Dill Lemon Creamed Eggs with Foxhill Cheese Milk

Foxhill Cheese’s new milk has inspired me to go back to update a classic breakfast that I first cooked when I was in grade 9.  I love breakfast, always have and always will.  I was looking for something different and went through my mom's cookbook and found creamed eggs.  A basic recipe with hard boiled eggs and a white sauce served over toast.  I made it and everyone loved it.  Over the years I have made a lot of variations of this recipe using various herbs, spices, cheese and presenting the eggs different ways.  Since I am using amazing milk I decided to come up with a variation to honor this, something clean that added flavor without covering up the taste of farm fresh whole milk.  I hope you enjoy, I know I did.

Ingredients:

8 Free Range Eggs

1/4 cup Butter

1/4 cup Flour

1/2 small onion (minced)

1 clove garlic (minced)

2 Cups Whole Milk 

1/2 tsp dried mustard

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp fresh nutmeg (cream sauces love nutmeg)

3 whole sprigs of Fresh Dill

1 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice

1 Tbsp Fresh Parmesan Cheese 

4 Pieced of Toast

Paprika 

Place the Eggs in a large pot and cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil then simmer for 6 minutes.  I prefer this recipe with slightly runny yolks, I have an aversion for dry egg yolk however if you want to cook it longer feel free.  

As soon as the eggs are started melt the butter in another pot over medium heat and add the onion and garlic, cook for about 3 minutes till they soften and then add in the flour.  Stir with a whisk and allow to cook until it turns a light carmel colour.  You want to toast the flour a bit or your white sauce will have a raw flour taste and it will dull the flavor of the herbs and spices added later.  Next add about half the milk, and whisk until smooth then add the remaining milk and the dill.  Heat until the mixture thickens, then lower the heat.  Add in the mustard, salt, white pepper and lemon juice and stir in.  Then add in the cheese and stir until smooth.  Heat for about 10 min over low heat to blend the flavors, taste and add salt and pepper as needed.  

When the eggs are done drain and place in cold water, when you can handle them peel the eggs carefully.  Take half the eggs and chop into the sauce, the yokes will be soft but will pop out of the whites just stir those in. 

To plate put the toast on your plate add some of the sauce egg mixture, take a whole pealed egg and place it in the toast, cut in half, top with a little more sauce, some fresh snipped dill and paprika.   Enjoy.

Thanks again to my local suppliers:

Milk : Foxhill Cheese House

Eggs: Shani’s Farm

Garlic:         Active Life Farm

Onion:         Noggins Corner Farm Market

Dill: Riverview Herbs

And as always thanks to the Halifax Seaport Farmer’s Market for giving me a place to meet all these great suppliers.

Poached Eggs on Roasted Root Vegetable Hash

As those who follow my blog may know I am a bit of a breakfast lover.  I enjoy a hearty breakfast and love a properly cooked egg.  This morning I got up and saw the wonderful selection of root vegetables I purchased at the Halifax Seaport Farmer’s Market and decided poached eggs on hash would be ideal.  

To make my roasted vegetable hash I first needed roasted vegetables.  Since it is winter and I am trying to eat locally then the roasted veggies are root vegetables.   I picked up some great red onions, sweet potatoes, multicolored carrots and fingerling potatoes from Noggins Corner Farm those served as the base for my breakfast.  Who said winter eating is boring in Nova Scotia.

Roasted Root Vegetables

12 Fingerling Potatoes 1 inch slices

3 Carrots Sliced

3 Small to Medium Sweet Potatoes 1 inch dice

1 Red Onion Chopped

2 cloves of Garlic Sliced

1 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

6 sprigs of Oregano

3 sprigs of Rosemary

Preheat the oven to 375.  Chop up the vegetables and put them in a roasting pan.  sprinkle with salt and pepper, add in the herbs and toss to coat all of the root veggies.   Roast in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes.  Allow them to brown slightly but take care not to burn the onions or garlic.  Stir occasionally to allow for even roasting.

Remove from the oven.  These can be served as part of a main course or as I did this morning be used in a hash.

Roasted Vegetable Hash with Poached Eggs

1 Recipe of Roasted Root Vegetables

6 strips of bacon

1 tsp Paprika

8 fresh eggs

1 Tbsp Salt

2 tsp vinegar (rice wine I prefer)

Fry off 6 strips of bacon until crispy.  If you are using good smoked bacon render the fat off on medium low heat and then drain off the fat and crisp up.  It takes a little more time but you end up with better bacon.  

Prepare water for poaching the eggs but filling up a large frying pan with water, add in the salt and vinegar, bring to a simmer. 

