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Cooking Breakfast

Brunch Life

Comfort Classics and More for the Best Meal of the Day: A Cookbook

by (author) Matt Basile & Kyla Zanardi

Publisher
Penguin Group Canada
Initial publish date
Sep 2018
Category
Breakfast, Brunch, General
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780735233911
    Publish Date
    Sep 2018
    List Price
    $29.95

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Description

Shortlisted for the 2019 Taste Canada Awards - Single-Subject Cookbooks
2019 Gourmand Cookbook Awards National Winner, Street Food Cookbook and Breakfast Cookbook
For lazy days off or mid-week cravings, Brunch Life brings that bigger-than-brunch restaurant experience home with mouth-watering recipes that will ensure every day gets off to a great start.

Leisurely weekend brunches have become the most anticipated meal of the week, and no two people know that better than Matt Basile and Kyla Zanardi. With their token humour, Matt and Kyla share their passion for this midday spread and showcase indulgent and creative takes on their favourite dishes. Sometimes, brunch is a comforting routine, where simple ingredients are whipped into fuss-free OG Buttermilk Pancakes, a Mascarpone Soft Scramble, or Good ol' Hash Browns. Then there are irresistible dishes taken to a whole new level, like Coconut Fried Chicken and Pineapple Waffles, S'mores Pancakes, and Family-Style Chimichurri Steak and Egg Tacos. Incredibly satisfying, easy to prepare, and perfect to share, these recipes will be dished out and devoured by friends and family.
   Whether you're hankering for a nostalgic bite--think Western Omelette Grilled Cheese--or looking for something on the lighter side, like Hearty Granola with Grilled Peaches, or you need a boozy drink to cap it all off (perhaps an Aperol Spritz Mimosa), Brunch Life has something for everyone. More than just food, brunch is also a culture. Featured throughout, Matt and Kyla share their travel adventures in six cities across North America--San Francisco, New York, Nashville, Seattle, Vancouver, and Toronto--and explore how this epic meal is enjoyed far and wide. Brimming with over 70 delectable recipes and gorgeous photography, it's time to serve up a fresh take on this favourite weekend tradition that will inspire you to gather around your table any chance you get.

About the authors

 MATT BASILE is the creator of the Toronto-based street-food brand Fidel Gastro’s which originated as a pop-up selling street food in underground markets across the city. Basile operates one of Canada’s most recognizable food trucks and a street-food inspired cicchetti bar called Lisa Marie, and he is the host of the reality TV show Rebel Without a Kitchen. Basile has teamed up with his partner in life and business, Kyla Zanardi who is the book’s photographer. The two have spent their lives together making fun food and photographing it.

 

Matt Basile's profile page

Kyla Zanardi's profile page

Awards

  • Short-listed, Gourmand World Cookbook Award
  • Short-listed, Taste Canada Awards - Single-Subject Cookbook

Excerpt: Brunch Life: Comfort Classics and More for the Best Meal of the Day: A Cookbook (by (author) Matt Basile & Kyla Zanardi)

 
INTRODUCTION

BREAKFAST IS A MEAL, BUT BRUNCH IS A CULTURE. It’s talked about, craved, and lined up around the block for. People will sit in bed and scroll through Instagram until a brunch picture so over-the-top egg-oozy, sugar-rush-inducing, and completely over-baconed pops up and has enough suggestive smell and taste powers to get them out of bed. Have you ever heard someone talk about their favourite brunch spot? It’s almost a political debate—passion and conviction for all things covered in cheese, baked, then fried, and finally topped with a sunny-side-up egg. Brunch is something people get behind and believe in. It’s habitual, it’s comforting, and it has the power to let you indulge, allowing you to be you in the most liberating kind of way. You want to crush a bacon doughnut and two mimosas and wear track pants? Sure, why not! It’s brunch, after all. So much more than just toast, or juice, or the godforsaken protein bar. It’s happiness on a plate.
 
About seven years ago, before Ky and I started the Fidel Gastro’s food truck or opened up Lisa Marie, I used to have this thing called a weekend. It was glorious, from what I remember. I rarely made plans ahead of time, but one thing was always set in stone: Sunday brunch. For the better part of a year, I would wake up every Sunday and walk on over to my local brunch spot in Toronto, The Stockyards. I would often go alone, sit at the bar, and order a cup of coffee, a basil lemonade, a bacon doughnut, and fried chicken and waffles. It was a two-hour window in my week that was reserved for me. I didn’t have to say much to anyone. I could just shut out the world while I sat and ate. It didn’t matter how long I waited or how long it took me to finish. It was about being immersed in my brunch life.
 
