth it (white Burgundy with that). But then I’d do an easy main, roast rib of beef, with roast potatoes, parsnips, brussels sprouts… whatever is seasonal, and some claret with that. We’d finish with two homemade ice creams, chocolate and burnt orange – again, a bit fiddly, but these are made well in advance so there’s absolutely no prep required on the day.’
Scroll down for Toby’s go-to burnt-orange ice-cream recipe.
Slow Sunday drinking
The Society's Exhibition Cap Classique 2023
Cava Juvé & Camps Gran Reserva 2022
Gewurztraminer, Cave de Turckheim 2024
Melnik 55, Villa Melnik 2022
Château Mazeris, Canon-Fronsac 2020
The Society's Exhibition White Rioja Reserva 2018
Working up an appetite for the classic Sunday roast
Member Services adviser Jack Budworth feels he has to earn his roast!: ‘It’s up early to get the blood pumping with a few games of badminton. If it's a bright day, a stroll to get some air and work up an appetite for a Sunday roast. Lamb is my favourite, roasted with garlic and rosemary, served with Lyonnaise potatoes. I love Rhône reds with this, maybe a Gigondas or Vacqueyras. If there’s sport on TV I might catch some football or rugby, then walk off my roast with an evening stroll along the river as the days get longer.’
Buyer Victoria Mason MW likes a run along the river too to work up an appetite, but only after a lazy lie-in! ‘I LOVE starting Sunday by making coffee and taking it back to bed to read… it feels like ULTIMATE LUXURY. Also, it’s my one day to lie in, in a week, so the coffee in bed adds to the unhurried vibes. Notifications off so I can completely disconnect from the digital world and social media. Sometimes even airplane mode – to totally switch off! Then, a long run along the river to build up an appetite for a proper pub lunch with a roast – somewhere that has a lovely wine list AND allows BYO so we can buy a bottle from the list and bring our own. Oaked chardonnay or chenin blanc with roast chicken is a dream. But really anything could be in my glass! I’m not a creature of habit when it comes to Sunday (or any day) wine! But something bubbly, whether Champagne or Cap Classique feels extra decadent on a Sunday.
Out with the kids and the dogs!
Allan Sharman (above) in our Wine Operations team gets out for, ‘field or woodland walks with the dog and the kids on their bikes or playing football, then it’s home for burritos with potato wedges and salsa verde, or pie & chips with coleslaw, or classic Sunday Roast. I’d go for an oaky chardonnay from the southern hemisphere or US, or Chianti or Rioja for reds. With the burritos, I’d experiment on the wine-front – our new Bulgarian Villa Melnik 55 would work well.’
As a relatively new mum, buyer Sarah Knowles MW starts her Sundays with ‘water babies’ swimming classes followed by a well-earned brunch out somewhere. ‘However, on the best afternoons my husband and I will cook something fun together while entertaining our daughter, sometimes opening some pre-bathtime Champagne as a bit of a treat.’
Hugo Fountain in Marketing is into smoking his own bacon, so after sorting out the kid’s breakfast and ahead of ‘little ruggers’ he’ll knock up a bacon sandwich or maybe a kedgeree – a glass of gewurz or German riesling would be great with the latter.
Firing up the barbecue
This is a solid Sunday pursuit for quite a few of our colleagues, including our new head of fine wine, Alex Turnbull:
‘The perfect Sunday for me involves firing up the barbecue (no matter the weather), sticking on a vinyl, and decanting a bottle of red. I’m a big fan of smoking, so the barbecue may even have been lit the night before. For me, Sundays are all about relaxing, and I relax through cooking, eating with friends, and sharing a great bottle of wine. I’ll invariably sip on riesling as I cook, probably something from J J Prüm, Willi Schaefer or Schloss Lieser, getting everything prepped. The red will follow, and if we’re feeling particularly thirsty, a half bottle of something sweet, before retiring to the sofa for the evening.’
