Italian Eggs Benedict

Eggs Benedict is my favourite breakfast food, and this is a nice variation on the classic dish. I call it Italian Eggs Benedict but it is basically eggs poached in tomato sauce, served on bread. I stole this idea from my friend Natalie who made this for me on a recent visit to Ottawa. I thought it was a very clever idea and when I tasted it, I was instantly hooked. Eggs Benedict generally fall under the "Breakfast" category, but this dish can easily be eaten any time of the day. I guarantee you will be hooked on this dish once you try it.

Newfie Benedict

It was my birthday recently and I was lucky enough to spend it with some friends in Banff. We rented a chalet and spent the night in the mountains cooking a 7 course meal, drinking some great wine, hot tubbing, listening to music, etc... It was the perfect way to celebrate turning another year older.


Eggs Benedict is my favourite breakfast meal. In my mind, it is perfect - well almost perfect. For breakfast in the mountains, I decided to make everyone something I have been thinking about for a while. It is an east coast twist on a classic. I call it Newfie Benedict. Traditional eggs benedict is made with an English muffin, back bacon, a poached egg and hollandaise sauce. The difference is that my Newfie Benedict is made using a Belgian Waffle and fried bologna.


On the east coast of Canada, fried bologna is referred to as "Newfoundland Steak." Bologna, pan fried in a little bit of butter served with mashed potatoes and some ketchup on the side for supper is an east coast staple. Don't knock it until you try it.


I thought trying the fried bologna on Eggs Benedict would be a nice change. I was right, it was awesome. Not as awesome as the waffle was though. Everyone loved the English muffin for a waffle swap. 
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NEWFIE BENEDICT
There is no recipe, it's just 4 ingredients:
- Waffle
- Eggs
- Bologna (pan fried)
- Hollandaise Sauce


WAFFLE
I bought my waffle iron from Walmart for $10. I bet it does just as good a job as the waffle irons that cost $100. I used this recipe for the waffles. If you don't have a waffle iron, use an Eggo. Who cares!?!?
BOLOGNA
When you go to buy your bologna, don't buy the pre-sliced packaged stuff. Buy it from behind the deli counter. Tell them to slice it about 1/4 inch thick. If they don't have it, buy a loaf of it and cut it yourself. The pre-sliced stuff is way too thin.
EGGS
I LOVE poached eggs. My preference is the softer, the better. If you don't like poaching eggs, cook them to your preference. Scrambled eggs would be awesome on this!
HOLLANDAISE SAUCE
Hollandaise sauce can be a little tricky to make. It is fairly labour intensive. I've done it many times, but I suggest buying a package of the powdered stuff. It's much easier and fool proof.

Egg Nog French Toast

I was watching TV the other night and had an idea to make egg nog french toast. I thought it was ingenious and that I would receive all kinds of praise for coming up with such a great idea. After a quick Google search, I realized that I most definitely did not come up with the idea. I did think about it all on my own though and am I patting myself on the back for doing so.

This takes french toast to a new level. It adds a richness that is really tasty. It's a perfect breakfast for over the holidays. I don't really like egg nog, but I loved this and will definitely make it again before egg nog is no longer available.

Egg Nog French Toast

1 Cup Egg Nog

1 Egg

1 Tbsp Vanilla

1 Tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Nutmeg

Salt and Pepper

Whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl. Soak whatever bread you choose in the batter for about 10 seconds until the bread has absorbed a lot of the mixture.

Fry in a pan with butter or oil, on medium-high heat, for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side until golden. The perfect french toast will have a bit of a crust on the outside and be soft on the inside.

TIPS:

Buy a good loaf of bread. It makes all the difference in the world. I suggest the mini loaves at Cobs Bread (in Calgary). I like buying a loaf that hasn't been sliced, so that I can cut the bread to the thickness that I like, about a half inch.

Nannie's Pancakes

Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, whatever you call it, it's the one day of the year when everyone eats pancakes.

This recipe comes from my Grandmother. We always referred to her as "Nannie" so thus the name Nannie's Pancakes.

These pancakes are thick and almost meaty in texture and will definitely fill you up. They are very tasty and the ingredients are something that everyone has at home, so there is no need to ever buy pre-made pancake mix again.

INGREDIENTS:
DRY
2 cups Flour
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Cream of Tartar (leave it out if you don't have it)

WET
1 Cup Milk
1 Egg
1 Tsp Vanilla
2 Tbsp of oil (vegetable or canola)

You'll need 2 bowls. In the first, mix together all your dry ingredients with a whisk. After that, whisk together all your wet ingredients in the other bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix using a wooden spoon or spatula. Mix it well, but do not beat it.

Fry them in a large pan with a good quantity of oil.

