Growing up in Montreal I had an all time favorite breakfast bagels, lox and cream cheese with a slice of onion. It's still my favorite. And truly, it's not my favorite breakfast without the Montreal bagel. And another truth I'll ashamedly share...it wasn't until quite recently I figured out that "lox" was just short for gravelox. I just thought it was the only kind of smoked salmon there was....silly, silly me.Last weekend I was at the Halifax Saturday Farmers Market and naturally stopped at Mikes Fish Shop - one of the very few places to get great fresh fish and seafood in Halifax, but I digress. They sell St Mary River's Smokehouses smoked fishes. They all looked awesome - at least six varieties of salmon, mackerel, and others and I couldn't decide. The two people in front of me both asked for the maple smoked salmon, so naturally I had to have some.
And that's when it really dawned on me that not all smoked salmon was dry smoked like gravelox. This maple smoked (and not just maple wood), texture wise was more like a roasted or grilled salmon fillet - cooked and actually coated with maple syrup in the roasting/smoking process. And the flavor - awesome! No wonder it's the most popular smoked fish they sell.
Still this was not turning out to be my typical bagel, lox & cream cheese breakfast. I mean, I now CAN actually make Montreal Bagels, thanks to Marcy Goldman, and even though they really don't take that long to make...well it's a crazy busy time of year and my list of things to get done - none of which separately take a lot of time...all of them together take up more than the 24 hours allotted us in a day.
So I did something totally typical - made a quick scramble and yet totally new - took the idea of lox and cream cheese and turned my scramble into a totally different yet totally awesome taste sensation. Just add about 1/4 cup of my favorite Ran-Cher Goat Cheese with chives to 5 beaten eggs, add about a half cup of flaked maple smoked salmon and scramble it over medium heat (a little butter to the pan first wouldn't hurt either).True, it tastes nothing like my bagel, lox and cream cheese breakfasts of old, but it was still heaven on a plate.
I do hope you get to take some simple, quiet moments out of this busy, frantic season to enjoy something easy to prepare and delicious to savor.
6 comments:
I had to laugh at the lox thing-I always thought "Nova" was a different fish...a fish called a "Nova."
Eventually, I looked at a map of Canada, and it dawned on me, but gee did I feel silly.
Goody
www.eattheblog.blogspot.com
Homemade Montreal bagels, locally made smoked salmon and goat cheese...I am in heaven just reading this post Ruth.
Anon, thanks for sharing - glad I'm not alone.
Val, next time you're out this way, I'll whip some up for you and serve them with Maritime goodies to boot.
Just discovered you and got lost in your blog; my kind of intersting foodie facts and recipes.
Sage, glad you enjoyed your visit. Hope to see you here often.
Happy New Year!
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