breakfast blogger

I am ashamed to admit that I’ve never eaten at ‘La Binerie’. This legendary Quebecois lunch counter has been serving pate chinois, tortiere, and their signature feves-aux-lard since, well, way before I can find out on the first 2 pages of a Google search.

I finally decided to seal the deal one sunny Sunday morning, so I called up my friend Paulie. 30 minutes later me and my ladyfriend and Paulie were on our bicycles, pedaling southwards, towards the stretch of Mont-Royal between St-Lawrence and St-Denis where I knew my fate awaited.

La Binerie is a place I had heard about my entire life. It is the Francophone ‘Cosmo’s’. Movie stars and hockey players eat there, and they happily sit at the little counter sandwiched between octogenarian social-security collectors and off-duty police officers. I was excited. Until I tried to open the door.

AAGGHHH!!!!!!

Defeat! Vacation?!?! Of course! Everything around here is closed the last 2 weeks of July for what we call the “construction holiday”. Everyone, from blue-collar labourers to wealthy textile merchants, takes off to the sunny shores of Maine to swim in the ocean and eat lobster and fudge all day. Hmm . . . maybe these guys are setting up a temporary breakfast counter on the beach in Wells or Ogunquit? My eyes begin to tear at the thought of their beans ‘n’ lard - with molasses poured freely over them.

Okay . . . okay . . . think . . .I still have to eat . . . I can’t hold a hunger strike for 2 weeks . . . or can I? . . .no . . . ladyfriend suggests a place she used to frequent . . .called ‘Anecdote’ . . .we can try that . . . so we bike a few blocks east to the corner of and enter

Nice. so far, even though I am still reeling from the fact that La binerie has eluded me, I am relieved to see that Anecdote looks pretty cool.

We sit down. Coffee is served. Paulie orders tea. We open the menu to see what brunchly fate is in store for our bean-deprived hungry bellies, and that’s when we see it:

Crap! Foiled again! Maybe the hunger strike wasn’t so far-fetched.
Okay . . .okay . . .still. . . must eat . . . I suggest biking all the way to NDG to eat at Cosmo’s . .but it is getting late - past noon -so we solemnly bike towards the corner of where I know there to be a family-owned restaurant that I think serves all-day breakfast.

But, as fate would have it, we are too late.

At this point I am weak with hunger. I consider eating my bicycle seat. Just then, Paulie, who has disappeared from sight, calls out that he found a place directly across from where we were fading away.

Rapido.

It is open.

It serves breakfast A L L D A Y .

I thank god, Jehovah, Allah, and Calvin Trillin. I think about Vishnu, but wasn’t he kinda skinny?

We order omelettes and over-easies with sausages:

The toast was thick, the sausages were great, and the potatoes were better.
We didn’t know if the food tasted delicious because of how hungry we were and how far we had come, but we didn’t care.

We were eating breakfast. Hallelujah.

I didn’t even scold Paulie for not finishing his fruit for the money shot.

Soon, when I have regained my strength and my will, I will try to visit La Binerie.

Pray for me.

I recently spent a week in Toronto, visiting with family and friends belonging to my very special ladyfriend. In anticipation, I had done some serious research planning my free hours. I daydreamt of wandering and noshing my way through Chinatown, visiting Pacific Mall (the world’s largest Asian mall), checking out some farmer’s markets and generally eating the best of what Toronto has to offer.

The evening before we hit the 401 west, I made sure to charge my digi-cam batteries to their maximum and had also printed up a few sheets of notes loaded with names and addresses: Pomegranite, Mars, Kon Jug Yuen, Chinese Traditional Bun, La Fromagerie, Natural Beef Meat Shop, Dipamo’s Barbecue, Ethiopian spice Store, Roncesvalles Bakeri & Deli, etc.

I was fairly excited, or at least as excited as I could get about Toronto. I know, I know - but hey - I wasn’t going to Istanbul, or even New York City. Then, as I began to pack my favorite eating clothes (yes, I have favorite eating clothes - mostly dark shirts that can camouflage stains) I felt a strange rumbling in my stomach.

I was suddenly in so much pain I could not finish packing, and proceeded to spend almost my entire visit to Toronto doubled over in stomach cramps. Most of my eating consisted of Pepto-Bismol. Damnit!

I sometimes wish that I spent a little less time eating (not really) and a little more time thinking of a great name for today’s entry. This sandwich deserves a really great name, and that really great name would look particularly fantastic up there in that marquee space….

