Best breakfast ever a Canadian treat

Smoked Atlantic salmon crepe with citrus crème fraiche, a hard cooked egg with pickled red onions and fried capers as served for breakfast at Escabeche in the Prince of Wales Hotel, Niagara-on-the-Lake.

I eat yogurt for breakfast almost every day of my life. It’s something aimed at keeping my weight under control while balancing the flora in my gut. When I’m on the road I try to find a locally made yogurt to eat and have discovered over time that practice often protects me from the so-called Montezuma’s Revenge that sometimes plagues people in a new and foreign environment.
Yogurt is my friend, but sometimes I get really tired of it and crave a change.

During my recent trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake to write about that town and the Shaw Festival, I had the good fortune to stay at the Prince of Wales Hotel. There,  breakfast in the sunny Escabeche Restaurant turned out to be one of the best I’d ever had.

Billed on the menu as a smoked Atlantic salmon crepe with citrus crème fraiche, a hard cooked egg with pickled red onions and fried capers, it proved to be even better than it sounded.
When fried, tangy lemony flavored capers become crunchy and add a wonderful texture as a counterpoint to the velvety crepe,  the sweet-tart  pickled red onion and the smoky deep salmon taste. I’m guessing that a squeeze of lemon into creme fraiche moistens and dresses the salmon before it’s folded into the crepe.

Before leaving the Prince of Wales Hotel, I popped into its tiny gift shop to get a book entitled “Vintage Cooks Collection” comprised of recipes from chefs at the Prince of Wales and the group’s four other properties. Book a room or make a dinner reservation at  888-669-5566.

From that book, here’s a recipe for Summer Berry Soup with lavender that should be easy to put together after a visit to one of the area’s farmers markets. No recipe for this amazing crepe was there but, you’ll note, yogurt follows me as an ingredient in this yummy berry season cold soup.

Summer Berry Soup
1 pint each strawberries, raspberries, blueberries
1 cup organic yogurt
1/2 cup honey
1 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon lavender
Pinch of sugar

Process all the berries in food processor with yogurt and honey. Chill for two hours.
Whip cream with lavender and sugar. Serve as garnish on the chilled berry soup.