It’s the time of year when we start thinking about family. For some of us, this means a warm, happy feeling …. let’s follow that!

Growing up Claire would visit her Grandma in Hamilton, Ontario and at some point they’d end up making these cookies.

Based on a wartime recipe, clipped off the back of a cereal box in post-war London, these cookies melt in your mouth and somehow give you that warm feeling of family.

You want that, right?

Here’s how they’re made:

You’ll need:

• 4 cups of all-purpose flour
• 5 oz of white sugar
• 3 packets of vanilla sugar (if you can’t find this, letting a vanilla bean sit in white sugar for a few days will create vanilla sugar)
• 1 package of Crisco
• 2 tsp of baking powder
• 1 cup of chocolate chips (or more if you like!)
• 4 eggs
• candied cherries (for garnish)

Add flour to the mixing bowl

White sugar!

Baking powder.

Here’s the vanilla sugar we mentioned.

Add that to the mix.

Blend all those ingredients together.

While that’s mixing, add the chocolate chips!

Once that’s done, turn off the mixer.

Slice the Crisco into small pieces.

Now add that to the mixing bowl.

Mix until the Crisco is blended with the dry ingredients. It will still be lumpy, don’t worry!

Add the eggs!

Again, we’re mixing until it’s blended.

The dough should still be a bit lumpy, but look like ice cream. (Doesn’t this look like chocolate chip ice cream?)

Let the dough chill for a few hours in the fridge OR you can roll it into large balls, wrap them in wax paper, and put them in the freezer to use at a later date.

We’re gonna make them now!

Take a small amount of dough. Roll it in your hands and place it on a cookie sheet. Flatten the ball into a round cookie shape

Repeat this step! If you have children or grandchildren, you have a workforce to help you out at this point, go for it!

Go get those very sticky candied cherries and cut them into pieces.

Place the cherries in the centre of each cookie. You can obviously play around here. If you have a child work force, this may be a good time to let them get creative!

Into the oven at 350F for approximately 12 minutes. Watch for the cookies to start to get golden around the edges and take them out (these cookies do not get brown … unless you burn them).

And there you have “Grandma” Cookies! Serve them with a nice cup of milky tea or a cold glass of milk. Perfect to leave out for Santa Christmas Eve!

Bon Apetit!

So, Thanksgiving is upon us … if we’re American. Up here in Canada we also have Thanksgiving, but it’s in mid-October. We call THIS holiday “American Thanksgiving”. We celebrate it by watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and some NFL football during our lunch break at work!

In honour of our American friends, we made a holiday classic, Pumpkin Pie!

For our recipe, you’ll need the following:

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp orange zest
• 1/2 cup of heavy cream
• medium-small size sugar pumpkin (or pie pumpkin)
• 2 pie crusts (yup, this makes 2 pies!)

Cut your pumpkin in half.

Clean out the halves and save the seeds for roasting! (I’ll give you a quick recipe for this later, for now, keep focused on that pie!)

Roast your pumpkin for approximately and hour at 350F, until a fork can pierce them with ease.

The pumpkin should be easy to remove at this point with a spoon. I’d suggest waiting a little while for the pumpkin to cool a bit, as this can be really hot after an hour of roasting! Set the pumpkin flesh aside  for now.

Add 2 eggs to the bowl and just the yolk of the third.

Mix in the brown sugar, white sugar, salt and spices.

Add the orange zest and continue to mix until smooth.

Now add that pumpkin!

While mixing pour in the cream … Yes, in case you were wondering, that is Pippi in the background of the lovely mixing GIF above … she’s always helping!

Keep mixing until you have gotten the smoothness you want. We keep it a little lumpy for a more rustic-style pie (shows off how homemade your pie is to your guests!)

Add your pie filling to a prepared crust. You’ll have enough to make two pies, so one to keep and one to bring to the office and impress your coworkers … or, maybe two pies to keep (who am I to judge you?)

Bake in the oven at 425F for 15 minutes, then reduce to 350F for 45 minutes or until a knife pressed into the pie comes out clean. I have bamboo skewers that are great for testing a pie without causing too much noticeable damage!

Let your pie cool for a few hours. It will have risen in the oven, don’t worry, it won’t stay all puffy

Now cut yourself a slice and serve it with some vanilla whipped cream!

There you have it! Pumpkin Pie!

Bon Apetit!

Of the many way there are to prepare coffee, one of my favourites is Turkish Coffee. Prepared on a stovetop, this full bodied, flavourful coffee warms you up and wakes you up!

This is what you need

You’ll need:

• dark roast coffee beans
• grinder
• small pot
• cardamom (optional, often used during Ramadan)

If adding cardamom, you’ll need to shell the pods

The grinder you see above actually belonged to Claire’s great grandparents! It’s from circa 1915 in Syria. This grinder as gone from Syria to Lebanon to England to Hamilton, Ontario and now resides in Montreal, Quebec!

Her grandmother told stories about how her and her brothers would have to sit and take turns grinding coffee when guests were coming over!

Okay, you’re probably looking at these photos and saying “I don’t have a grinder like that!”.  You just need beans ground at the finest setting (most grinders have a ‘turkish’ setting). It is almost a powder when ground.

Add beans to grinder … You can also add the cardamom at this point if you wish. (make sure you have removed the outer shell!)

Grind, grind, grind!

Pour grinds into pot. Now, add the water. You’ll want to make enough for a few cups, but remember that Turkish Coffee is served in small cups (you aren’t going to have a Grande Turkish Coffee … well, not if you want to sleep anytime in the next week!)