…but, alas, I spent my time cooking and eating.

So, for now, I have settled on:

“The Challah-French Toast-Peanut Butter-Banana Sandwich, with Maple Syrup”.

Not bad, but a little long. For a short time I considered omitting the segment “with Maple Syrup” that seems haphazardly tagged onto the end of the name, but once I looked at the truncated version I was struck with nervous visions of some poor shmo making this incredible breakfast and then topping it with something like jelly, or even worse - breakfast syrup. It seemed like listening to a well-composed and executed piece of classical music, but then switching off the stereo just before the coda is heard.

That being said, and after letting you glimpse at that marvelously delicious photo, here is the recipe for “The Challah-French Toast-Peanut Butter-Banana Sandwich, with Maple Syrup”. I figure if I say it a few times it will begin to roll off the tongue. Here it is once again: “The Challah-French Toast-Peanut Butter-Banana Sandwich, with Maple Syrup”.

For each sandwich, you will need:
-Challah. I usually use thick slices from a loaf, but as I am demonstrating, rolls are perfectly acceptable. The rolls I am using for this recipe are what I consider to be the best challah rolls in Montreal, baked at Fresser’s on Decarie. Note: the best results will be achieved if you buy your Challah unsliced from a bakery and then slice the bread yourself, allowing for very thick slices.

- 1-2 eggs
- 1 banana
- peanut butter
- maple syrup

Let us begin:

Beat the eggs in a bowl, adding about a tablespoon or so of milk, if you’ve got some laying about). Slice your challah, or in this case, cut your rolls in half. NOTE: This sandwich can be made open-face or closed - depending on your preference. Adjust recipe if closed face.
Melt some butter in a pan, or on your flat-top, and soak the challah in the egg mixture. When hot, lay the challah on the cooking surface and cook until brown, then flip and repeat.

While your challah is Frenching - if I may be so bold as to liberally transform ‘French Toast’ into a verb - slice your banana lengthwise.

Once your French toast is ready, remove from heat and spread on a thick layer of peanut butter, then add slices of banana (If you are making this a closed-faced affair, here is where you would add your 2nd slice of bread, or challah-roll top.)

Most importantly, add maple syrup..

Here is the finished product:

And here is what may also be considered the ‘finished’ product.

My dad used to make these when I was a kid, and now I make them all the time.

Some Ontarians, and other non-Montrealers, call them “egg-in-the-hole”, but that usually refers to a slice of white sandwich bread with a hole torn out. That is wrong.

A bagel is lovingly hand-rolled, boiled in water and honey, and then slowly smoked over real hardwood.
This particluar sesame-seed bagel is from the St-Viateur Bagel Shop, about a block-and-a-half from my home. I like to keep things local, and consider myself very lucky to live in a vortex of such concentrated gastronomic resources. More about that another time. . .

So, to make your Bagelette, you will need your bagel, which you see I already have. You will also need 2 eggs per bagel, and some butter. NOTE: It is preferable to have an ample, and flat, cooking surface that can accommodate your bagel, or bagels. I am using the same cast-iron flat-top that my father used before me. It seems like it was hand-crafted specifically for making 2 bagelettes. Be careful, as a small frying pan will not easily fit 2 bagel halves, sitting flatly, which is essential to the egg cooking properly in the cavity of the bagel.

Today I will skip ahead to intermediate cooking levels and get a little fancy by adding some parmeggiano reggiano, grated onto the bagelette.If you are still in cooking 101, or don’t spend any time with food snobs, or more specifically, cheese snobs, Parmeggiano Reggiano is Italian for “very, very good parmesan cheese”.

Here is a shot of the almost fully-cooked bagelettes.The recipe is fairly simple:

-Cut your bagel
-heat up your pan, or skillet, or flat-top, and melt some butter
-put your bagel halves on the hot surface and drop an egg into the center of each
-when you feel it is time, flip
-enjoy

Throughout the history of the bagelette, there has been some heated arguments as to which side of the bagel to start your cooking. Some more conservative cooks prefer the flat (cut side) side face-down to start, thus not allowing any egg to escape the confines of the bagel. Some more liberal-minded folk swear by beginning their bagelettes with the natural, bumpy side face down, to allow for a greater cooking surface for the egg. There is also the rare cross-section of society that has no political affiliations whatsoever - these people tend to cook their bagelettes with each half facing a different direction. I believe the term ‘I swing both ways’ was originated from this group of bagelette eaters.

