I talk about food, you read it.
Breakfast
Poached eggs with a Creamy Dill Sauce
0I really think that my favourite kind of eggs has got to be poached. I love that the white of the eggs are nice and soft while the yellow is runny thick and flavourful. You can put a poached egg on pretty much anything and add anything to a poach egg. There are a million videos, website and articles on how to poach a perfect egg so I highly suggest that if you don’t know how, this year is the time to learn.
My latest poached egg adventure consisted of a dill sauce over a bagel. I was little worried that the sour cream base might be too strong for an egg but I was wrong. It was delicious.
Ingredients
(Serves 3-4)
- ½ cup sour cream (or more depending on how many you’re making)
- 2 tablespoons mayo
- ½ lemon juiced
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill chopped
- Salt and pepper
Mix all ingredients together, use as a topping for eggs. This would also taste great as a vegetable dip.
Smoked Salmon and Scrambled Eggs
0J and I have yet to establish any type of Christmas tradition. We have taken turns with whose family we spend Christmas day with but even that has never really been the same since our families are fairly large. I think our only Christmas tradition has been rushing around, stressed out and trying to do last minute shopping on Christmas Eve, but that tradition I would like to stop.
This year I officially decided that I want our Christmas tradition to be food related and the easiest thing to do is make a delicious morning breakfast. I might be grasping at straws since I would make a delicious breakfast anyway but we’ll just pretend it’s a tradition. This year was super simple but tasted gourmet!
Ingredients
- 4 croissants
- 4 eggs
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp cream
- 2 ounces smoked salmon
- 1 tbsp chives roughly chopped
- Salt and pepper
Cut croissants however you like. Horizontally is fine, I cut mine in thick strips. Toast in frying pan on high heat without butter or oil. The butter in the croissant is enough to toast them.
In a second frying pan melt butter on med to med high heat until hot. Crack eggs in pan. With a spatula break yolks and stir around until eggs start to cook but are still very runny, add cream and chives. This will slow down the cooking of your eggs and give them a nice creamy flavour. Continue cooking until desired consistency.
Top croissants with smoked salmon, eggs and salt and pepper. Serve hot.
For such a ridiculously simple meal it sure tasted amazing. Smoked salmon add a nice salty, smoky flavour to your creamy eggs. It also adds a hint of gourmet to a breakfast that is pretty typical. It was such a great way to start Christmas morning.
Apple Pankcakes
0Breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day. I am sure you’ve heard this time and time again but I know for most people that breakfast just isn’t all that important. I see people at work or friends tell me all about how famished they are by lunch time or I see them eat McDonalds or Tim Horton’s at work. Why people don’t eat breakfast will always amaze me.
I hope that everyone who doesn’t eat a regular breakfast at least has yummy homemade breakfasts for weekends especially since it’s so easy and inexpensive to make. One thing I love making, which fills us up, is pancakes. Pancakes can sometimes be heavy but if you add fruit to them it makes the lighter and more refreshing. This is a recipe for apple pancakes that J and I re-heated in the toaster all week, delicious!!
Ingredients
- 2 eggs, well beaten
- 1-1/2 cups milk
- Zest and juice of half a lemon or orange (I used lemon)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- Dash of cinnamon
- 3 medium apples, peeled and grated (try for a tart variety like green)
Vegetable oil for frying
Mix the eggs with milk in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together.
Combine add the apples to the wet ingredients and mix in dry ingredients. The batter should be thick and lumpy, do not over stir. Add in citrus juice and zest, mix to just incorporate.
Heat a thin layer of oil or butter in skillet over medium to medium low heat. Drop a spoonful of batter into hot oil and flatten it out, otherwise it won’t cook in the middle. Wait until pancake has lots of bubbly holes and is golden brown underneath and flip, cooking for another 3-5 min until browned.
