Chef Britney Melnick and her husband Anil, who is the Sales Director for Las Vegas based catering company, B With a Twist Catering, shared with the audience at the recent Art of Catering Food in Washington DC, unique ideas incorporating both sweet as well as savory appetizers, buffets, breakfast station and plated breakfast ideas. Incorporating international cuisine into their menu offerings for clients with dishes such as Shakshuka, breakfast lasagna or Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta can provide a new perspective on this most important meal of the day, offering convenient and delicious options for clients on the go.

Instead of standard scrambled eggs, B With a Twist spices things up with Shakshuka— a dish of eggs poached in a tomato based sauce with chili peppers and onions, spiced with cumin. It’s popular in Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Morroco and Egypt. It’s traditionally served in a cast iron pan or tajine with bread to mop up the sauce. Warm, savory and simply delicious!

Or how about changing out the boring ‘ol bagels and cream cheese station for an exotic display of Idlis instead? Idlis are a pillowy steamed traditional South Indian cake. To make this, urad dal (black lentils/mungo beans) and rice are soaked overnight with some fenugreek seeds. (Cambro offers a variety of  storage containers with lids that are ideal for the job.) The rice and urad dal are ground up separately with some water, then combined into a homogeneous mixture and left to ferment overnight. The next day the airy batter is poured into special idli molds and steamed. The result are light and pillowy cakes which caterers can offer up with a choice of sambar (a tamarind-based vegetable stew), chutnies, curries or podi (a mixture of ground dry spices, chilis, urad, chickpea and sesame seeds) for guests to sample. Caterers can really have some fun with this presentation!

For your on-the-go executives, how about changing out the stodgy English muffin and elevating the breakfast sandwich to mini thyme lemon donut sandwiches with fried quail egg, onion jam and Irish cheddar? Or simply stuffing it with smoked salmon with dill, cream cheese and capers, or even a healthier caprese filling? Here is the recipe for the donut. Have a whirl with this fun idea!

Caterers can also transform traditional waffles into mouth-watering waffle sandwiches with honey glazed ham, egg and Mornay sauce. Not too shabby for a grab-n-go bite!

For those with a sweet tooth go Italian with individual panna cottas—traditionally made with sweetened cream that is set with gelatin.  B With a Twist makes their version with Greek Yogurt which was not only brilliant and healthy, but simply addictive.  Serve these individual panna cottas in Cambro’s Dessert Glasses—made of unbreakable polycarbonate, for worry-free indulgence.

Want a unique plated breakfast? Try a Bacon Egg Breakfast Caesar Salad. Chef Britney cures egg yolks by packing it in a salt and sugar mixture for 4 days. She brushes off any excess rub (try using Cambro’s food pans with colanders for this part of the process. Put the colander into the food pan and line with the curing mixture. Top with the egg yolks and pack more of the salt-sugar mixture on top.  After several days simply lift off the colander pan and gently shake off any excess mix.)  and dries it out in the oven over low heat till it hardens, then smokes the yolks for some added oomph. This concentrated yolk is subsequently grated over hearts of romaine and bacon bits, and dressed with Caesar dressing with a side of garlic toast. Such a brilliant idea to surprise your guests with!

We hope you enjoyed some of these ideas as shared to us by Chef Britney. She is certainly the Queen of Non-traditional Breakfast Fare.  Get inspired with more pictures, menus and presentation ideas from her website. For “Upscale Comfort Food with a Twist,” look no further!

About the Author: Cathy Vu is the Marketing Manager for Catering and Hospitality. For more posts related to catering, click here.