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A Tale of Three Bennies

Dr. Crabby Benedict from Dr. Generosity

I’ve eaten Eggs Benedict three times this week.

We went to three different places this week, and every time I chose a type of (non-meat) Benedict(ish).

This is their story.

Eggs Benedict is probably my favourite “going out for” brunch food. I haven’t mastered poached eggs yet, and I haven’t tried to make hollandaise sauce. I generally don’t feel like putting that much effort into making breakfast. One small challenge – Eggs Benedict is usually hollandaise drizzled over poached egg, perched atop “Canadian” bacon laid over an english muffin. I don’t eat meat usually, and I don’t know if I’ve ever even had a “normal” Benny before.

I always get the fun ones. I probably even pick the ones that I think sound the MOST fun. Sometimes that includes smoked salmon instead of the bacon, usually some kind of vegetable (spinach, asparagus, etc.). Yum!!

The three “Bennies” I had were all very different, but were all really really good. I’d happily return to any of these restaurants!

1. Mushroom Benedict @ Lola’s Commissary (634 Church St.)

Sautéed mushroom on english muffin, amazing hollandaise with whole grain mustard, yummy salad.

A cute little place near Church & Bloor, this was the first time we ventured inside. The brunch specials sounded great (J had some weird poached eggs in a creamy salsa dish… it was kind of like eggs poached in chili, and was really good!) and it had some yummy sounding Bennies, so we had to try it.

2. California Benedict @ Eggspectation (220 Yonge St., Eaton Centre)

Poached eggs on smoked salmon and home fries, topped with sautéed spinach, asparagus, hollandaise and shredded gruyere. No english muffin!

Eggspectation is a chain restaurant, frequented by tourists and whatnot. That said, I’ve always had a great meal there… maybe because 75% of the time I get the California Benedict!! This dish has a good amount of veggies for me, and the sprinkles of gruyere totally sell it for me. I usually can’t finish the potatoes or the toast teepee they insist on putting on my plate.

3. “Special Benedict” (what shall now be known as Dr. Crabby Benedict) @ Dr. Generosity (2197 Bloor St. W)

This one was a “Special Benedict”, as it wasn’t on the regular menu, but the special of the day. Poached eggs on english muffins, topped with snow crab meat, hollandaise, spinach. Served with a side of home fries.

I had never had a Benny with crab before. It was soooooo good; truly decadent. It was also really filling, and I made the mistake of talking while eating so I got full before I could finish. Yeah, I finished it (I don’t judge you!). This restaurant is known for their large portion sizes, so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprized. I had never been there before, but I’m sure I’ll go back (even without the Dr. Crabby Benedict – which would be a MUCH better name for this than “Special Benedict”.) 🙂

Cajun Spice Mix

I had to mix up some ‘Cajun spices’ when cooking up a shrimp recipe a while back, when I realized I no longer had my Cajun Sweetness spice mix. I quickly found a few recipes online, and took what I wanted from them.

After that debacle (yeah, I’m being dramatic), I figured I should make up a recipe that I can use when I need some Cajun spices. I did a little bit of “research” online, and came up with a mix that I thought would be a good mix of herbs and spices and add just enough heat.

This is a mild-medium blend, as it is meant more for flavour than heat. I generally like my spice blends to be mild, and I add in the right amount of heat to each dish.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp Paprika
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme

Preparation:

If you only have dried garlic and onion pieces/granules, you should grind them to a powder first.
Mix all of the ingredients together.
Put in an airtight container, like a spice jar.

Aviyal

Aviyal is a South Indian dish that is made up of thin strips of any crisp vegetables you can get your hands on. I found this in a cookbook, and it looked interesting, so I thought I would Google it to see if the recipe was anywhere near authentic. It’s safe to say that this recipe is a North Americanized version of the dish, as many of the ‘acceptable veggies’ that are often used in this dish are probably not easy to find. We go to Little India, here in Toronto, every once in a while, so I may just try to make Aviyal the ‘real’ way sometime this summer.

The one thing that is intact in this recipe is the inclusion of coconut. Coconut seems to be a primary ingredient in the sauce. I am a little bit skepical, however, as many comments about Aviyal is that it also has a lovely sour taste to it (sometimes introduced by tamarind). There was nothing sour about this dinner. I did take one ingredient out of the dish. After reading up on the dish, and the “rules” for making it, I really couldn’t bring myself to put in any tomato. The #1 rule is to use only vegetables that would remain crisp when cooked. That means you shouldn’t use tomato, eggplant, okra, or even regular onions (which the recipe also called for). Luckily, I had some green leek on hand, which gave a nice onion flavour without the mushy fried onion texture.

