Halifax favourites

I didn’t even have a chance to prepare a Halifax favourites post before actually leaving Halifax – too busy wrapping up school & jobs. As time consuming as that was, I’m now done, back in lovely Ottawa, and have the time to share a few of my favourite spots in Halifax.

What’re your favourites? I’m sure there are many places I didn’t even get a chance to try, as my time there flew by so quickly!

• Ace Burger (@aceburgerco) - the classic & deluxe – such a busy place, you’re lucky if you get a seat!
• Sugah  (@SugahHFX) – blueberry ice cream with fog burner coffee mix-in – zillions of combos available
• Tom’s Little Havana (@TomsHavana) – scotch night & cards – what beats drinks, eats & games? Also, this used to be a cigar bar, making it even more fantastic!
• Two if by Sea (@Twoifbyseacafe) - croissants beyond belief – both in Halifax & Dartmouth
• Propeller (@PropellerBeer) & Garrison (@GarrisonBrewing) – local seasonal & standard brews, as well as growlers (best deal)
• Hamachi Kita (@HamachiHouse) - salmon & tuna maki with tempura (yes!) & lots of other fresh options
• Julien’s Bakery (@JuliensHydro) - the most delicious almond croissants, brioche & café
• Charlie’s Club - cheapest pool in town

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Some photo creds to Kevin James

Lemon is my favourite

Actually. Lemon really is the best. I’ll be honest, I’ve had zero time for making anything photo / blog worthy, as school is wrapping up and I’m close to graduation (!!). While school’s ending soon, I thought I’d do a quick round-up of some must-try recipes featuring lemon as a key ingredient. Obviously, I’m missing lots of options, so please suggest your favourites!

Meyer Lemon Loaf - Sprouted Kitchen

Lavender and Lemon Cloud Cupcakes - Sweetapolita

Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes with
Lemon Curd Filling & Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting - Adventures in Cooking

Blueberry-lemon Coffee Cake - Sweet Pea’s Kitchen

Lentil & wheat berry salad

I’ve been trying to think of ways to switch up some of my staple meals in an effort to be a bit more healthy and eat more veggies. This salad is one that my mother made over the holidays and it was a hit with everyone that tried it. As you may know, I love recipes that don’t really need to be followed precisely. Once I got a sense of the basic ingredients for the salad and dressing, I customized this recipe for what I had on hand and what I wanted to eat.

In the salad:

• 1 1/5 cups lentils 
• 1/2 cup cooked wheat berries
• 1/4 yellow pepper
• 1/4 cup broccoli 
• 1/2 zucchini 
• 2 stalks green onion
• 1/4 cup grape tomatoes

In the dressing: 

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/8 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp curry powder
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon 

All of the above are pretty approximate, so definitely experiment and make the recipe suit your own tastes. As for the veggies, everything is finely chopped and the wheat berries are cooled before being mixed in. Once you get the contents all together, add the dressing, mix, and serve! 

On another note, I currently have a lovely loaf of whole wheat, seven grain, cranberry loaf rising and waiting for the oven. Another post will follow shortly!

Beef Wellington: A traditional English dish with a rather snooty-sounding name

[A guest post by my dear friend, Amit Ajwani]

Wellington shares its name with many famed things, one of them being a Duke. Adding to its snobby appeal, even its name is capitalized. This was a source of great segregation in the past.

“Mi lord, may’ive a bit more beef wellington please?”
“It is Beef Wellington, you fishwife. Make that mistake thrice and I shall have you killed.”

This sort of back and forth was common amongst the classes.

I typically shy away from costly and elaborate home-cooked meals for peasantry’s sake, so I never really knew what Beef Wellington was. I just knew that it was a classic and opulent English dish, and a likely candidate for one of the most sacred Christmas dinner traditions of all: oneupmanship.

In its essence, Beef Wellington is the finest cut of beef, the tenderloin, used for fillet mignon, seared in a hot pan and basted with English mustard, then wrapped in prosciutto (or foie gras, if you are an especially horrible person), a paste of tasty seasoned mushrooms called a duxelles, all rolled up in pastry, and baked as you would any baked thing.

Serving a Beef Wellington is nothing short of dramatic. You slice into what appears to be a dense loaf of bread, and it bleeds steamy pink meat juices. It’s magical, in an odd sort of way, like you’re a child again, experiencing wonder for the first time, combined with the feeling that something’s just been murdered.

“Mi lord, how’d the beef get in’ere?” an especially classless voice pipes up. “Issit witches agin? Mi lord, iffit’s witches, may be burns dem?” 

The brioche collection

There’s a great bakery, Julien’s, by my place here in Halifax that’s got me hooked on brioche. Recipes for brioche have been jumping out at me in my RSS feed and elsewhere. Once this semester finally wraps up (only a few weeks left…!!!), I’ll be baking and baking and baking. I haven’t baked in too long and am missing it more and more every day. 

Nonetheless, for those of you with some free time, I know you’ll want to check out and try these delicious recipes for variations on brioche. 

Have you made brioche before? What’s your favourite recipe?

Wheat brioche buns – Sprouted Kitchen

Buttery brioche sandwich rolls – The Café Sucré Farine

Brioche filled with chocolate ganache - Technicolor Kitchen

Brioche à la fleur d’oranger – Manger

 

Grilled cheese & jam (in the toaster)

Yup, you read that right. I was kind of shocked when I saw this article on theKitchn, but 10 minutes later we were testing it out.

Some quick tips if you’re going to make this:

• make sure your toaster is clean / relatively crumb-free
• make sure your toaster is clean / relatively crumb-free
• make sure your toaster is clean / relatively crumb-free
• make sure the cheese doesn’t hang over the edge of the bread
• don’t accidentally put the toaster upright
• this will only work with a toaster that doesn’t have bread-holding cages that move in when you push down the toast button

Test your toaster on its side to make sure it doesn’t start to smoke (sorry for repeating, but I’m just sharing my lessons learned!). Put cheese on one piece of toast and put it in the toaster. Put a plain piece in the other slot. Toast lightly. Remove the plain piece of toast. Rotate the cheese piece 180 degrees to ensure even melting and toast again whilst you jam the other piece. When you’re done jamming, remove the cheese piece and slap ‘em together. Enjoy a great sandwich.

Yes, this is kind of ridiculous, but it was tasty and fast. If you haven’t tried cheese and jam – try it now, you’re missing out.

Four-bite brownies

After having more two-bite brownies a few weeks ago than I care to admit, I decided it was time to make my own version. Homemade brownies are so much better than store-bought, anyways.

I used by go-to brownie recipe, found here, but divided the batter into muffin cups and cooked them for ~15 minutes. I put about two large spoonfuls in each, but probably could have done with just one. The result turned out to be much better than I anticipated. Brownies cooked in muffin cups cook much more evenly, avoiding the “I prefer the center, more fudge-y part” vs. “I prefer the cooked edges” argument (the center is obviously way better).