sunday brunch

smoked salmon and rosti eggs benny with a habenero dill cream

i’m looking for a good brunch in downtown Toronto. the whole nine yards! i want plates of bacon, eggs, bennys, shrimp, oysters, waffles, freshly squeezed OJ! i want it all! primarily the seafood though, i love seafood, especially for breakfast, i always feel fancy!

when i’m not ready to drop $40 i’ll more than settle for my own eggs benny, but of course with a few substitutions. this is a classic combination, and for good reason. soft poached eggs, smoked salmon, and thinly shredded potatoes instead of a boring ol’ piece of bread.

i finally decided to look up how to actually make rosti, and apparently i’ve been making it wrong this whole time! i’ve been grating the potatoes raw, mixing with an egg and seasoning, then frying.

the correct way is boiling the potatoes until soft, then letting them cool in the fridge for 4-5 hours or overnight. then grate, and cook in a pan until brown. this method provides a fluffier rosti, and doesn’t need the egg, and it sticks together pretty well.

the trick to poached eggs: use a shallow pan over a deep pot. crack your egg into a bowl to ensure the yolk is together, and no shells get poached into your egg. add some vinegar, then when its simmering, use a spoon and create a cyclone in the middle of the pan by circling the inside edge. then, gently drop your egg into the cyclone and let cook for 3 – 4 minutes. use a slotted spoon to retrieve it, and let it dry on a piece of paper towel.

for my habenero cream, i used 2 tbs of roasted habenero, blended with 1/4 sour cream, 1 tbs of lemon juice, and a handful of herbs (i used dill).

compose the rosti, smoked salmon, poached egg, and top with the cream and any other herbs on hand – i happened to notice a few lonely chives were growing in my backyard, and thought the few little babies would be a nice garnish.

this dish is delightful. crispy, soft, creamy, spicy, tart, smoky, rich.

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