Tangy Tomato Chutney

Brunch has become a staple for me on weekends since moving to Toronto. Most of the time I elect to make brunch at home, but when I go out, my place of choice is The Corner Place down by the St. Lawerence Market. With a strong aversion to waiting in lines, my friend and I have made a bit of a ritual out of going to this hidden gem and enjoying their menu that highlights fresh ingredients from the market across the street. Their St. Lawerence Benny is my regular order; featuring a tangy, sweet and savoury tomato chutney, smoked cheddar and creamy hollandaise.

This recipe is my attempt at recreating the flavours of my brunch-out favourite. Highly recommend serving on English muffins, with some nice old cheddar, bacon and soft poached eggs. This would also make a great condiment on sandwiches or your next cheese board.

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Tangy Tomato Chutney

40 minutes

If making for brunch, I get the chutney started before anything else. The longer you cook the chutney on a lower heat, the deeper the flavour will be. I get to step 2, and then I’ll initiate the other elements of my brunch (bacon, eggs, etc).

Ingredients

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 red onion, thinly sliced

2 large garlic cloves, minced (or 3-4 small ones)

2 large tomatoes (or 3-4 medium), diced (yields about 2 cups of diced tomato)

½ tsp - 1 tsp of red pepper flakes

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 tbsp maple syrup

Salt n pepper

Method

1. In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil, red onion and minced garlic over medium-low heat. Continue to cook until onions are translucent and buttery, about 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Add diced tomato to the saucepan, and continue to cook on medium until tomatoes break down and become stew-like, darkening in colour. This will take some time - about 20-25 minutes.

3. Add red pepper flakes and vinegar, increasing the heat to medium-high to boil off the vinegar. Your eyes may sting a little during this step - vinegar can be strong! Takes 3-5 minutes.

4. Finally, add in maple syrup and continue cooking for 1-2 minutes until the syrup is well integrated.

5. Taste and adjust your seasoning with salt and pepper.

6. Serve warm or room temperature, or put into the fridge for future use.

Leek, Mushroom, and Camembert Quiche

In 2011, I spent part of the summer studying in Lyon, France. As a student, I tried to save money on most meals so I could splurge on a few dinners out in the city known for its food scene. This frugalness involved many Subway sandwiches early on in my stay. I was quite proud to learn the local nuances of ordering a 6-inch sub en français (lettuce is “salade”, rather than “laitue” as displayed on the menu). But soon enough, my friend and I discovered a small café just down the road from our residence with the same price point as Subway but a bit more French culture. The café had a lunch deal where you could get a slice of quiche, a side salad and a dessert of your choice for just 3 Euro! It was at that café where I fell in love with leek, camembert and honey combo in quiche form. This recipe is my version of the quiche that was a regular mainstay of my time in Lyon.

This is not a time to use your grocery store honey – stop by a farmer’s market and pick up local product to really taste the flavour potential of honey. Or if you have any vacations coming up, I encourage you to take a look for honey on your travels. I love picking up honey as my memento of a trip – honey from different regions of the world have different flavours dependant on the local flowers. I served mine with honey I picked up on a recent trip to Portugal.

A simple arugula salad with lemon juice, olive oil and salt n peppa makes the perfect side

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Leek, Mushroom, and Camembert Quiche with local honey

Ingredients:

• 1 leek, sliced

• 1 pint of mushrooms, sliced

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tbsp unsalted butter

• Kosher salt and pepper to season

• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes

• 6 large eggs

• ¾ cup 5% cream (or whatever level M.F. you desire – the higher the milk fat the creamier it will be)

• Camembert cheese, sliced into .5 cm slices (keep the cheese in the fridge until right before you slice it – will make it easier to slice thinly)

• 1 store bought pie crust, or homemade (here’s my favourite pie crust recipe - Ina Garten does no wrong!)

• Serve with honey

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Prepare a 9” pie plate with your pie crust. Place the prepared pie plate onto a cookie sheet (this catches any overflow and makes it easier to carry the pie plate flat).*

2. Melt the butter in a medium pan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add in the sliced leeks and sautee until soft and translucent (5-7 mins)

   • In the same way that you soften onions, the goal here is to not get any colour (brown/black) on the leeks. They should be soft and tender. The best way to tell your leeks are cooked is when they don’t hold their half circle shape as strongly any more, there’s a bit of wiggle to their shape.

3. Add in chopped mushrooms to the pan and don’t stir. Let the mushrooms cook in the pan on one side for 3-5 mins. This will allow them to brown nicely.

4. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

5. Add red chilli flakes to the leeks and mushrooms and stir. Continue to cook until the mushrooms are cooked through (another 3-5 minutes). Remove from heat.

6. In a medium bowl whisk together eggs and cream and season with salt and pepper

   • Try to not get too much air into the eggs while you whisk them by keeping the whisk low in the bowl. This will ensure a custard-y texture for the quiche filling.

   • Only season your eggs right before pouring into the crust – if you season them too early they will turn grey

7. Distribute the leek and mushroom mixture evenly on top of the crust. Pour the egg mixture in next – it should reach just to the top of the crust.

8. Gently place slices of camembert on top of egg mixture – they will sink a little bit but should generally float.

9. Place in the preheated  oven and bake for 25 mins.

10. Check the quiche after 25 mins and give the cookie sheet a gentle shake. If the centre still jiggles, continue to bake and check for jiggle every 5 minute increment. I like mine browned on top, so the extra 10 mins does the trick.

11. Let it sit for 10 mins to cool and set. Slice and top with drizzles of honey. Enjoy with a light arugula salad (arugula, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper).

*if you want to blind bake your pie crust this is when you would do it. Blind baking involves putting the pie crust into the preheated oven with a piece of parchment paper and pie weights or dried beans on top to allow the crust to pre-bake for 10 minutes before putting in the quiche filling. This ensures your crust is cooked through. Honestly, I only do this about 10% of the time when I feel really ambitious. Since the oven is quite hot for this quiche the crust will bake through well without a blind bake, but it certainly won’t hurt to do this if you’d like.