Personally, I find both techiques to be equally satisfying.

Behold:The goal, if there were a goal other than eating, is to cook the bagelette so the yolk is still runny, thus allowing the eater to mop up some yolk with each bite of bagel.An added treat is the little bits of fried cheese that may have ‘accidentally’ not landed directly on the bagel during the cooking process. Here is an example of such a casualty: As sad as I was for this poor scrap of cheese, I forced myself to eat it.

And, of course, the money shot. .

A Montreal Classic. You can find this place on Laurier Avenue, 1 block west of St-Denis.

As the sign states, Chez Claudette serves breakfast “toute la journee”. They also serve ‘cuisine familiale’ - this means tortiere, shepherd’s pie, meat loaf, etc….
They also offer the unique choice of paying a little extra to transform your breakfast potatoes into a poutine. The beautiful thing here is that they still use the breakfast home fries for the ‘pout.

Here is some shots of the menu.

I ordered an orange/banana juice. Fresh.

After that, I ordered the ‘regulier’ with sausage and brown toast -and of course the poutine option.

This was delicious:

My lovely ladyfriend had the ‘regulier’ with bacon - no poutine, but I think she secretly regretted this error as she kept poking her fork into my poutine bowl.

All in all, a great Montreal breakfast experience. I hadn’t been here in a while, but Claudette is back in my little black book, and I will call on her regularly.

My ladyfriend and I drove to Toronto last week and to make good time we ate breakfast in the car - both ways.

The 401 is over 400km of flat, straight, boring road.

Montreal - Toronto

We had plans to visit so many friends and family on our short 5-day trip that we left Montreal at 8:00am. We stopped by the St. Viateur Bagel Shop on our way out of Montreal to get 3 dozen bagels for our Torontonian friends and family. The smell of the fresh, warm bagels could not be resisted, so we broke them out!

Then we opened our roasted butternut squash dip . . . to dip the bagels in.

We finished off our meal with chunks of orange and grapefruit that I brought back from Florida the week before.
We arrived in Toronto at 1:30pm and spent a lovely 5 days visiting Sue, Ken, Brindel, Tracey, Chris, Kieran, Joe, Sandy, Velvet, Jonah, Kate, Kevin, Misu, Mazy, Simon, Michelle, Amanda, Nora, the Koffs, Laurie, Ray, Nancy, and many others. . .

5 fun-filled days later, we got back in the car (again at 8am!) and headed back home. . .

Toronto - Montreal

We started out with Sue’s home-made cereal mix. Very healthy and super-tasty!

We poured the cereal straight into a container of Liberty Mediterranean plum&walnut yogurt.

Here is a shot of me getting spoon-fed as I drive along the boring 401.

There are a few more breakfast entries to come from this little trip, including a gefilte-fish tutorial, so stay tuned!

I only call this “The Girlie Brunch” as I was lucky enough to have shared a Sunday brunch date with my girlfriend Megan and 3 of her ladyfriends. It was truly exquisite.

The menu featured an asparagus/basil/parmesan frittata, accompanied by coffee, fresh fruit, baked sweet-potato homefries, assorted cheeses, avocado wedges, hummus, baguette, and a nut bread. The nice thing was that we didn’t go to a restaurant; we made the brunch ourselves - which made it cheaper AND allowed us to spend time together preparing the meal.

Note that the potatoes and frittata are baked in the oven, which means nobody has to stand over anything and stir it constantly - ideal for a social gathering.

Here is a shot of our groceries before cooking and eating them - all of it was purchased at Jean-Talon market:

The frittata recipe was courtesy of Marcella Hazan, whose cookbook I use on a regular basis. Anyone who cooks any Italian food should own this book - it is an amalgamation of her 2 well-known books from the 1970s, and I cannot live without it.

Basically, begin with some fresh, nice looking asparagus.

Crack and beat some eggs - I think I used a dozen - add a little cream, butter, chopped asparagus (which I had steamed for a few minutes), and plenty of parmigiano reggiano. Pour the mixture into a pan that be used in the oven and bake it at about 35 degrees - I am using a Creuset enameled cast iron classic. The recipe is straight from the book, with the exception of the basil leaves, which I added partway through cooking - strictly as an afterthought.

The girls did most of the work by chopping various items and setting the table. . .

