MARK DeWOLF: 7 side dishes for your holiday feast
The time is nigh. Christmas is two days away. It’s time for the last-minute grocery store trip, and your final opportunity to infuse a little spice into your holiday feast.
I love the classic flavors of a simple roast turkey, stuffing, creamy mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, but the accompanying vegetables could do with a little spicy flare.
Sweet potatoes can become a mélange of sweet, spicy and salty flavors with my recipe for smoky sweet potatoes with brussels sprouts and blue cheese.
MARK DeWOLF: Tips for a budget-friendly holiday dinner
With the holiday season in full swing, it’s time to think about serving up a holiday dinner.
While we are exiting some of the economic uncertainty of the pandemic, many of us are still working on trimmed down budgets. Although Christmas dinner is a time to celebrate our good fortune, it’s possible to do so without spending a fortune.
I know those words – Christmas and budget – rarely go together. However, there are some tips to keeping your food and drink costs online. All it takes is a willingness to not waste food and a little creativity.
CHEF ILONA DANIEL: Struffoli is a fun Christmas classic from Naples
As I got older, I on occasion would get to pick our new recipe for the holiday season and the following recipe is one of these such recipes. Struffoli are cookies coming from Naples and are cooked by frying dainty, marble-sized dough balls. These deep-fried cookies are covered with an orange-honey cookie dunk and served garnished with a smattering of rainbow sprinkles. These cookies freeze well up to three months.
Get the ‘magical feeling’ of Christmas through food: East Coast bloggers share their thoughts on holiday food
The magic of the holiday season is made, not guaranteed, and it is all the more wonderful for that. For proof, look no further than food.
The cheeseballs and cinnamon buns and sugar cookies. Cured meats and cheeses and mustard pickles. Coconut balls and fudge and dips. All the good things we surround ourselves with in December.
But what are Atlantic Canadians looking for most this holiday season? Some bloggers from the East Coast offer up their insight.
MARK DeWOLF: Company’s coming? Here are some holiday recipes that are easy to make
During the holiday season, we all have those unexpected get-togethers, whether it’s your cousins who suddenly decide after a five-year absence they are popping over, or you suddenly decide to have an impromptu neighbor party.
It happens. Being prepared is as simple as having some frozen, homemade fare ready in the freezer and some drinks on hand for impromptu entertaining.
Christmas glazed ham with clementines and cloves from Sea & Shore
“It’s one of those great things for unexpected guests,” Cornwall, UK-based chef Emily Scott says of her Christmas glazed ham. Thinly sliced and stuffed in a sandwich, the recipe found in her cookbook Sea & Shore: Recipes and Stories from a Kitchen in Cornwall also satisfies a holiday hunger for leftovers.
“There’s something always really good about leftovers. When you’ve eaten lunch, and then you can’t believe that anyone’s saying, ‘Actually I’m a bit hungry, I could eat a ham or turkey sandwich.’”
Studded with cloves and glazed with a mixture of Dijon mustard, brown sugar, orange juice, clementine zest and ketchup, Scott’s recipe is based on one from her mother’s repertoire. There may be plenty of other baked ham recipes out there, she says, but this is the one she’s always turned to.
‘Traditions mean more at Christmas’: Get creative in the kitchen and build a gingerbread house this season
Tracing its roots to the fictional story of Hansel and Gretel, building a gingerbread house remains a popular holiday tradition for many families.
According to the website Best Gingerbread Houses, the term ‘gingerbread’ is an old French word that actually means “preserved ginger.” The website notes the ancient Chinese discovered
ginger helped preserve both flour and meat and was baked into crisps, which eventually became cookies in Western Europe.
MARK DeWOLF: Mix up some cocktails for the holiday season
It’s that time again. As we near December its time to think about stocking your holiday bar.
First and foremost, be thoughtful. Think about your guests and their preferred tastes. As for how much should you buy? This naturally depends on how many people you will be serving, but here’s a general guide: For a cocktail party, be prepared for two to three drinks per person (3 to 4 ½ ounces). A standard 750-ml bottle of spirits contains 26 ounces, enough for 6 to 8 people.
