Cora's and Thai Food in Waterloo

As another installment in my food travels in Waterloo - as i already mentioned, i'm not that into conference food, so we escaped a few times for something different. The first meal, my trusty Iphone and chowhound dug up a great thai place right by our hotel - of course i forget the name.



We also went to cora's:

I tried to be healthy and got the poached egg, with cottage cheese, fruit and rye toast

The waffles with fruit

Sunny side up, bacon, hash browns, blueberry pancakes and fruit

We got a veggie thai and a fish one.

New Years Eve Dinner

I decided that i didn't want to go out for new years this year, so instead of rushing about i spent the evening at home with my cat watching film noir and drinking a lovely Amarone! Of course i needed to have something to eat, and i was contemplating just eating cheese and bread that i bought at the Junction Fromagarie - but thought maybe i could make something a little different.

Pretty simple ingredients

I sauteed the mushrooms in butter and garlic, adding lemon juice and red wine vinegar to create a little sauce. I then toasted a couple of slices of the baguette and poached an egg. I put the warm mushrooms and sauce over the toasted baguette, then topped it with the poached egg. On the side i had a few slices of cheese, some more bread and olives.

Not a bad way to start 2011

Dancehall Revenge and Sunday Brunch

On saturday night (technically sunday) my neighbours decided that they were going to have an impromptu afterhours party, complete with a Pogues sing along and a thrash metal dance party. This all began at 3 am. When i finally got up on Sunday i wrote my neighbours a small note, and then realizing how hungover they must be - made myself a nice brunch, and had a little party of my own - featuring some dancehall....

I actually didn't really have the appropriate ingredients, but i managed to pull this off. I used the new PC bagel thins, which are great, but not really to support a sunday brunch. I also didn't have any spinach for eggs Florentine, so i used rapini!

Without a great deal of sleep, i wasn't really in the mood to make hollandaise, and for one it seems a little much - even when one is musically inducing a hangover. Instead i made this sauce which is a mix of sour cream, dijon and horseradish. This was actually a good choice considering the bitterness of the rapini.

Didn't really make up for the aborted sleep or the cans of PBR i found all over the hallway, but it did cheer me up a little - and the soundtrack didn't hurt either!

Eggs and Caesars for Breakfast

Just because you're up at the cottage doesn't mean you can't do a nice little brunch - caesars and eggs benny included. I thought i would try poaching eggs without my little egg poachers - and i was a little nervous but i was able to do it without a real problem.

Making the hollandaise was another issue altogether. My mom surprisingly has a couple of cookbooks laying about so i was able to find a recipe. This one was interesting as it didn't have you doing it in a double-boiler, but actually doing the recipe over direct heat! I was nervous, but thought i would give it a try!

Eggs ready for hollandaise

My sister whisking

I was able to make the hollandaise. It wasn't the best i've ever had, but hey we were at the cottage. I also wilted some spinach, and quickly blanched some asparagus so we had a benny florentine mix going on.

Monday Dinner - Mushrooms and Eggs

There are some days - especially mondays, where i am less than inspired, but as i'm trying to save some money and eat a little better i push myself to eat at home. This monday i didn't get in until later, but i had gone grocery shopping, so i decided to make Mushrooms On Toast, with simple white mushrooms, but thought for a little protein i would add a poached egg.

I used the ceramic poacher, and perhaps wasn't paying attention as i should have, so the eggs were't as runny as i had wanted, but they were still good. As i've mentioned before, this recipe is a family favorite, but sometimes i like to switch it up - different bread, fancy mushrooms or the addition of a poached egg. For this one, i also added some spinach and arugula mix for extra veggies.

The ingredients

(excuse the low light - i have a few out right now)


Last bites

My plate f0r ready for eating

Mixing the mushrooms

Seafood Poached Eggs with Sweet Potaot Rostis

This was a kinda slapped together meal that turned out quite well. There were a couple of influences behind this meal - one was that i had some left over cooked scallops from the ...... of saturday night and i wanted to use them up. Earlier last week i bought some of that fake crab that is really Pollock - i think its a pretty good snack as its low in cals and has protein, so i often snack on it. I thought i would combine the two for either a seafood salad thing or something else.

When i was preparing the meal i remembered a lobster poached eggs dish i had in New York, and thought maybe i could do something along those lines. I thought instead of an english muffins (and mainly because i didn't have one) I would make the sweet potato rosti that i did for my New Years Day Brunch. Who can deny shredded and pan fried sweet potatoes????

I thought i would keep two elements sort of traditional, and i wilted some spinach, but added shallots and garlic. I also poached the egg - i used the silicone ones, since i was preparing so many elements at the same time and didn't need to be stressing about poaching eggs - but they do give them a very uniformed shape.