Monday to Friday I sat in a cubicle watching the sands of time fall very, very slowly. No matter what I had to deal with during the week, I knew that I had brunch to look forward to. It’s practically all I talked about at work. We would have Monday morning status meetings and my turn would come. “Matt, what did you get up to this weekend?” The flurry of emotions this question unleashed. “Oh man oh man oh man, I had chicken and waffles for the first time ever. You mix hot sauce in the maple syrup and melted butter and you just cover it all and . . .” You get the idea. I took over the meeting with my brunch excitement, trying to get people to understand how much I loved brunch, trying to get them to share my excitement. I know this may seem pretty deep for a bacon doughnut, but it’s true. Brunch became my way of understanding myself better, and then bringing people who were equally excited into that world.
 
When we opened our restaurant, Lisa Marie, we made sure to have a brunch that really captured my enthusiasm for this favourite meal. We wanted a menu that made people say, “What the fudge?” Five years later, we have a lineup every weekend, and I still get a rush from working the line in the kitchen. The only thing that makes me happier than waiting to eat this meal is watching a full restaurant of people eat our brunch.
 
Brunch Life brings together amazing brunch stories and recipes in one place. There are chapters completely devoted to eggs Benedict (pages 50–66) and chicken and waffles (pages 78–95). Whether you want to learn how to make OG Hollandaise (see page 50), how to jack up a dish with chimichurri sauce (see page 12), or how to whip up the crispiest fried chicken (page 76), it’s all here. We have fun with all things bacon, indulge in a crap-ton of over-the-top pancakes (pages 126–146), and of course there’s everyone’s favourite brunch buddy, booze (pages 204–216). But brunch isn’t just a blanket word for eating breakfast in the afternoon. It’s a culture that’s embraced differently everywhere you go. Throughout the book we’ve homed in on specific brunch cultures embraced by such cities as Toronto, Nashville, and San Francisco.
 
Page after page, Brunch Life aims to be just that—a showcase for everything and anything that makes brunch culture, a window into a food phenom that is all-consuming and radiant with fanfare. It’s about the people who make it and the people who eat it. It’s the eggs on your plate and the story of the chicken that made them possible as well as the rustic sourdough toast casually placed next to them and the story of the twelve-hour labour of love that went into baking it perfectly. It’s being okay with waiting in line and finding hidden gems in your city. It’s about snapping and filters and double tapping and tagging and all the other things cool kids do nowadays to let you know that brunch just happened. It’s about being epic, being happy, doing it solo, or sharing that moment with others.
 
Brunch isn’t just a meal—it’s a way of life.

Editorial Reviews

"Need a reason to get out of bed in the morning? With this tasty book in hand you won’t be able to get to sleep as you imagine all the fun flavours ahead. You might as well just stay up late and get cooking!" —Michael Smith, bestselling author of Real Food, Real Good

"Brunch Life is sheer happiness on every page! Beautifully written and photographed, it will inspire you to prepare its delicious recipes, and create your own brunch memories with your family and friends, any day of the week! Bravi Matt and Kyla!" —David Rocco, Chef, TV Star, and Creator of the Dolce Vita Series

"Brunch Life serves up the best parts of brunch minus the hangover, the hour-long line up and the sassy waiter who refuses to make eye contact. Matt and Kyla have created a book full of delicious recipes, charming stories and mouthwatering photography. You Gotta Read This!" —John Catucci, host of You Gotta Eat Here!

"Matt's love for brunch is so compelling that it's impossible not to want to dive right into these dishes. His signature passion and joie de vivre make each page a celebration of good food and good friends." —Claire Tansey, author of Uncomplicated

"Brunch Life explores the culinary world in which the egg comes first. Not only is this book filled with creative takes on brunch favorites, but Matt and Kyla show us that brunch has become more than a time to eat; it is now part of our culture, when loved ones come together to share stories, connect and feel a part of a community." —Sarah Schneider, restaurateur and owner of Egg Shop restaurant in New York City

"Brunch Life is a beautiful compilation of modern food that incites readers to keep coming back to it.” —Trendhunter

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