Rachel Elliott from our Distribution team (pictured at work above), likes, ‘a little lie-in before getting the garden ready for summer; weeding, painting fences and getting excited about plants coming to life. I would marinate meat for a late-afternoon BBQ and make sure a nice bottle of South by South West Yallingup Margaret River Chardonnay is chilling to go with that and maybe start with a bottle of The Society's Exhibition Cap Classique, as I would have earned it after all my gardening!’
After taking the dogs for a long walk, Becci Chatterton in Marketing would also fire up the barbie or pizza oven (‘my husband needs no excuse, even if it’s raining!’). More weather-dependent is choice of drink: ‘If the sun is shining then a crisp refreshing and easy drinking rosé would likely be in hand, but equally enjoyable would be a glass (or two) of fizz, often a crémant or cava, while my husband would happily enjoy these, he is likely to have a crisp beer, either from The Society or our local brewery’.
Staving off ‘the Sunday scaries’!
Let’s leave the last word to Catherine Housden in Tastings & Events with a sentiment that I think you never grow out of!
‘When life allows, I cherish having Sundays as a day of rest although I do find the rest often involves trying to cram in as many social and fun things before the ‘Sunday Scaries’ hit, but they do say that ‘a change is as good as a rest!’
I’ll start with a slow morning of coffee and watching something foodie on TV, then head out for brunch with friends or a mooch in the shops (more often both!) before heading back home for a quiet afternoon pottering about. By late afternoon I’m starting to think about cooking dinner, so I’ll pop on a podcast and create something in the kitchen that uses as few pots and pans as possible to avoid too much washing up! I’m a big fan of a one-pan-wonder dish and will usually go for something with a big mix of seasonal veg, maybe roasted with chicken thighs and grains. I’ll open a bottle while cooking and continue with it when eating – a Spanish or Portuguese white would be my go-to.
Like every millennial, I’ll then panic that I’ve not done my homework and forgotten to get ingredients for Food Tech well into the evening!
Toby’s burnt-orange ice cream
This recipe from Morfudd Richards’ book Lola’s Ice Creams & Sundaes is the one I turn to. The secret for this seems to be inclusion of the caramel. The recipe calls for a thermometer and ice-cream maker, but can be made without these.
To make approx. 1.4kg
Ingredients
For the ice cream:
500ml whole milk
6 egg yolks
50g caster sugar
For the sauce:
500ml fresh orange juice (approx. 5-6 large oranges)
250g caster sugar
50ml Triple Sec (optional!)
250ml whipping cream
To make the sauce, halve and juice the oranges. Strain the juice to remove pips and pulp. Melt 60g of sugar in a pan over medium heat taking care not to burn. Add the remaining sugar in stages, taking it off the heat if it gets too dark – you only want it marginally burnt (caramel coloured)! Take off the heat and gradually add the orange juice and then the triple sec, if using (if the caramel seizes up/solidifies put back on a gentle heat and stir to dissolve). Keep stirring then add the cream and put back on the heat, stirring all the time. Bring to a gentle boil then let simmer for a few minutes. Set aside to cool. To make the ‘custard’ bring the milk to just before boiling. Whisk egg yolks with 50g sugar then add the milk to the mixture (slowly, to avoid cooking the egg). Pour back into the pan and bring slowly up to 80°C, stirring all the time. Don’t let it boil and keep it at this heat for 15 seconds. Turn off the heat but keep whisking (for a few minutes to reduce the temperature)! Put into a container and place in an ice bath to rapidly cool down to 4°C. Add the cooled caramel sauce. Once cool, cover and put in the fridge for 4 hours (or preferably overnight). Churn in an ice cream maker (or put into a shallow container and freeze, stirring vigorously as it freezes and checking every 30 mins or so). Now it needs to go in a sealed container, cover with waxed or greaseproof paper and put in the freezer until needed.
I love to serve this with fortified muscat like California’s Quady Essencia Orange Muscat and usually make a chocolate ice cream too.
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