I love pancakes! They remind me of being a kid and getting a special breakfast home cooked by my parents. I can just imagine myself as a kid waiting, sometimes not so patiently, smelling the aroma of the fluffy little cakes cooking over the stove. Then I got to smother them with sticky maple syrup which seemed way too sweet to be allowed, almost like candy for breakfast! My mom was more of the banana or blueberry pancake maker but these apple pancakes will have to be on my pancake rotation when I have kids. They’re just too delicious not to.
Crab Cake Benedict
1During our lovely summer, my parents took several trips to the cabin and were able to do some crabbing. They maxed out every time and then proceeded to call me and brag about it. There is nothing like fresh crab right out of the Ocean. It will beat restaurant or store bought crab hands down every time. On their way back one time they came over and dropped off some cooked crab they caught that morning so J and I could have some surf and turf for dinner. The rest I cracked and froze to enjoy later.
Well, it hasn’t really been that long since indulging in surf and turf but every time I opened the freezer the crab was screaming “eat me!”. SO I decided it was time to thaw it out and make crab cake eggs Benedict.
Ingredients
- 8oz cooked crab meat
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/ 2 lemon juiced
- 1 lemon zested
- 1 small jalapeno or green pepper if you don’t like spice
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 TBSP mayonnaise
- 1 TBSP chopped fresh parsley
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 black pepper
- pinch cayenne
- panko crumbs
- oil for frying
Blot crab with paper towel, make sure its dry. Mix everything together except for panko and oil. For crab into small golf ball sized amounts and flatten to form cakes.
Pour Panko on a plate and coat each crab cake.
Heat non-stick pan with oil and fry each cake for about 3-5 per side, until golden.
Once cooked, I put my cakes on half of an English muffin and topped with hollandaise sauce. I didn’t use my trusted recipe and just sort of winged it so my sauce was a little thick. Use this recipe, you won’t be disappointed.
Lemon Cream Cheese Pancakes with Blueberry Thyme Compote
0After an afternoon of eating at the food cart tour and then heading a to bbq at a friend’s house you would think that we would want to take it easy today, at least for breakfast but nope. I think my tummy was probably thinking that it had died and went to heaven, ready for round two. Since my life revolves around my stomach I listened and made J and pancakes for breakfast.
I had kept stumbling across pancake recipes that included the fresh taste of lemon and blueberries which would be perfect this time of year. So I adapted this recipe from a few that I couldn’t keep my eyes off of. It will take a bit longer to prepare then your typical pancake but I think its well worth it.
Blueberry Thyme Compote
- 1 pint fresh or frozen blueberries
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp fresh Lemon Juice
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tsp fresh thyme and 1 small spring
Lemon Cream Cheese Pancakes
- 1 ½ cup flour
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 large eggs, separated
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 6 oz cream cheese, cubed
- 3 tbsp butter melted
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- Zest of large lemon
To make blueberry compote, heat the blueberries, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and thyme in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Cook until blueberries burst and release their juices, about 6 minutes. Set aside. Remove spring before serving.
To make pancakes. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg yolks, buttermilk. Add cream cheese cubes and mix with whisk bashing it up until cream cheese has separated into uniformly small lumps, about the size of large cottage cheese curds. Stir in melted butter, vanilla, lemon juice and zest.
Add dry ingredients to wet, and then stir to combine. Whisk two egg whites until stiff but not dry; fold gently into batter.
Heat a griddle or cast iron pan over medium high heat, until a drop of water sizzles. Lower heat to medium; butter or oil pan. Drop about 1/3 cup of batter onto hot griddle and cook until you start to see bubbles onto of the pancake, about 4-5 minutes. Flip and cook again for another 4-5 min. You may need to turn the heat down if they’re browning too fast as these pancakes need more time than most to cook. Serve with blueberry compote.
These pancakes really put regular pancakes to shame. The addition of lemon and cream cheese almost brings a lemon meringue feel to them which is perfect for a summer morning. The blueberry compote just finishes the breakfast off beautifully. Having a bit of lemon it in as well makes the compote a perfect match for the pancakes. The thyme is subtle but also freshens and brightens up the compote. J, mentioned a few times that these were the best pancakes he had ever eaten by far. That definitely made my morning.
