Spring 2007 Newsletter
Enjoy Easter Brunch all day at Trafalgars Bistro
You can enjoy Easter weekend brunch on Easter Sunday and Monday, April 8 and 9, all day from 10 am to 4 pm at Trafalgars Bistro. Chef Chris Moran’s new spring Daytime Menu offers elegant all-day brunch items like popular poached eggs and hollandaise on potato latke or the new crab salad stuffed avocado and greens. Lunch entrees range from fresh-made soups and salads to barbecue lamb cheese burgers and grilled lamb rack chops on yam and goat’s cheese croquette.
For dessert, a delectable array of tarts, flans and cakes will be prepared by partner operation Sweet Obsession Cakes and Pastries and served at Trafalgars Bistro. Easter weekend groups are welcome. No reservations are needed or taken.
And if the weather is nice, guests are welcome to be seated on Trafalgars Bistro’s sunny, south-facing patio. Happy Easter!
Mom’s the word on Sunday, May 13
Nicer than a heart tattoo with her name in it, Mother’s Day Brunch at Trafalgars Bistro starts with a cocktail of champagne and orange juice served with a fresh fruit cup, and winds up with a take-away cello-wrapped cookie with “Mom” scrolled in edible icing.
In between, Chef Chris Moran’s all-day brunch menu comes with a choice of five main dishes. Highlights include crab salad and tropical salsa croissant sandwich, pancetta and snap pea frittata with Asiago cheese and black pepper crème fraiche or wild mushroom risotto with shaved Romano cheese and black truffle oil.
Dessert is a choice of “chocolate obsession,” passion fruit flan or lemon dacquoise. Coffee or tea is included in the menu and the price is $35 per person ($28 without champagne) and $18 for a special Mother’s Day Brunch Kid’s Menu that includes a kid’s-size fruit cup, choice of three popular children’s entrees, dessert and juice, pop or hot chocolate.
Open for Mother’s Day Dinner
Mother’s Day is the one Sunday each year that Trafalgars Bistro opens for dinner and reservations are a must that day for both brunch and dinner. From 5:00 pm on Sunday, May 13, the regular dinner menu will be available alongside a special feature menu.
Chef Moran’s “ode to mom” menu starts with a choice of seared giant sea scallop and a tomato tartare or Gorgonzola and walnut ravioli with an apple butter emulsion. Entree choices include pan-roasted lamb sirloin and grilled baby romaine with pine nut gnocchi or seared smoked black code with butternut squash and pea risotto.
There is a choice of desserts as well, prepared by Sweet Obsession Cakes and Pastries - triple chocolate mousse cake, lemon dacquoise or passion fruit flan - followed by coffee or tea for $45 per person. A special wine taster menu is also available.
For reservations, call Trafalgars Bistro at 604 739-0555, extension 1. To view Mother’s Day Brunch and Dinner menus, visit www.trafalgars.com
Remember, too, that Sweet Obsession Cakes and Pastries offers an outstanding selection of fine cakes, pastries and flans as well as gift-wrapped cookies and customer-order gift baskets for mom. To order, call Sweet Obsession Cakes and Pastries at 604 739-0555, extension 2 or visit www.sweetobsession.ca
From the Kitchen to You
This recipe from Trafalgars Bistro Chef Chris Moran is easy, versatile and flavourful. He uses it on the new Spring & Summer Daytime and Dinner menu and says it is great on burgers and sandwiches, pork chops and steaks, just perfect for summer grilling!
red onion jam
6 red onions, diced
½ cup red wine
½ cup balsamic vinegar
¾ cup sugar
• In a large frypan, sweat onions on high heat.
• Add sugar and caramelize slightly.
• Add remaining ingredients and reduce till onions are cooked down and the liquid evaporates to a jammy consistency.
• Cool and keep in the refrigerator in a sealed contained. Lasts two weeks.
Wedding Cake Couture Goes Au Naturel
The days of wedding cakes that were all show and little substance are gone says Tracy Kadonoff, head pastry chef at Sweet Obsessions Cakes and Pastries. Styles have changed; fresh and natural is the latest trend appealing to the modern palate.
Kadonoff - who graduated from the Vancouver Community College Baking and Pastry Arts program and has studied in Paris and at the Culinary Institute of America - says today’s wedding cakes lean toward “classic and elegant with all-natural ingredients.” She adds, “Gone is the idea that just because a cake is technically ‘edible,’ it will be enjoyable to eat.”
Lighter fillings and icings top choices for summer
At Sweet Obsession, Kadonoff focuses on flavour first so everything from the filling to the icing is “tasty down to the last bite.” Any of Sweet Obsession’s award-winning favourites from the white chocolate raspberry mousse cake to chocolate ganache to the roasted coconut chiffon cake can be selected by brides to be made into their wedding cakes.
For spring and summer weddings, many bridal couples choose pale icings like ivory-coloured white chocolate buttercream or the creamy shades of white chocolate ganache icing. Choices for summer fillings tend to be lighter too with lemon mousse cake being Sweet Obsession’s top choice for summer brides, since it is light, not too sweet and guests appreciate both after a big meal.
Kadonoff says fresh flowers that complement the bridal theme and fresh berries and fruit – raspberries, blackberries and red currents in season – are some of the favourite decorations that create the all-natural, classic and stunningly elegant cakes popular with many brides today.
Tips for ordering a wedding cake
Kadonoff recommends budgeting $4 to $6 per person for a dessert-size portion of cake. A three-tier cake with 12, 9 and 6-inch layers will yield approximately 100 dessert portions. Cakes can be made smaller or larger according to the number of guests.
Since summer weddings book up quickly, Sweet Obsession recommends that cake orders be in by the end of May, although later orders are accommodated whenever possible.
For a consultation with Pastry Chef Tracy Kadonoff or Sweet Obsession’s managing partner Stephen Greenham, call 604-739-0555, extension 2. For more information on Sweet Obsession’s wedding cakes and award-winning desserts, visit www.sweetobsession.ca