The dish was a hit! The veggies were still crisp and fresh tasting, and the sauce was light and coconutty. The sauce is actually a little hard to describe — the coconut meat, which makes up the bulk of the ‘sauce’ was really not saucey at all. Some coconut milk did come out of the coconut, however, and nicely mixed with the spices to make a yummy sauce.

This recipe is from the book “Simple Vegetarian Recipes” by Rosemary Wadey et al. (p.45)

About Aviyal:

Leeky Pasta

This dish was inspired by something I had at a restaurant many years ago. I had never had rosemary or leeks in a pasta like this. While often considered ‘fall’ flavours, the combination of the woody rosemary and leeks with the fresh tomatoes and light olive oil sauce is really interesting. Topping it off is some crumbled chèvre that melts into the hot pasta. This dish is best when you can get fresh local tomatoes.

This is an olive oil sauce, the flavour of which is balanced with salt. This is more salt than I usually add to a dish, but it is actually important.

Since I usually make this dish from the top of my head, I decided to try to flesh out an actual recipe. I laugh at myself, because I actually bought too few tomatoes for the dish. Had I figured out a recipe years ago, I would have known how much to get. I also had a hard time guesstimating how much pasta to make. I found this neat page, on the Barilla website, to help you figure out how much pasta to cook (based on a 2oz serving size). In the end, I just estimated based on the amount in the package – I used half of a 900g package, so it’s just about a pound of dried pasta (or a 6-inch bunch, when you measure the circumference).

This recipe will feed 4-6.

Ingredients:

1LB Fettuccine or Linguine
3-5 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp chopped shallot or onion
1 Tbsp chopped fresh garlic (appx 1-2 cloves)
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped (plus some for garnish, optional)
2-3 cup chopped mushrooms
appx 3 tbsp white wine
1 medium leek, green part separated from white, halved and thinly sliced crosswise
1LB cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
appx 4 Tbsp chèvre (goat cheese)
1 Tbsp sea salt
pepper, to taste

Preparation:

Cook pasta in a large pot. Drain, toss with 1 Tbsp of olive oil, and keep hot (this is important).
In the meantime, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a deep sauté pan, or large sauce pan. Sauté shallot/onion until translucent, for approximately 1 minute.
Add garlic, rosemary, and mushrooms. Sauté until mushrooms reduce in size and begin to brown.
Add the white part of the leek, and saute for another minute or two. Add a couple of tablespoons of the pasta cooking water, if it’s looking dry.
Add the tomatoes, and about 1/2 of the green part of the leeks.
Add the rest of the olive oil, the salt and stir.
Add the pasta and toss.
Serve hot, topping each plate with some crumbled chèvre, freshly ground black pepper, and some of the green leek.

April 2010 Challenge – No Repeats! (Week 3)

Week 3 has finished, and I took the opportunity to dig through my cookbooks and magazines again. I found some good dishes… some of which I may even make again! 🙂

Soba Noodle Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing (p.29, Vegetarian Times Magazine Sept2009) – This one tasted a bit like a combo of some other things we make. The peanut sauce was yummy, and went well with the taste of the soba noodles. I added some Nanami Togarashi and sesame seeds to my bowl, just because I felt like it!
Leeky Pasta – This is one of my old favourites, and I’ll be posting the recipe later in the week. It’s a simple dish, but feels kind of special and is sure to impress your guests (unless they don’t like leeks, rosemary and tomatoes!)
Deep South Spiced Rice & Beans (p.137, Classic Vegetarian Recipes) – Being “mostly vegetarian”, I try to find recipes that include legumes of some kind. This sounded like a good dish to try, as it incorporates beans and some fresh veggies. It’s a good one for the spring, because it isn’t heavy and saucey.
Aviyal (p.45, Simple Vegetarian Recipes) – An Indian vegetable dish. This dish sounded interesting because it called for coconut, an ingredient I don’t often use. I will be posting about this dish soon!

The Last Cupcake

This past week was my hubby’s birthday, and I decided a long time ago that I would make him any special dessert he wanted. At one point, I even offered to make the Tiramisu recipe posted on the Daring Kitchen (one that requires you make most things from scratch – the biscuits, the mascarpone cheese, etc.). He decided that he wanted cupcakes, so the logical choice (having just bought my Martha Stewart Cupcakes book), was to make Tiramisu Cupcakes.

This recipe came from “Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes” book, but you can also find it online at marthastewart.com. I tried to stick to the recipe as closely as possible, but did take the opportunity to make the mascarpone cheese from scratch. So much fun!!