Baked Eggs
0I love eggs for breakfast but I am far too lazy during the week to make myself anything other than a bagel or oatmeal. On the weekends are when J and I go the extra mile and make each other the best breakfasts. Sometimes he makes waffles or pancakes. I often make poached eggs but I feel like I am running out of ideas. When I saw this recipe for baked eggs I immediate jumped on it. Everything about it I love. Eggs, tomatoes, basil and cheese. Seems to me that this could be perfect and I looked forward to dipping my toast into this little ramekin of eggs.
The recipe is pretty easy as well. Prep all the ingredients throw into a ramekin and bake!
Ingredients
- Eggs
- Chopped basil
- Sliced cherry or grape tomatoes
- Milk
- mozza
- Salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a small ramekin with cooking spray.
Place a couple of tomatoes, some mozzarella cheese, and basil into the ramekin. Crack an egg into the ramekin, being careful not to break the yolk. Add the milk, a few more tomatoes, a little more mozzarella, and basil to the top. Season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste.
Cook for 5 minutes and then on broiler setting for 5 minutes.
I don’t know if my imagination got the best of me and set the bar really high for this recipe but I wasn’t overly impressed. I feel like the eggs should have been put in a bain marie because it was not cooking properly as per instructions. I would try cooking at 350 for 20-30 min instead of 5 and broiling. I ended up standing around the oven making sure the outsides wouldn’t burn but the insides would cook and for all that pacing and peaking, it wasn’t really worth it. I would have preferred to just poach the egg. Don’t let my review stop you from trying this. I am a very grumpy/impatient person in the morning so perhaps it’s just me. Let me know how yours turns out.
Easy Hollandaise Sauce
0
After all the yummy breakfasts J and I had in Whistler I kept having some crazy cravings for hollandaise sauce. I know it’s bad for me but I just can’t get enough of the thick, buttery, creamy yellow sauce! Surprisingly, its easier to make then you might think. With minimal ingredients and some quick whisking you can make the perfect sauce.
I had some leftover potatoes and bbq’d ribs in the fridge so I decided to try and re-create a breakfast hash I once at Milestones. Basically some seasoned potatoes topped with pulled pork, braised meat or bbq’d rib meat topped with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. It sounds like it might give you a heart attack and believe me it fills you up but tastes sooo good. Since everything was pretty much already made all I had to do was assemble and top with my velvety sauce.
Ingredients
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 pinch of salt and white pepper
- 1/2 cup butter or margarine total (small cubes at room temperature )
Fill the bottom of double boiler water. Make sure water doesn’t touch top of pan. Bring water to a slight simmer. In the top of double boiler combine egg yolk, lemon juice and salt. Add a piece of butter. Whisk together until butter melts it starts to thicken, if it’s thickening too fast take off the heat and keep whisking.
Add the cubed butter one to two at a time until it melts and incorporates. Keep whisking until the sauce thickens.
If it becomes too thick add a teaspoon of hot water and whisk thoroughly. Remove from heat, taste and adjust. You might need a bit more salt or lemon, whisk in if necessary. Cover and keep warm until sauce is needed.
Wild Wood Bistro
07 months ago
Next time you’re in Whistler and you’re not really sure where to have breakfast then I highly suggest that you check out Wild Wood Bistro located at 4500 Northlands Boulevard. If you get confused, don’t worry, you’re not lost, it is in fact at the Whistler Racquet Club. You can find anything from pancakes, French toast, omelettes, eggs Benedict and healthier choices as well. Personally I find the prices to be reasonable as well, especially for Whistler.
I think I might have still been full from dinner the night before because I ordered a half order of the Benny of the day. This particular day it was an English muffin piled with prosciutto, bocconcini, a poached egg and basil infused hollandaise. On the side were some chunky hash browns lightly seasoned. You can’t really see the ingredients hidden under the poached egg but there definitely there and tasted delicious. I loved everything about this. The egg was also poached perfectly so a when I sliced into it a stream of yellow yolk graced it presence asking to be soaked up with some English muffin.
