Your browser (Internet Explorer 7 or lower) is out of date. It has known security flaws and may not display all features of this and other websites. Learn how to update your browser.
I had the thrill of traveling France and Italy over the Holidays in the early part of this decade. I spent almost a month exploring this part of Europe (my first time “overseas”) and eating my way through the old world.
I started the trip in Firenze (Florence) and remember the first night I spent there vividly. Small market streets had ceilings of white lights draped between buildings guiding our way through wet winter streets. Many were dressed like they were forging through the bitter arctic – I remember feeling warm as the temperature was well over freezing. Perspective is a funny thing. Read more
Turkey is a traditional feast for us on the Holidays. One of my favourite parts of the meal is the stuffing – ours is a combination of bread that we cube and dry for a few days, sausage meat and a few other tasties. It could be a meal in its own right.
My first tip for stuffing is yet another low-effort and wait task. By the time our family descends on our home banquet they will be sharing food that we have easily prepared in weeks and months leading up to the meal. All of this preparation actually excites me as I go – it does not feel like a chore. Read more
This is a last minute addition to the Holiday feasts – a new friend at work shared a holiday tradition he holds dear with me yesterday and it simply sounded so good that we had to give it a whirl.
Get yourself a piece of Stilton cheese
Poke holes in it with a skewer. Do not poke all the way through.
Pour port onto the surface until it is absorbed. Continue to do so until the cheese will take no more (he says he puts up to 2 ounces in a fairly typical piece). You are not trying to have the cheese swimming in port – you are trying to drown it from the inside.
I have wanted to infuse vodka with fruit for Christmas for years – and never got around to it. Now that I have started the process I feel silly for not doing it sooner – it was all of 10 minutes work.
I technically started cooking our Christmas dinner on October 28th with the Lemon Confit project. The rinds from those lemons will form a key part of our stuffing and I love that there has been a long process of curing to transform groceries into something we cannot readily purchase. I love the romance of it all…
There will be many ingredients served over the Holidays that are simply not at the market. Harvest fresh preserves, infused booze, homemade bread, samples of moose (and maybe deer). Many of these things simply take time to transform from ordinary to extraordinary and while much of our bounty was prepared months ago there is still time for you to create your own specialty items for the end of the month. Today and tomorrow’s post will present two such options.
The cold has swept across Toronto this week. We have had our first snow, storm and tough driving. What felt like an eternal fall has instantly turned a new leaf and is a bitter winter. It must be Holiday season!
Christmas, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year, Ashura, the Julian New Year and more are all significant occasions marked in the next 6 weeks by many people. Some are celebrations of faith and others are simply a time to celebrate with friends and family. December means Christmas to me and it’s one of my most favourite times of year!
Between tomorrow and December 26th we will share some of our Holiday traditions (including some new ones) for you to consider. Most will be small tips on little twists/ tricks that we do to make our Holiday meals extra special. We’ll talk about food that can get the entire family involved as well as food that is for adults only. We’ll share our tasty tricks and traditions that are (for the most part) easily adaptable into existing recipes and plans.
There will be raisins, cranberries, homemade duck Prosciutto, infused booze, an ingredient I keep on hand to bail out any last-minute holiday meal and, of course, chestnuts. Boxing Day will feature a special post dedicated to making better stocks with leftovers.
In the meantime, if you’re looking to get a start on Holiday tips, take a peak back at our post on how to make your own Turkey gravy from scratch. Despite what the commercials say, it really is far better (and is more affordable) than the packaged stuff. You could also give slow roasted cherry tomatoes a try – unbelievable tomato taste that can be prepped in advance and promotes packaged winter tomatoes from afar to a star on the table.
Cheap Tuesday Gourmet will continue on Tuesdays (we even have a special recipe planned for the 29th which could easily be made for New Years) and plans for a whole series of posts related to preserving for the first half of January.
