It’s that time of year again, when families and friends gather round for warm holiday celebrations, raising a glass and enjoying their favourite seasonal dishes, like roast turkey, mince pie, brisket, potato latkas, eggnog and octopus.
Octopus?
Not everyone celebrates the holidays the same way. While people love the traditional foods of Christmas and Hanukkah, many also have special “must cook” holiday recipes that you may not find on other tables.
We talked to four Canadian chefs with new cookbooks this season about their favourite non-traditional holiday recipes.
Polpo in umido (stewed octopus)From David Rocco’s book, David Rocco’s Dolce Vita
David Rocco’s book, Dolce Vita David Rocco is known for his TV shows Avventura and David Rocco’s Dolce Vita, which find him exploring the Italian boot looking for authentic cuisine. One Italian dish close to Rocco’s heart that he makes every holiday season is stewed octopus, or Polpo in Umido.
“Christmas Eve dinner for us is a huge buffet of 10 or 15 fish dishes,” Rocco says. “It’s an Italian tradition and octopus is always part of that for us. It may seem like an exotic dish to non-Italians, but it’s quite common for Italians, especially in the south.”
Rocco grew up in Toronto, but his family travelled to Italy often.
“We’d spend a couple of months each summer near Naples,” he says, “but we’d always spend Christmas in Toronto. When I was growing up, my mother braised her octopus in tomato sauce. I was always very fond of it, though all my Anglo friends thought it was disgusting.”
The recipe for stewed octopus in his new book, David Rocco’s Dolce Vita, uses the octopus’s own juices, along with a few cherry tomatoes, to braise the meat until it is deliciously tender.
“This dish really symbolizes family and Christmas for me,” he says. “I enjoy making it because it is so simple.”
The Recipe Want to make it yourself? Read the full recipe for David Rocco’s Polpo in umido (stewed octopus). Terrine of foie grasFrom Jennifer McLagan’s book, Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient
Jennifer McLagan’s book, Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient “I’m in Paris eating as much fat as I can get my hands on,” Jennifer McLagan laughs over the phone.
McLagan’s new cookbook, Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes, is a celebration of animal fats such as butter, lard and chicken skin, which she argues are not only delicious but also extremely healthy.
But who really cares about healthy during the holidays, right?
‘Tis the season for decadence and there is little more decadent than foie gras.
“There would be lots of angst in our household if I didn’t make terrine of foie gras at Christmas,” says McLagan, whose first book, Bones, won a James Beard Award. She and her husband live in Toronto but they also have an apartment in Paris, and that’s where the tradition started.
“We’ve come here a few times for the holidays,” she says, “and everyone here eats foie gras at Christmas.”
McLagan’s terrine recipe in Fat is based on one she ate in the early 1990s at renowned French chef Joel Robuchon’s Paris restaurant Jamin.
“I serve it before the goose,” she says, “sliced as an appetizer with a little Fleur de Sel, some toasted bread and a sweet wine, like a Bonnezeaux from the Loire Valley.”
For best results, she advises, make it a few days in advance. “The rich flavours really come together about four days after it’s made.”
The Recipe Aunt Reba’s Oatmeal CookiesFrom Bonnie Stern’s book, Friday Night Dinners
Author Bonnie Stern’s book, Friday Night Dinners “If you talk to anyone who is Jewish, they’d never tell you oatmeal cookies are a traditional Hanukkah food,” says Bonnie Stern. “Traditional food for Hanukkah is potato pancakes, maybe brisket, blintzes, rugala, and anything with cheese.”
But Stern also makes oatmeal cookies because of her Aunt Reba.
Stern, who lives in Toronto, comes from a very large family. “My mother has seven sisters and three brothers,” she says. “Aunt Reba was the eldest, my mother tenth. Every year at Hanukkah we have a big family party with about 100 people. Aunt Reba always brought oatmeal cookies.”
Stern’s new book, Friday Night Dinners, is a collection of recipes she has served over the past 26 years to family and friends on Friday nights to welcome Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest. She insists that her Aunt Reba’s recipe, included in the book, makes the “best oatmeal cookies ever.”
“She put a little pure almond extract in them,” says Stern. “They’re very flat and crisp, almost like an oatmeal shortbread.”
Today, Stern’s nieces and nephews make these cookies for their own family gatherings.
“Aunt Reba died about 20 years ago,” says Stern, “but when we make these oatmeal cookies, it is like she is here with us.”
The Recipe Chocolate bourbon pecan pieFrom Sarah Kramer’s book, Vegan à Go-Go! A Cookbook & Survival Manual for Vegans on the Road
Vegan cookbook author Sarah Kramer’s Vegan a Go-Go It doesn’t get much more non-traditional than vegan cookbook author Sarah Kramer.
“About 10 years ago, my husband and I opted out of all holidays except birthdays,” says Kramer. “Every year I would go crazy buying gifts for people who didn’t really need them. Eventually I just got so tired of the whole thing.”
Kramer, who lives in Victoria, B.C., is the author of Vegan à Go-Go! A Cookbook & Survival Manual for Vegans on the Road, which is a “best-of” compilation of recipes from her first three vegan cookbooks, along with 20 new recipes.
“A vegan is someone who doesn’t eat or use any animal products,” she says. “It’s not just about food. I don’t wear any leather or wool and I only use makeup and cleaning products that aren’t tested on animals.”
The new pocket-sized volume is designed to help vegans overcome cooking challenges while travelling. “These are recipes for surviving that visit to your family who live in Meat-ville,” she writes.
Of course, just because Kramer leads an alternative lifestyle doesn’t mean she’s a party pooper.
“On New Year’s Eve, we usually get together with some close friends and everyone brings some food,” she says. “I always make chocolate bourbon pecan pie because it is so decadent. Everyone in the room starts moaning when they eat it, so we dubbed it ‘orgasm pie.’ “
To make the pie vegan, Kramer uses vegetable shortening for the crust, and banana instead of eggs as a binder for the filling.
“Every day is a chance to be kind to your friends and family,” says Kramer. “I don’t need a specific invented holiday to do that.”
The Recipe Want to make it yourself? Read Sarah Kramer’s full recipe for her Chocolate bourbon pecan pie, along with recipes for vegan egg replacers, milk alternatives, icing and a basic flakey pie crust.
Recipes reprinted with permission of the authors and publishers.
Shaun Smith is a Canadian freelance writer.