Roughly mash up the hash and add to the pan (preheated) you used to cook the bacon and add the paprika.  Fry until potatoes turn a nice shade of golden.  Between the oil in the roasted vegetables and the residual bacon fat you will be able to brown up the potatoes.

To poach the eggs crack each egg into a small bowl and slide into the simmering water.  Cook them until the whites are firm but the yokes are still runny.  The yoke makes a beautiful sauce for the hash.

Plate the eggs on top of the hash.  I find this hash sweet enough to support a little spice so I topped it with sriracha hot sauce and some fresh cilantro.  

Thanks to my local suppliers:

Root Vegetables: Noggins Corner Farm

Garlic, Eggs and Bacon : Active Life Farm

Fresh Herbs : Riverview Herbs

And as always the Halifax Seaport Farm Market for providing a place for me to purchase great local product.  (Especially in the Winter)

The Coastal Cafe - Very Creative Eats for Sure

One of the keys to creativity is confidence.  In order to produce an exceptional and original product you have to be comfortable with who you are and know that what you are bringing to the table is outstanding.  This creativity and confidence is evident when visiting The Costal Cafe in Halifax.  

To quote their website  “We don't provide the ultimate dining experience, nor do we demonstrate pretentions over your latte. We are honest, and our simple mission is to provide the best food and coffee without any bullshit.”  I can tell you after a couple visits they achieve this.  The people are very friendly, they keep it warm and welcoming and as a result there is a wide cross section of people that eat there.  

I will tell you that I am no coffee expert, I know what i like and what I don't (Sorry Tim Horton’s but your coffee is sour to me).  There is something about the coffee here that makes it craveable.  I cant break it down for you so you will have to go try it yourself and comment back here and let me know what makes it so special.  It is however among the best I have ever had.

Now for the food.  I have been there for breakfast and not breakfast (this is what they call lunch).  Both times I have left with a big smile and was impressed with the little creative touches that they add to their food.

When we went for breakfast I had the Huevos Rancheros Toros Locos.  This is three eggs over easy on corn tortillas with fajita beef, black beans, guacamole and pico de gallo.  The tortillas were crispy and salty, the eggs were spot on (I hate over cooked eggs) and the balance of flavors was perfect.  The best little touch was the sour on the guacamole that perfectly set off the richness of the eggs, meat and cheese.

My dining companion had the Eggs Oslo, which is 2 beautifully poached eggs on a parsnip rosti (think thick potato pancake but better) on a butternut squash jam and a red wine cranberry syrup.  The eggs were cooked perfectly and the rosti was very flavorful.  The butternut squash jam was a first for me so I dipped in and tried it and it was sweet and flavorful.  The sour component of the dish was the red wine cranberry syrup which could have been a little more sour to our tastes but we both really enjoy sour.

I am a big fan of breakfast and I can honesty say this is the most interesting breakfast menu I have seen in a long time.  They have taken the time to put a lot of creativity into their food and it is worth the little extra that you pay.  Not only are you getting really good food which is fresh, local and well prepared but you are going to experience something new and wonderful each time you go there.  I can't wait for winter to end to see what their spring breakfast menu looks like.  Though I still have to work my way through the rest of their winter menu, hmmmm a foodies work is never done.

Now as a rule I do not blog about a restaurant unless I go at least twice.  So today I ventured over to have some not breakfast.  Again I was impressed with the little creative touches on the menu.  I ordered the Tempura Haddock Burger.  This is served with a ginger wasabi mayo and sesame peppers, a beautiful salad and some thin cut homemade fries tossed with fresh herbs.  The fish was perfectly cooked, moist and fresh.  The batter was crispy and it was served on a lightly toasted english muffin.  The peppers added a nice fresh element and the ginger wasabi mayo was a real flavor treat.  When I was served the fries I was asked if I wanted ketchup, after one tasted I declined so I could enjoy the taste of the potatoes and herbs.  The salad was fresh and light and beautifully dressed.  

If you want to have a special meal in an open, friendly and unique environment and if you enjoy creative well prepared food The Coastal Cafe needs to go on your list of places to try.  Click on the hyperlink at the top of the blog to go to their website and check out the menu, there will be something there you just have to try. 

An All Nova Scotia Bagel Breakfast Sandwich

I love a good bagel.  A real bagel, chewy and soft, lightly toasted.  Though the local supermarkets are full of bagel like substances, really large doughnut shaped dinner rolls, it is really hard to find a good bagel.  I have been known to lose my mind over bagels I have bought that are bread through and through but being sold as a bagel.  

In my quest to find a real Bagel in Halifax I happened upon one made by Spice of Life Artisan Foods at the Halifax Seaport Market.  They have it spot on, nice and chewy, on the outside, soft on the inside and it toasts up beautifully.  If you are a bagel lover you have to try this.  They are affiliated with Rock Island Bistro and if you buy their delicious baked goods you get Bistro bucks that you can use toward a meal at the Bistrol.  I will have to review them soon.  Check out their facebook page.