J ordered a full sized bacon Benny. More of a traditional Benny but as you can see they didn’t skimp on the bacon. The hollandaise was also a traditional variety as well and this was also served with the chunky style hash browns.
I, of course, liked mine better but I had no complaints about J’s breaky. I was stuffed, and ready to explore Whistler. Again, being in Whistler you have a million options for food but I find this place very casual, reasonably priced and I can see myself coming back again the next time I head up to Whistler.
Shakshuka (Eggs Poached in Spicy Tomato Sauce)
0I have always been envious of people who live in parts of the world where they can sit outside on a warm summer evening, and sway back and forth on a porch swing. There has always been something calming about it to me. To come home from a busy day and unwind on the porch swing seems like the perfect thing to do. Perhaps I need to move to the south where this is normal and I can sip sweet tea and eat peach cobbler for dessert. Oh, the life!
I guess people in BC could have porch swings, but it would probably rot away from all of our rain. It also doesn’t seem like its ever sunny enough to spend the money on something you might get to swing on only a couple times a year. Instead we all unfold our lawn chairs, sit out for as long as we can before the next deluge of rain returns. Then we fold them back up for weeks at a time and sit inside.
Despite all the rain we’ve had I still have this urge to cook delicious meals even though I haven’t posted in a few days. This past weekend the sun was actually out for a bit and I made J and I some Shakshuka. This would be a great brunch dish or in my life an anytime dish. It’s so easy and so yummy!
Shakshuka (Eggs Poached in Spicy Tomato Sauce)
from smittenkitchen
Serves 4 to 6
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 5 Anaheim chiles or 3 jalapeños, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, crushed then sliced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, undrained
- Kosher salt, to taste
- 6 eggs
- 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
- 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
- Warm pitas, for serving
Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add chiles and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, and paprika, and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft, about 2 more minutes.
Put tomatoes and their liquid into a medium bowl and crush with your hands. Add crushed tomatoes and their liquid to skillet along with 1/2 cup water, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 15-20 minutes. Season sauce with salt.
Crack eggs over sauce so that eggs are evenly distributed across sauce’s surface. Cover skillet and cook until yolks are just set, about 5 minutes. Using a spoon, baste the whites of the eggs with tomato mixture, being careful not to disturb the yolk. Sprinkle shakshuka with feta and parsley and serve with pitas, for dipping.
Poached egg with goat cheese and a black pepper vinaigrette
2When I woke up Sunday morning J was no longer sleeping. I looked at the clock a little surprised that J was out and about around 8:30am. I could hear him puttering around downstairs and remembered that we were out of coffee cream. That explained everything….. J cannot have coffee without cream so his entire motivation for getting dressed so early was because he needed coffee cream and didn’t want to go to the store in his PJ’s.
He came into the bedroom while I was still trying to shake the sleepy head feeling and told me that he also bought bacon. Sometimes J cooks for me, but most of the time its me who cooks. I cook, he cleans and we’re both okay with this.
I was sort of hoping that since he was already up and awake that he would take over the breakfast duties but instead he told me to do my thing….which I think meant “create something delicious”.
I love grape tomatoes. They’re sweet little explosions of flavor that come in a cute little carton. Add grape tomatoes to your breakfast is a great way to start off the morning. A simple poached egg can also go so far and tastes so good.
I took a plain bagel out of the freezer and topped it with goat cheese, chopped tomato, a made a black pepper vinegrette. I didn’t measure, but its simply extra vigin olive oil, white wine vinegar, lots of pepper and a bit of honey.
Once the poached eggs were done I added a tad more vinaigrette and chopped parley. I forgot the parsley when I took a photo.
Yum! How can something so simple taste so good? I ask myself this all the time! I love how simple ingredients can just added together to create a delicious breakfast.
After making this I found some really similar recipes online and Bobby Flaw actually has done this as well. Of course his is fancier, with a baguette instead of a bagel and heirloom tomatoes, topped with arugula and the addition of tarragon to the vinaigrette but my way is also amazing!