On a Saturday, few things can really come in between you and a pretty, cozy pastel-hued café with a board outside that read ‘All-Day Brunch’. Poetry By Love And Cheesecake launched its new outlet in Gurugram’s CyberHub, and the hype has been worth it. Poetry, with its expansive menu featuring everything from coffee, quiches, rolls, and tacos to waffles, pancakes, and cheesecake, has all the promise to be your next go-to place for a brunch date.
We grabbed the seat right by the window, before we started stuffing ourselves with breakfast favourites from across the world. We started with the ever-so-fresh and loaded Avocado Bruschetta Tartine, proceeding to the street-style chicken tacos, featuring thin, perfectly grilled tacos, chicken and garden-fresh vegetables and microgreens. The Spaghetti also won over with its simple, subtle flavours. Spaghetti tossed with nutty lemon sauce, grilled chicken with parmesan and basil, the pasta got its ultimate ‘texture-lift’ with the toasted hazelnuts on top. Highly recommended. The warm-roasted vegetable sandwich was another highlight of the morning. Mushrooms, bell peppers, olive oil white onions, create a lovely medley of sandwich filling and we got an exclusive recipe for you.
Ingredients:
For the pesto:
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed (can sub half the basil leaves with baby spinach).
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Romano or Parmesan cheese (about 2 ounces).
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil.
- 1/3 cup pine nuts (can sub chopped walnuts).
- 3 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tbsp)
- 1/4 tsp salt, or more to taste.
- 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste.
For the sandwich topping:
- Olive oil, as required
- Salt and pepper, as required
- Bell pepper, sliced into 1-inch pieces, as required
- Small white onion, sliced, as required
- Mushrooms sliced, as required
- Zucchini sliced, as required
- Grated cheese, as required
- 1 bread
Method:
- Place the basil leaves and pine nuts into the bowl of a food processor and pulse several times.
- Add the garlic and Parmesan or Romano cheese and pulse several times more.
- Scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula.
- While the food processor is running, slowly add the olive oil in a steady small stream. Adding the olive oil slowly while the processor is running will help it emulsify and help keep the olive oil from separating.
- Occasionally, stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor.
- Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
- Toss with pasta for a quick sauce, dollop over baked potatoes, or spread onto crackers or toasted slices of bread.
- Preheat grill to medium heat.
- Brush vegetables with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Add this to the preheated grill and cook until vegetables begin to char, turning once. About 4 minutes each side. Set aside.
- In a small skillet add ⅓ cup olive oil and heat over medium/low heat.
- Making one sandwich at a time, spread pesto on the olive focaccia bread.
- Starting with caramelized onions, layer bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms and pepper jack cheese.
- Place the sandwich on a preheated skillet, on low. Allow to cook for 5-7 minutes.