The bagels inspired me to create an all Nova Scotia Breakfast Sandwich.  I used eggs and the amazing Berkshire pork bacon from Active Life Farms and Garlic Quark and medium cheddar cheese from Fox Hill Cheese House.  

What is Quark you ask, well I just asked that question my self a week ago.  Whitney, Fox Hill’s smiley, friendly and informative sales person (be careful she will bewitch you with free gelato samples), explained that it is German cream cheese like product.  It is spreadable and rich in flavor, it is also lower in salt then standard creamed cheese.  Click on this link and scroll down to the Quark section for more information. 

To prepare my sandwich I cooked the bacon first on low heat to render off the fat then I drained the fat and turned up the heat to crisp it.  This makes for more tender meaty bacon.  

I selected 2 beautiful farm fresh eggs to poach.  Notice in the picture the different colors, which occurs because the eggs are from different breeds of chicken.  If you talk to Kevin and Heather from Active Life they can tell you which eggs come from which types of chickens.  When I visited the farm I was impressed with how the chickens were treated, I even saw one of them jump into Kevin’s feed bucket, it was pretty cute.  Free range eggs are the only eggs I want to eat, not only are the chickens treated better than egg factory chickens but the eggs are better for you.  For information on this go to the Active Life Farms Egg Page and click on the hyper link for the specific nutritional benefits.  In addition to this the eggs taste amazing and are not watery and runny like factory eggs.

To poach the eggs heat up some water to a simmer (not a rolling boil).  Add in salt and 1 tsp of vinegar(I prefer rice wine vinegar).  The vinegar will help to quickly set the egg whites.  Poach the eggs until the egg yokes are just firm, you don’t want them runny, but you don’t want them dried out and bright yellow.  When they are set allow them to drain on a plate.

I then lightly toasted the bagel, spread it with quark, put the bacon on the bottom and added the eggs, which I sprinkled with black pepper and paprika.  I then topped with Fox Hill Cheese Medium cheddar and enjoyed.

This is just an example of the kind of high quality, flavorful food you can have while eating local.  It is good in so many ways but from a selfish perspective, it just tastes great.  That is all the reason I need.

Active Life Farms - An Ideal Source of Good Local Food

Yesterday I had an amazing visit with the folks up at Active Life Farms in Londonderry Nova Scotia.  I was looking for a source of local free range pork and I found them on the Select Nova Scotia web site.  When I saw that Active Life was producing this in a sustainable way I was sold.  I had seen a few shows on Food Network Canada that featured Berkshire pork which according to the New York Times is the Kobe Beef of the pork world.  I placed my order and then took a beautiful one hour drive from the city to pay a visit and pick up my bounty.  Kevin, Heather and their three dogs greeted us warmly and gave us a tour of the farm.  We saw the pigs in the field and the little piglets which are headed to Quebec as breading stock.  If you have never seen a pig sit for a slice of bread you have to go take a look.  I also saw the largest variety of chickens and ducks I have ever seen and there was a little turkey that followed us around like a puppy.  I picked up my pork and added to the order a couple of nice plump chickens and three and a half pounds of local garlic.  I also picked up 2 dozen eggs of various colors and yes there were 3 green eggs to go with the ham.  No I am not kidding! J.  Now for those who think eating local is expensive the pork was $3.00 a pound, the garlic (amazing btw) was $3.50 a pound (the same amount as we pay for the dried up stuff from China) and they threw in the eggs at $5.00 for 2 dozen.  Add to that the fact that the money goes to the farmers, there was about 150 km transportation and no CEO’s were made richer in the purchase of this product I would say it was a great deal.

Now as a foodie the experience was not complete until I had eaten.  I could not get right down to it because my Kenmore Elite (hmmm not really) stove is broken for the second time in three years and we are waiting for someone to find the time to fix it.  Not that a stove is important at this time of year.  I will let you know how this drama unfolds.

This morning I dug out the electric griddle and some of the smoked bacon from my order.  I had some biscuits left over from my meal at the True North Diner so Bacon and Farm Fresh Egg biscuits needed to feature.  The bacon was rich and meaty with a nice smokey taste and the eggs were fresh, firm and the yoke was a beautiful golden color.  When I cracked the eggs on the griddle they did not run all over the place which is a nice treat.  I piled this high on the fresh made biscuits and enjoyed.  So the bacon – first rate!!

I am in the process of cooking up a chili with the ground pork on my Canadian Tire hotplate (thank god the range is a flat top). We have to laugh right!!  J  I will review the ground pork tomorrow on the blog and include the chili recipe.