When contemplating a sauce i realized that i already had a whole lot going on in the dish as i had mixed the chopped scallops and "crab" with green onions, dijon, lemon juice and a little may to help bind it. This along with the sweet potatoes, spinach and the yolk of the egg would be enough, so i left it plain. I think i made the right choice.

Above:

Sunday Brunch
Shredded Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients

Polenta Breakfast

A while ago i was soliciting inspiration for my blog via Facebook, and an old friend suggested Polenta. I can't actually say i have a whole lot of experience with Polenta, but i've eaten it a few times and thought it was a little bland, but does make a good base for things. The only other time i made it i did it from scratch, but at my No Frills all i could find was the ready made polenta. That certainly made things easier.

I decided to use the polenta as a base for a poached egg breakfast. I didn't really know what to do with it, and even the internet wasn't much help. I remembered having it this way, so i simply sliced it into 1/2 inch pieces and lightly brushed it with olive oil and baked it on parchment paper. At the same time i made some oven homefries to go with the breakie.

Instead of just the usual spinach, i added some rapini, which although pretty bitter it is a little different and a good source of iron and calcium. I also blanched some leftover asparagus, since a few more veggies wouldn't hurt me! I used my mom's ceramic poacher to do the eggs, which i didn't pay that much attention to and they were a little overdone :-(

I've not had much success with hollandaise, and its pretty bad for you, so i made a sauce using light sour cream, lemon juice, tarragon and dijon. I served the sauce over the eggs and the asparagus.

I assembled the beakie and dug in. The polenta was okay - still bland, but a different base. Now of course i have a ton of polenta, so expect a few more recipes with polenta.

Staycation Cooking - Lady who lunches

Well its quite a start to my week of "staycation", after a couple weeks of glorious weather, it turns rainy and cold for day one. I had already planned this as a domestic day, so i wasn't that devastated, but a little sun would have been nice.

After finishing a few errands i decided to indulge in a late lunch. I wanted something a little decedent, not something i would scarf down at my desk. I didn't have a whole lot of ingredients, but the weekend previous i had poached eggs and they were a little overdone, so i thought i would give that a try again. (i'll blog that meal later)

I know that poached eggs are actually quite tasty over salad, so i opted away from the carbs and decided to do a poached eggs over salad. The bar/restaurant in my building does a spinach salad with hard boiled eggs and beer braised mushrooms - i had a few cremini left in the fridge and thought they would be a nice addition. I didn't have any beer or wine open (no vermouth even) so i improvised and used sake. I also added some tarragon - since i look for things to add tarragon to!

I thought i would dress it with a creamy, yet healthy dressing to go with the yolk of the egg. I have been obsessed with honey dijon - and decided that was what was going to go with. I simply combined some lemon juice, olive oil, dijon, honey and sour cream.

After blanching the asparagus, i poached the egg and assembled the salad.

Late lunch, even with the weather was pretty sweet. (too bad someone stole my newspaper again!)

Above:

Lunch
Ingredients
Dressing ingredients
Mushrooms
Cracked poached egg salad

Purple Yams on the Last Saturday in February

GO CANADA

(sorry couldn't' help it)

One of the nicest things about eating brunch at a great restaurant isn't just that you don't have to make it or clean up afterwards, but i always really enjoy the nice fruit they often put on the plate. I'm not talking about a flavourless piece of melon and a dry orange, but something exotic and flavourful. I actually got my inspiration for this meal from the blood oranges that i bought recently.

The other "strange" thing i bought recently were purple yams. I didn't have a plan for them when i bought them, but i'd never seen them before so i couldn't resist. I'm not really a huge starch fan, but i do like sweet potatoes, and knew i could do something fun with these. I decided to do them like homefries, but i also flavoured them with some maple syrup - which i always think of as a traditional combination with yams. I also used the regular seasoning - garlic, salt, pepper, rosemary, red chili flakes.

While i was making the homefries i made a salad, just tomatoes, cucumber and some extra old white cheddar diced into small cubes. That is another thing i like about going out for brunch, there is often a salad - makes it feel sort of healthy! For the egg dish, i did a lighter version of eggs Florentine. Using my silicone poacher i poached an egg while i got the rest of the meal ready. I sauteed the shallots, and added the spinach cooking until it was wilted.

I topped some dark toasted rye with the spinach, added the egg then sprinkled with goat cheese for a little tang - and i had a pretty sweet breakfast for the last saturday in february.

February - the shortest, cruelest month.

Above:

Inspiration
Purple yams
Breakie