Dynamic Christmas Brunch, Dysfunctional Family

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

I may have found a new favorite Christmas movie and with it a host of inspiration for this year’s Christmas brunch. Many of us consider our families to be dysfunctional, particularly as we gather together for the holidays this time of year. Perhaps that is why the family featured in last year’s The Family Stone, with its many memorable scenes in the kitchen and dining room, I found to be a bit familiar, and oddly inspirational.

It is true, I am possibly turning into a bit of a kitchen Nazi these days. I could apologize, but I know what I need to do in the kitchen for the holidays, and if I am able, I try and fit other people’s cooking endeavors in around my plan.

There is a scene in The Family Stone where Sarah Jessica Parker is in the kitchen making a strata, feebly explaining to the mother of the household why she is cooking in her kitchen: she just wanted to contribute something. Sounds a bit like my sister and I as I tell her that she is going to have to make her carrot dish for Christmas Eve, and her potatoes another day entirely. But strata is a great idea for brunch on Christmas morning. Maybe she can be like Sarah Jessica and bring that to the table.

Strata for breakfast is usually an egg based casserole with layers of bread, cheese, and perhaps meats or vegetables. It is usually assembled the night before, but if there is no room in the kitchen on Christmas Eve, my recommendation would be to make individual strata in ramekins. These can be assembled in five minutes, baked in 20, and on the table before your own Kitchen Nazi has even had time to check out her stocking.

In the movie there is a scene where the family is gathered together for a competitive game of charades. The game ends in yelling, misunderstanding, and one player leaving the game in tears. Many of us have our own version of this occurrence, whether it be around a Scrabble board or--in my family’s case--marathon-length games of the old Genus version of Trivial Pursuit. For many of us, these scenes play out with all the annual Christmas-time predictability of a traditional Nativity reenactment.

Hyper competition with us has led to some crazy developments, not just at Trivial Pursuit but in the kitchen. Starting with the year of the Christmas goose, the goal each year now is to out-do ourselves from the year before with something that's more outrageous, decadent, or bizarre than what we served in years past.

Last year that meant doing a secret parking lot deal with a supermarket attendant for his own homemade tamales. This was the same man we bought our super premium standing rib roast from for Christmas dinner. This year portends duck leg confit and seared duck breast for dinner, which will mark the first time some of my family will have eaten confit. This will also be our first attempt to make Christmas Eve tamales ourselves.

The competitive aspect of dinner can be in the preparation, as with the homemade tamales, or the ingredients, as with the goose. With ingredients, for brunch I like the idea of including unusual fruits and vegetables that you can only find this time of year. Pomegranates are lovely and festive looking with their ruby red seeds, but persimmons, now that is a fruit that is cool enough to add a Wow factor to Christmas brunch. Fuyu persimmons can be peeled and added to a salad or poached in wine and spices and served with ice cream for dessert. The Hachiya persimmon is soft and its pulp is an excellent addition to quick breads and cakes.

In the movie The Family Stone, in spite of their high standards everyone realizes that none of them are perfect. And even though Sarah Jessica Parker’s strata ends up on the floor rather than the dining room table, they realize that it was the thought that counted. And in spite of her character’s sometimes stodgy perfectionism, she is in fact a good and thoughtful person. So this year at my Christmas gathering, there will most definitely be competition. I might be a kitchen Nazi, but maybe I’ll make room for one more person, as long as they reach high, even if the strata ends up on the floor. Because none of us are perfect, even on Christmas.

Serves/Makes: 6

• 3 ripe Fuyu persimmons
• 1 1/2 granny smith apples
• 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
• 2 shallots
• 8 ounces fresh baby spinach
• 1 orange
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1 piece (1/2-inch size) fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper

Serves/Makes: 6

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 12 slices sandwich bread
• 7 ounces deli sandwich ham such as black forest, sliced thin
• 6 ounces Swiss cheese, grated
• 6 eggs
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• salt and pepper