Instead of buying the gamut of spirit options, I suggest having a white spirit (vodka or gin) and a brown spirit such as whiskey or rum on hand. From there it’s about having some essential mixes, garnishes and cocktail tools on hand to transform your holiday get together into a cocktail soirée.
A Cape Breton family’s Christmas tradition: Grammie’s 100-year-old cherry cake still beloved part of holidays
There are many special moments building up to Christmas Day, but the moment family members finally settle around the table to enjoy each other’s company and plenty of good food might be the most meaningful of them all.
At least, that’s the case for Marilyn Albracht and her family, who are already planning to have a taste of a Cape Breton family tradition at their table this year even though they’ll be far from the island this Christmas.
For Albracht, it’s the century-old cherry cake recipe passed down from her grandmother, Elmira Turner, that creates the sweetest moments for the holiday she treasures the most.
GABBY PEYTON: As visions of cereal treats danced in their heads
At a dinner party in the before times, I served up cereal treats made with Trix and Reese’s Puffs cereal that incited such delight and spirited debate about everyone’s favorite childhood cereal, I knew I had a hit on my hands.
The trick with this recipe is to have more marshmallows than cereal and adding a touch of vanilla extract and salt to even out the sweet and salty. This recipe allows for those not into baking to experiment with their favorite sugary cereal or salty potato chip and offer up a whimsical contribution to the next (covid-friendly) social event.
Meringue roulade with clementine curd, cream and passion fruit from Sea & Shore
Dusted with icing sugar and decorated with rosemary springs, Emily Scott’s meringue roulade makes for a light-as-air finish to a festive meal. She spreads the meringue with clementine curd, whipped cream and fresh passion fruit before rolling it up.
To her, the tart, tropical fruit combined with citrus encapsulates the flavors of the season. “Passion fruits are jewel-like and go with Christmas perfectly. And obviously the clementine — the orange curd that’s in there — is really nice,” says the Cornwall, UK-based chef, whose recipe is found in her cookbook Sea & Shore: Recipes and Stories from a Kitchen in Cornwall.
FOLLOW A FOODIE: At home for the holidays
Our celebrations will be smaller this year, but we can still enjoy many holiday traditions. In my home, my mom’s tourtière was always served on Christmas Eve. It’s hard to imagine a holiday season without the kitchen filling with the fragrant scents of this Acadian favourite. While we have no Acadian cultural heritage in our family, this regional dish has become a loving mainstay of our holiday season, as it has for many others.
ERIN SULLEY: No-bake Christmas cheese truffles
Good bye holiday cheese ball and hello Christmas cheese truffles. The holidays are fast approaching, which means it’s not just time to deck the halls and the outdoor lights — it’s also time to start making some holiday foodie cheer, to alleviate the stress of last minute baking or cooking this Christmas season. It might not take it all away but pre-planning is my jam.
MARK DeWOLF: Company’s coming? Here are some holiday recipes that are easy to make
During the holiday season, we all have those unexpected get-togethers, whether it’s your cousins who suddenly decide after a five-year absence they are popping over, or you suddenly decide to have an impromptu neighbor party.
It happens. Being prepared is as simple as having some frozen, homemade fare ready in the freezer and some drinks on hand for impromptu entertaining.
Peppermint bark and honeycomb make great edible gifts
When it comes to holiday gift-giving, it really is the thought that matters most. I’ve found something made with love is pretty much the best gift there is (next to diamonds, of course). Why not surprise dear friends and family with edible gifts, created in your own kitchen? Cookies and bars all wrapped up in pretty tins are always a good idea, but I encourage switching things up this year with double chocolate peppermint bark and homemade honeycomb. These sweet things are fun to make and look so pretty wrapped up with ribbons and bows. Be sure to set some aside for your indulgence as well.