We snacked on bread, jam, and coffee - and of course chatted and gossiped - while prepping the meal, as it was a pretty long process. Everyone pitched in, and it was nice to spend time with each other -especially since I wanted to get to know my girlfriend’s pals.

For the potatoes:

This is a dish that I make often as of late - for many reasons: it’s easy to make, it avoids frying, and it encourages creativity. We diced up a few yams and mixed them in a large bowl with olive oil and a variety of spices. This time around I used salt, pepper, turmeric, black sesame seeds and curry powder - but you can use whatever you want here - ex: oregano, garlic, etc…

Spread the cubes onto a baking sheet and bake in the over at a high temperature (about 450 degrees) until ready (you should take one out every 15 minutes to test. . .Mmmm..)

Finally everytihg is ready and set on the table:

Here is the Frittata:

Here is a beautiful shot of one of our plates, ready for eating:

And of course, the ‘money shot’

I’d like to thank Jen, Kate, and Corinne for the long, lazy sunday morning (and afternoon!)

Here I am , relaxing with another cup of coffee while the girls chatted it up.

Now I know what girls talk about!!!!! (sorry boys - I was sworn to secrecy)

Sadly, I made a great breakfast today and did not have my camera with me.

I slept at my girlfriend’s apartment last night, who incidentally is a vegetarian.

As she was getting ready for work, I browned a couple of ‘Yves’ vege-sausage patties, fried a couple of eggs, and made open-face sandwiches that also included fresh spinach leaves, organic mayo, and sharp cheddar. They looked gooooood.

I can still picture them in my head, and even taste it in my mouth . . . but am saddened that I did not have my camera with me.

oh well.

I made latkes on New Year’s Day, which was also the last day of Hannukah - at a Hannukah party hosted by my girlfriend’s mother in Toronto.

I learned to make latkes from my mother, and we both use the recipe from Second Helpings (B’nai Brith Women Montreal, 1977 - edited by Norene Gilletz). Almost all latke recipes are the same, and here is what I used:

6-8 potatoes (Yukon Gold is best)
2 onions
3 eggs
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt and some pepper
1/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
oil for frying

Peel the potatoes into a big bowl of cold water, to avoid them turning brown.

Grate the potatoes: This should be done by hand, but can easily be done in a food processor. The important factor is the consistency. If grating by hand, I use both the big and small sides of a box grater until I achieve a smooth consistency - but not too smooth. If using a food processor, grate all the potatoes first with the grater blade, and then use the regular blade to puree a few handfuls and mix it back in until it looks right. Now grate the onion.

Put the grated potatoes into a clean tea-towel (or cheesecloth) and wring it out until most of the water is gone. Then mix in everything else.

Set the stovetop to medium and heat up some oil in a frying pan -I usually use 2 or 3 pans simultaneously, depending on how many latkes I am making - this time I used 2. Shape some of the mixture (about 1 tbsp or a small handful) into a ball and carefully place into the pan and flatten using a spatula. Repeat until the pan is full - usually five or six latkes at a time. Let them fry until the undersides are done and then flip to do the other side.

Put a baking sheet in the oven on the lowest setting (warm). As each latkes is ready, place it onto a plate lined with paper towels to soak up the extra fat and then place the latke in the oven to keep warm.
Keep doing this until all the mixture has been used.

I made about 50 latkes.

Here is what one plate of latkes looked like:

We served them with apple sauce and sour cream.

There was also a beautiful cheese plate:

Clockwise from top: Stilton, old cheddar, a really nice soft French cheese?, Chevre Noir, aged Gouda.

There was also some cakes and a nice array of sweets:

Brownies, Rugelach, chocolate chip toffee squares, etc.

My latkes, and the party, were a success.
I hope your latkes go over just as well.

I finally finished digesting all the holiday food I’ve eaten over the last 2 weeks, and now have this to report:

I was in Toronto for New Year’s eve and had a lovely Hannukah brunch at the home of my new ladyfriend’s sister, along with her husband, very cute son, her father and his wife.
They served us one of the more imaginative Benedicts that I have ever eaten:

Here are two poached eggs with lox served on latkes, topped with a hollandaise.

I almost forgot to mention the raw cranberry slices - nice touch!

Here is a better view of the whole table, which included several cheeses, nuts, a lox platter, more bread, danish, and a fantastic fruit plate sprinkled with pomegranite seeds - a perfect holiday touch!

. . . and of course, the money shot:

My latke recipe (with tutorial) will be posted here very soon…