It’s showtime! Our fourth year of daily posts is officially underway and we’re kicking off our Sunday BOOrunch menu with a dish inspired by one of Halloween’s most memorable characters!

Ingredients
- Olive oil
- Red grapes
- Italian bread loaf
- Goat cheese
- Dried thyme
- Honey
- ¼ cup blackberry jam
- ½ tsp red wine vinegar
- Arugula
- Lemon
- Coarse sea salt
Additional Tools
- Zester
Instructions
- Start by preparing the toast toppings as outlined in steps 2 through 5. Note that these can be prepared in any order you like.
- Preheat your oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with foil. Slice red grapes in half and toss with a small amount of olive oil. Once the oven’s ready, spread the grapes evenly on the baking sheet and roast for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the grapes are just starting to char. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- Zest the lemon and slice in half. Sprinkle the zest over the arugula and toss with the lemon juice. Set aside.
- Stir the red wine vinegar into the blackberry jam until smooth. Add more for taste if desired. Set aside.
- Mix dry thyme leaves and honey into the goat cheese until smooth. Set aside.
- Toast the whole bread loaf in the oven at 400°F for about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove and let cool before slicing into toast pieces.
- Lay the toast pieces out on another foiled-lined baking sheet and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and toast in the oven, 12 to 15 minutes or until the tops are crispy and the edges are starting to brown. Remove and cool to room temperature.
- When ready to assemble the toasts, spread a layer of the honey-thyme goat cheese on each piece and then pipe the blackberry jam mixture in lines like those famous suit stripes. Top each toast with the lemon-tossed arugula for a hint of ghoulish green and then finish them off with the roasted grapes (not to be confused with beetles). Say his name three times (or don’t… your call!), serve and enjoy!
Let’s talk about fancy toast!
Devin and I are big fans of Top Chef and a few seasons ago, there was a chef, Carrie Baird, who made fancy toast a few times throughout her run on the show, which somehow morphed into a running joke of me screaming, “Fancy toast! It’s toast! That’s fancy!” or things of that nature and Devin rolling his eyes and moving on with his day. (I still find it hilarious!) Fast forward to this past season of Top Chef, and Chef Carrie returned as part of the show’s rotating panel of judges with – you guessed it! – a fancy toast challenge! (I can still hear Devin saying “Oh no, oh no” to himself as they were gearing up to introduce it on the show, knowing what was inevitably on its way soon after!)

Well it was around that time that I was brainstorming dishes for our Sunday BOOrunch post series and had shared a few thoughts with one of our best ghouls, Miranda from Spooky Little Halloween – who also happens to be a Top Chef fan. I shared my delightfully charming running gag with the fancy toast when we were dishing on the episode and she followed up with a text that immediately resonated, saying there better be some fancy toast in Year Four.
That, of course, sent the culinary creativity into overdrive! We tossed a few ideas back and forth before moving on to another topic of conversation. But over the next few weeks as I further developed the ideas for Sunday BOOrunch, I couldn’t quite shake the idea – and before I knew it, I was writing her back to tell her that we would indeed be featuring a fancy toast in Year Four… and as the first post, no less!

Now if you’re finding yourself asking “What exactly is fancy toast?”, look no further than the name… it’s toast – that’s fancy! (Okay, that was the last time I’m doing that, promise!) The sky really is the limit when it comes to toppings and flavor profiles that toast can handle, so if you’re building a brunch menu of your own, feel free to experiment!
So for our Beetlejuice-inspired toast, I started thinking through the dish from the base up. I had somewhat envisioned the finished toasts to be reminiscent of Beetlejuice’s iconic black and white striped suit, which I was able to recreate using goat cheese and piped blackberry jam. I knew I wanted to bring in a green element (both to include some greens and pay homage to that hint of rot around Beetlejuice’s features!), and I personally love how the pepperiness of arugula pairs with the tartness of lemon. And then to finish it off, I had roasted grape halves to place on top, not unlike a few little beetles running around the brunch table.

And once they were all assembled, the Ghost with the Most Fancy Toast has to be one of the tastiest dishes we’ve ever made for the blog! From the tanginess of the goat cheese mixed with the thyme and honey, the sweetness of the blackberry against the lemon-tossed arugula, and even the roasted grapes to top it all off, the flavors all came together for a bite that was both sweet and savory, and the perfect kickoff to our Sunday BOOrunch.
So again, if you’re planning a brunch menu of your own, don’t oversleep on the fancy toast! There really are endless flavor combinations and places to draw inspiration from, and this is the perfect way to round out an overall menu’s flavor profile. Bone appétit!
Bonus BOOrunch Tip: Halloween Grazing Board
Charcuterie plates and grazing boards are certainly all the rage right now when it comes to… well, pretty much everything! If you’re unfamiliar, these displays can contain pretty much anything, from cured meats and varieties of cheeses to veggies and fruits with crackers and breads; they typically serve as an appetizer or snack tray – and are just asking to be Halloweenified!
You can work some decorative googly eyes (or better yet, edible eye candies!) into your displays to make little snack monsters or get creative with cutting up fruits and veggies to make little bugs and creepy crawlies to gross out your guests before they chow down. And if you’re looking to go the dessert route with a grazing board, consider filling it up with trick or treat candy! These fun sized sweets are perfect for snacking and can go a long way to satisfy a crowd. Happy Brunching!












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