Inside the cupcake.

This cupcake has three parts, to imitate the flavours and textures of Tiramisu: a vanilla bean cake, a Marsala/Espresso syrup that is allowed to soak into the top of the cake, and a light mascarpone/whipped cream icing.

I was really happy with the way these turned out. The Marsala/Espresso syrup really made it, as it gave the most flavour punch. Both the cake and frosting were lightly flavoured and not too sweet.

One thing I should mention — paper liners work better than silicone ones for these particular cupcakes. I had only used the silicone ones once before, with a more firm type of cupcake. They worked perfectly with those cupcakes, but didn’t work quite as well with these delicate babies. I think the combination of a fluffier cake base, and the soaked tops made it REALLY hard to pop them out of the silicone. Awkwardness ensued, and messes were made.

This will be the last cupcake I make for a little while. April has been a kind of cupcake eating bootcamp for me, and I’m a little cupcaked out. I keep telling people that I feel like my body is made of cupcakes right now. 🙂

Rice Noodles with Shrimp and Cilantro

This recipe, pulled from the April/May 2010 issue of Fine Cooking magazine,was fast, simple and delicious!

I’ve always been a fan of the broader rice noodles found in dishes like Pad Thai, but I’ve always been terrible at preparing them. Just ask my husband – I always make him cook the rice noodles, to avoid ending up with mush. It isn’t normal to be afraid of a rice noodle, so I decided to overcome my fear with this recipe.

Like some of the other recipes I’ve tried recently, this dish is not stuffed to the brim with veggies, and isn’t overwhelmed by a mix of spices. It’s simple, with seasonings that nicely accentuate the natural flavours in the main ingredients; shrimp, rice noodles, red pepper and cilantro. I think the dish could stand a little more heat – some Sriracha chili sauce would have been amazing on it.

The one weird ingredient that you might not have in your pantry is fish sauce… Fish sauce is a very stinky condiment used in various Asian cuisines, including Thai and Vietnamese. I was told a long time ago to get the Three Crabs brand fish sauce, so I did. Some of the articles online argue about the quality of this brand, because of the additives in it and the way it’s made. Honestly, I don’t really know the difference, and I’m not about to buy another bottle of fish sauce – a bottle lasts a LONG time, as a little goes a long way. Anyone that lives near Chinatown should go there to find some at a good price.

This makes a great light summer meal – not too heavy and saucey, and makes use of some fresh flavours. Would go really well with a side avocado salad, or mango salad.

The full recipe can be found here, on the Fine Cooking Magazine website!

April 2010 Challenge – No Repeats! (Week 2)

Week 2 has finished, and I made a few new dishes that turned out pretty good!

Vegetable Toad-in-the-Hole (p.186, Classic Vegetarian Recipes) – this one was different from the kind of dishes I usually make, with the bready component to it. I would definitely make this again. It was a little involved, but not too much trouble, and kind of fun and cute (as far as dinner goes). Click the title to view my full post on the dish.
Mashup Pasta – this was one of those dishes with two steps: 1. make pasta, and 2. open the fridge door and throw everything you want to finish up into the sauce. This particular one included some pesto, tapenade, lots of mushrooms, some canned tomatoes, etc.
Indonesian Hot Rice Salad (p.142, Classic Vegetarian Recipes) – this dish sounded pretty interesting, because the rice is hot but the rest of the ingredients are cold. The problem is that there were just too many green onions in it. Also, I’m not too sure just how authentic of a dish it is – I thought Indonesian food was spicy!! I’ll have to ask…
Rice Noodles with Shrimp and Cilantro (p.47 Fine Cooking magazine, April/May 2010) – I’m going to post about this one later on this week, but I’ll just say that this dish was really really good. This is going into our pile of ‘usual’ dishes that we might change up every once in a while. This recipe was simple enough that it leaves room to make changes – maybe add a bit more spice, if anything. After this week, you will be able to click the title to view my full post on the dish.
Birthday Lasagna – I wanted to post about this one, but gobbled it up before I could take photos. I made a really yummy lasagna for my hubby’s birthday this week. I even made the sauce from scratch. Lasagna is a bit of work, but always impresses and makes great leftovers! I made this one off the top of my head – I don’t think I’ve ever had any kind of recipe for it, it’s just something I make.

Until next week…

Cupcake Party!!

Last weekend, I completely gave into my cupcake obsession by holding a cupcake party.

The rules were simple: bring “gourmet” cupcakes.

You could purchase a few from a bakery, cupcake shop or otherwise “good’ place, or you could bake cupcakes (as long as they were made from scratch!).

