• averythingcooks on April 06, 2021

  This is a great little cookbook from the BC restaurant chain that started in 1928 in Vancouver. For those in the "know" re: White Spot.....there are lots of recipes here to recognize BUT sadly - not the fiercely guarded, famous Triple-O burger sauce. I read an article from the National Post where the company president explained that they considered putting an envelope inside the back cover labelled "Triple-O secret sauce recipe". When opened, you were to find a card that read "Are you kidding??" I'm a bit sad they didn't follow through with that idea. The internet is full of "copycat" attempts but none really capture the taste customers rave about.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Giardino omelette

  • averythingcooks on July 14, 2023

    I came here for the arrabbiata sauce recipe that they also use for pizza. It has a generous amt of onion & garlic and I did have a heavier hand with the fresh basil. For the "angry", I used ground Calabrian chiles (in place of red pepper flakes) + the tabasco & my cayenne sauce to taste. I felt it was improved by some passata added at the end and it was very good on last night's pizza.

• Bruschetta pizza

  • averythingcooks on June 05, 2022

    This called for pre-baked pizza crusts so I made a 1/2 recipe of Barefoot Contessa dough, formed 2 rough ovals brushed with garlic oil & baked them for 6 minutes at 450. The crusts are then topped with mozzarella & crisped bacon followed by a delicious bruschetta mixture (including roasted peppers, 2 types of tomatoes, balsamic, red onions & fresh basil). We also added feta to top it all. A last rip in the oven to bubble everything up & we had a great accompaniment for our dinner soup.

• Pollo basilico pizza

  • averythingcooks on November 28, 2022

    This was the inspiration for a dinner idea as I already had pesto & an arrabbiata style pizza sauce in my freezer. I made my own dough and followed the assembly instructions/cooking instructions given here. I cut this in 1/2 to make 2 "personal" sized pizzas and the of 2 us actually just split 1 of them - so great lunches on deck for today! This was a great way to use up a mix of sweet pepper colours & 1 chicken breast to serve dinner for 2.

• Caprese chicken salad

  • averythingcooks on July 08, 2024

    I made this delicious basil vinaigrette for a slightly different dinner salad (chicken, hard boiled eggs & croutons over mixed greens with various veg). This is a great use of garden basil but like many restaurant recipes, scaling to home kitchens results in some really small (ie annoying?) measurements. Granted I did make 1/2 (so..for example, 1/8 tsp of fresh lemon juice) but really should have made the full amount as the 2 of us were scraping the little jar to get it all.

• Caramelized Dijon onion burger

  • averythingcooks on September 24, 2024

    The highlight here is the big flavour topper - onions caramelized in grainy Dijon with added malt vinegar, hot sauce & honey. We turned these burgers into 4 x 2 oz sliders with 8 oz grd beef to which I did add some extras (garlic, Lea & Perrins, fresh bread crumbs + a splash of cream). We used the fontina called for and replaced the back bacon with a crisped / chopped regular slice. A fun little dinner with a simple salad.

• Mediterranean chicken burger

  • averythingcooks on September 06, 2023

    With a dinner salad that included grilled chicken on the menu, I came here specifically for the lemon grilling sauce. We started the chicken in the sous vide & finished it on the BBQ with this flavourful sauce. I replaced the dried herbs with a deluxe Italian seasoning that has lots of extras like aleppo pepper & fennel which worked really well here. This makes a sensible amt (1/2 recipe = perfect for 2 boneless skinless breasts) and I would make this sauce again...and I will make this grilled chicken sandwich - the picture looks great.

• "What's-in-the-sauce?" spaghetti marinara & meatballs

  • averythingcooks on November 27, 2023

    I made this marinara for some meatball parm sliders from a different book and we both enjoyed it. For the dried herbs, I used a equal measure of a "deluxe" Italian seasoning blend that has lots of added ingredients (eg fennel, roasted red pepper flakes, marjoram) and because it asks for grated parmesan to be added at the end, I also threw a rind into the simmer.

  • averythingcooks on July 27, 2024

    I have already made (and commented on) the marinara but came back for the meatballs. A 1/2 recipe means 9 oz of meat so I used 4 each of beef & pork and added a small chunk of mild Italian sausage meat. I like the use of oats, dried marjoram & parmesan and a quick test fry confirmed that these are very good as written.

• Bishop's chicken curry

  • averythingcooks on June 05, 2022

    This is a lovely little curry! I made the sauce early in the day and it is full of warming spices, a good mix of aromatics and both coconut milk & heavy cream. I used a minced fresh red chili in place of the dried and some excess fire roasted tomatoes in place of pureed. The chicken & veg went in later; in addition to the mix of peppers called for, I added frozen butternut squash cubes & chopped hot pickled peppers, used frozen peas in place of snap and stirred in both baby spinach & Thai basil to finish. A definite repeat.

• Chicken pot pie

  • averythingcooks on December 13, 2022

    This is a classic chicken pot pie with puff pastry. It has both thigh & breast meat, lots of fresh herbs and you can taste the sherry. However, I do have 2 small issues. The ingredient list / instructions are very specific about everything EXCEPT it is never specified anywhere that you are to cut up the chicken pieces (not a problem for me but could confuse a novice cook!). Also, I felt it was too thick so I added more broth slowly, whisking until I got it to a better consistency. Otherwise, this was REALLY good.