Fun, Fast, and Foolproof Mother’s Day Breakfast What’s Cooking? Paris Breakfast

Today’s recipe is for all you dads and hubbies trying to figure out how to either make her a great breakfast yourself, or to help the kids make one in a way that doesn’t turn the kitchen into a war zone.

I remember having a few of those made for me, and frankly, it doesn’t really matter what you serve because she will eat it all and exclaim about its deliciousness. Won’t we, ladies? Because it’s the giving, not the gift, that counts.

The Mother’s Day that stands out most clearly in my mind is the year when my first-born was about 2½. I was home on maternity leave after the birth of number 2, so you know already I was totally hormonal. It was the Friday before Mother’s Day, and our sitter had gone to pick up number 1 from nursery school, which he had been attending for only a few months. She parked her car on a side street across from our house, and I watched from an upstairs window as she held his hand to cross the street and climb the steep driveway to our home. Then I noticed he had something in his other hand. A piece of paper – some sort of artwork. I caught my breath as, in a flash, it came to me that he’d made me a Mother’s Day card. He had no idea what it meant for there to be something called Mother’s Day, but if they were making something for their moms, well, by golly, he could do that.

Innocence and pure unadulterated love are the remarkable gifts we get from our children, and that I was now the guardian of that innocence and the recipient of that love had not struck me with any great force until that moment. So I was a complete mess by the time they entered the house, but I welcomed the card with as much joy and graciousness as I could muster through the tears that wouldn’t stop flowing down my cheeks.

* * *

This breakfast dish is one you’ll love any day, Mother’s Day or not. I don’t know why it’s called Paris Breakfast – it’s from an ancient cookbook issue of my hometown local newspaper, and the friend of my mother’s who contributed it has long ago passed on to that great Kitchen in the sky. I posted it several years ago, as a Happy New Year’s Day breakfast, but without a photo. (New Year’s Day being the wrong time entirely to ask me to get out my camera.) This time, you can see for yourself that it looks delicious, and I promise you, it delivers on the look. I don’t think anyone has ever made it for me, but one of my sons claims it’s his favorite breakfast treat when I make it for him. And am I happy to make it for him? You bet.

Amazingly, the dish takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish. Also, because you concoct the whole thing in the blender – that’s right, in your blender! – it’s actually fun to make. The key is in the timing: you want to have the pie pan hot from the oven and the blender mixture well blended, simultaneously. So on the last blending cycle, you should actually be removing the pie pan from the oven while the blending is going on. The beautiful puff that develops in the oven will disappear almost immediately when you remove the pan, but that’s just the way it goes.

Paris Breakfast

Serves 2.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 large eggs
½ cup milk (whole, skim or part-skim – your choice), at room temperature (I microwaved mine for 15 seconds to get it there)
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier (or Cointreau or any other orange-flavored liqueur)
2 tablespoons sugar
Juice of one lemon (about 3 tablespoons)
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup all-purpose flour
Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting

Special equipment: a 10-inch glass pie plate.

Preheat oven to 400º. [Kitchen Goddess note: This is one of those recipes in which mise en place is critical. So stop reading now and go get all your ingredients measured out and ready. Then come back.]

Put the butter in a 10-inch glass pie plate and put
the pie plate into the hot oven. Once the butter has melted (about 4 minutes), brush it around the sides and bottom of the pie plate, and return it to the oven.

Ready to pour.

Put the eggs, milk, orange liqueur, sugar, lemon juice, and salt into a blender and blend briefly (about 5 seconds). Add the flour and blend again until frothy (another 25-30 seconds).





Scrape down the sides of the blender and run the blender again while you – carefully! – remove the hot pie plate from the oven. The butter will have begun to brown at this point. Working quickly (but still carefully), pour the mixture into the plate and bake 15 minutes.

On the way into the oven.

Remove the finished product from the oven and dust with confectioner’s sugar. Serve with crisp bacon or fruit (or both) and your favorite jam or syrup.

The Kitchen Goddess wishes you a very happy Mother’s Day!