My contribution was a batch of chai mini-cupcakes, topped with one of two frostings: condensed milk icing, or vanilla almond buttercream. I got the recipe out of the Martha Stewart Cupcakes book. I really liked how they turned out, but found that they started to feel quite dense the day after. I’m not sure if that happened because they were mini, or maybe I did something. Who knows, I’m still getting the hang of this cupcake thing!

My chai mini-cupcakes, with condensed milk icing.

My girls did NOT disappoint, and we were treated to a fantastic variety of flavours, textures, and styles.

A couple of us had the same idea, and both ended up making chai cupcakes!! They were based on different recipes, and were different in almost every way. One comment that was made was that the chai cupcakes had a flavour reminiscent of a muffin — I think it comes down to the fact that we don’t often think of cupcakes as being spiced, despite the fact that there are many recipes for spiced cake cupcakes.

I’ve asked a few people what they think the differences between cupcakes and muffins are… it’s a pretty interesting topic, and maybe I’ll get into it in another post. This one is already chock-full, so I’ll stop myself from writing a novel.

I took pictures of most of the cupcakes, but unfortunately none of the lovely ladies! I really did mean to take pics of everyone in their nice outfits, cramming cupcakes into their faces, but it just didn’t happen. I got caught up in the cupcakes, the discussion, and the lovely day. I’m sure they’re happy they get to remain anonymous (dodged a bullet there, ladies!).

On that note, here are some pics of our cupcakes, before they fulfilled their cupcakey destiny.

More of my mini chai cupcakes, topped with buttercream frosting (back-left), and a different take on chai cupcakes with cream cheese frosting – Yum! (front-right)

A crazy assortment of cupcakes from Swirl’s!

Swirls – http://www.swirlscupcakes.ca/
Highlights: Mangolicious, Lemon Luau, Red Velvet,

“Cop-out?” No Way! Light and fluffy vanilla cupcakes, from Starbucks.

Three kinds of filled vegan cupcakes – heavenly!

Devilish Chocolate Cupcakes with ganache or icing.

(not pictured)

The Cupcake Shoppe – http://www.thecupcakeshoppe.ca/
Highlights: After Ate (chocolate cake & mint buttercream), Sticky N Sweet (vanilla cake, dipped in caramel), Pretty N Pink (chocolate cake, raspberry buttercream)

Daring (New) Brunswick Stew

The 2010 April Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den. She chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make Brunswick Stew. Wolf chose recipes for her challenge from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee, and from the Callaway, Virginia Ruritan Club.

I opted to make a variation on the first recipe given. I usually don’t eat meat, so this dish posed quite a challenge for me. I think there were three or four different kinds of meat in the recipe… I replaced all of the meat with shrimps and seitan, the broth with a vegetable/shrimp broth. Since this likely changed the flavour quite a bit, I’ve jokingly labelled my variation of the recipe (New) Brunswick Stew. Any Canadians reading this will get the New Brunswick/seafood reference… right? (I’m sure there is nothing specifically New Brunswick about it. I just wanted a cute title).

I started by making a broth, which I based on one I got from a Seafood Gumbo recipe I plan to try eventually. I also had to make some seitan, a vegetarian meat substitute made with wheat gluten (sorry, GF folks!). Both of these things added to the cooking time, since I had to make them from scratch.

Next, I fried up some chile peppers. I got some fun dried chiles called Chilhuacle Negro that have a medium heat (5/10). I’m pretty new to chiles, so I didn’t want to get any that were too hot. That said, I should have kept some of the seeds in for a little more heat. This was where the excitement starts – the smell of the peppers and the oil in the pan are heavenly!

Chilhuacle Negro

Here is what the stew looked like in the early stages – the seitan is still in large chunks (to be sliced into thin strips in a later stage). While the broth started off looking quite red (from the chile peppers and the smoked paprika), it mellowed into a nice warm golden colour by the end.

(New) Brunswick Stew – in progress

Here is the final product, and the shot that everyone on Daring Cooks seems to be doing – the standing spoon shot. This came from the original recipe. To describe the texture of the finished stew, they said that Brunswick stew is not done properly “until the paddle stands up in the middle.”. Everyone has been doing their version of this shot, so I felt obliged to do the same. It was a hearty hearty stew, but the broth was not too thick and gloopy.

(New) Brunswick Stew – Standing Spoon

In the end, the stew turned out great! It was a bit of a challenge deciding what to use instead of meat, but I think the seitan worked wonderfully! This is definitely something I wouldn’t have known to seek out, and there’s no doubt I’ll be making this again.

Recipe after the jump.

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