If you find that these pancakes are too thick and you want the batter a little thinner, add some more milk, a little bit at a time, until you reach your desired consistency.

Breakfast Fatayers

A Fatayer is a delicious middle eastern triangular shaped sandwich that is usually filled with either beef or spinach. It's essentially the great, great, great grandfather to the hot pocket. Growing up in Cape Breton they were very common in every household over the holidays. I learned how to make these from the master and someday will definitely do a post on how to make faytayers.


I got the idea for breakfast faytayers from watching "French Food at Home" on the Food Network. Laura Calder originally did this with canned tuna. She kept her recipe very simple. I do like tuna, but not for breakfast, so I took her idea and put my spin on it.

This is basically an omelet wrapped in puff pastry, folded in a triangle.
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You will need: puff pastry, eggs, cheese, and whatever meat and vegetables you like to put in an omelet.


In a bowl, mix together in equal parts everything you like that your omelet. I put in ham, mushrooms, green peppers, onions, and cheese. The cheese is important. I strongly suggest you use it. It kind of acts like glue.

Roll out some puff pastry on a floured surface. You are looking to make a circle with about an 8 inch diameter. Make sure you rub some flour on your rolling pin too, so the pastry won't stick to it.

Put the omelet mix in the middle of the puff pastry circle and make a well.

Crack an egg into the well and season with salt and pepper.

Fold the pastry into you a triangle. If you find that the edges aren't sticking to each other very well, brush a little bit of water on the pastry.

 

Bake at 350 for about 7 -10 mins until the pastry is lightly brown. If you take it out earlier, the egg with be more over easy.

TIPS:

The only tips I can offer on this recipe is the puff pastry. If possible, try to find puff pastry that is made with butter, not shortening. Tenderflake is made with shortening and it comes in 2 squares that you have to roll out. If that is all you can find, use it.

Superstore (in Calgary) sells puff pastry that is made with butter and it already comes pre-rolled. If you are just making these for yourself, cut the frozen puff pastry in half and using 1/4 of the roll will give you two fatayers. The Superstore pastry is way easier to use and better tasting.

Be sure to transfer the puff pastry from the freezer to the fridge the night before so it will be thawed when it comes time to make them.

French Toast - Ski Day Breakfast

It is a tradition with me that whenever I head to the mountains for a ski day, a breakfast of big proportions takes place bright and early before hand. World class ski resorts are very close to Calgary. Banff is about 1.5 hours away and Lake Louise is just under 2 hours. This means to get there at 9 am, you are up around 6 am. A day of shredding fresh powder on some of the best skiing in the world requires a good base in your belly so today before I headed out I went with some French toast, bacon and fresh fruit.

FRENCH TOAST:

Good Quality Unsliced Bread

2 eggs

1 cup Milk

1 tbsp Vanilla

Cinnamon to taste

Salt & Pepper to taste

Butter

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I have to 4 tips to ensure good French toast. 

1. Vanilla - Adding about 1 tablespoon of vanilla to your mix gives the French toast an awesome flavor that people will love and make them ask how you made it.
2. Cinnamon - Adding the cinnamon after the bread soaked in the mix evenly spreads it out over the bread. If you add it to the mix it clumps up.
3. Bread - The most important part of French toast. The thickness of the bread is what makes or breaks the deal. If you can, avoid using regular sliced bread. Try to plan to make French toast, and buy (or bake) a loaf of bread that you can slice yourself. Whole wheat or multigrain will give your food additional flavor for free. Slice the bread about ½ or 2/3^rd of a inch thick. It will be nice and crisp on the outside but still a little soft on the inside. Of course if you only got regular bread, use it! Texas toast is also not a bad choice.
4. Medium heat. Be patient. When I didn’t know any better, I used to cook everything on MAX. My food improved drastically when I turned the heat down. Cook this around 7. Be patient, and only flip it once.

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METHOD:
In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, milk and vanilla. It will be easier if your bowl is bigger than the slice of bread. Might sound like common sense, but I’ve done it before, so learn from my stupid mistakes. Don’t just dip the bread, let it soak for about 5 secs and then flip it and let soak the other side.

Transfer the bread to a plate. Start the seasoning process with the cinnamon. Hold your shaker really high – about 2 feet from the bread – this way it will cover the bread evenly. Put as much or as little  as you like. I go pretty heavy with it. After the cinnamon season with salt & pepper. Flip the bread and repeat this process.

Melt the butter in the pan and then fry the bread until brown on side. Flip it and cook until brown on the other side and serve immediately. When I was a kid, I used to eat French toast (and everything else) with Ketchup. Now a days I use a good quality maple syrup. Serve it bacon or sauage.