If you are using pre-ground coffee, you can add ground cardamom at this point to your grounds.

Bring pot to just under a boil on your stovetop.

Watch closely or pot will boil over! You want to make sure to keep it from boiling so you don’t ‘break the crema’ on top.

Pour a little into each cup and return it to the stove, repeating the step above. Continue this until the cups are full. Your kitchen should smell like coffee by now!

I don’t tend to add anything to Turkish Coffee, but you always can add sugar or cream (add before you pour the coffee). The cardamom will act as a natural sweetener.

Serve with lovely treats. Again, we got these lovely treats at Adonis Market in Montreal.

There you have it, Turkish Coffee!

Bon apetit!

It came from an Italian American tradition. On Sunday, after church, all the grandmas would spend the afternoon preparing a big meal for the family, a “Sunday Gravy”. As I am neither Italian nor American, please be lenient on my take on this classic.

So, what did I use?

For today’s meal (it will be slightly different each time):

• 5 hot Italian sausages
• 5 mild Italian sausages
• 3 pork shanks (osso bouco style)
• 2 lb pork roast
• 2 cans of diced tomatoes
• 1 Spanish onion
• 1 kg of rigatoni (sometimes I use a penne)

Usually I will have meatballs as well, but today, since I wasn’t making it for a large group, I didn’t add them. Many people will say meatballs are mandatory, but I always encourage you to improvise!

The meats you choose are up to you. I’ve used lamb neck, veal ribs, beef short ribs … basically, stuff with a bone is good. Also, since it’s going to simmer for many hours, don’t get expensive cuts of meat. Anything becomes tender after that amount of time.

Sunday Gravy is really just a type of braise. Here’s how it’s done:

Add some olive oil to a large pot (and trust me, you want something large. After the meat is added you’ll be surprised how much of the pot is full).

Grab your meat! (Sorry vegetarian pals, this one is gonna be meaty).

Brown the meat in the pot.

Once it’s all done, remove the meat to a separate dish.

Good ol’ plate of meat!

Chop up your onion.

Add that to the pot with some garlic and cook them until they start to get clear. Make sure they’re getting all the little brown bits of the meat mixed in!

Add the cans of tomatoes.

Add some oregano and  stir!

Time to put the meat back!

You may have noticed I did not cut up the pork roast. If you get a well marbled piece of meat it’s going to basically fall apart in the hours of simmering ahead so you don’t need to worry!

Make sure to pour in those drippy juices that came off the meat while it sat on the plate … that’s a lot of flavour you’d be losing!

Lovely!

Bring it to a slow boil, then turn the heat down to low. Cover the pot and walk away. This is going to simmer for a minimum of 3 hours! (it’s a recipe for a nice Sunday afternoon … go watch football now!)

Okay, internet magic time … those 3 hours have passed, time to get the pasta ready.

Add your pasta to boiling water. Get this cooked to a nice ‘al dente’.

Now we’re going back to our pot. Looking great, time to remove the meat!

Place the meat on a separate dish.

Is .. is … is that a plate of meat????

Yes it is Pippi … yes it is!

Now, go get that pasta out … I’m sure it’s cooked perfectly by now!

Add that pasta to your sauce!

Now that it’s well mixed, go grab a serving bowl.

Put the pasta in the bowl. A big thing about this meal is it’s for a large group or family! You serve it on big platter, let people take what they want!

Serve it with garlic bread, add a caesar salad … enjoy it! Make this when you have a people over to visit … they may never want to leave!

There you have it, my version of Sunday Gravy!

Bon apetit!

Our friends came back from their honeymoon in Morocco with a fantastic clay tagine for us. A tagine in a type of earthenware cooking pot with a conical lid made to keep heat and moisture in the food as it slowly cooks.

The tagine has been used historically in North Africa, due to it’s unique ability to trap steam and moisture … a very practical thing when you’re living in areas where the water supply is limited

For this recipe we do recommend a tagine, but any deep, oven-proof, dish with a cover can be used!

So, for this recipe you’ll need the following:

• 4 chicken thighs
• 3 carrots
• 1 red onion
• 1 small cauliflower
• 1 lemon
• handful of dried apricots
• spice rub (detailed below)

Spice rub:

• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp pepper
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp ginger
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cloves

Spices are key to North African cooking. Although you can buy spices that are already ground, I’d suggest buying whole spices and grinding them yourself with a mortar and pestle like you see pictured above.

Freshly ground spices have much more flavour and the aromas you’ll get while grinding will give you a greater knowlege of what each spice is adding to the mix.

Spice rub is created by just combining the ingredients and mixing well.

Now, go get those chicken thighs and the spice rub you just made.

Pour the spice rub over the chicken thighs

Rub in the spice rub … why did you think we called it that? Make sure chicken is entirely coated!

Now, coat the bottom of your tagine with olive oil.

Chop the carrots, onion and cauliflower and add them to the tagine.

Place the chicken on top of the chopped vegetables.

Put the dried apricots on top of the chicken thighs.

Slice the lemon and place the slices on top of the chicken thighs as well! If you want you can add a little water or chicken stock to the bottom of the tagine, but it’s optional.

Now, we have to finish preparing the tagine itself!

Brush the inside of the lid with olive oil (make sure to coat everything)

Now your tagine is ready to go into a cold oven. Since the tagine is clay, it must never be placed into a hot oven,

Place the tagine on a baking sheet (to make it easier to take in and out) and put it in the oven. Heat the oven to 325-350F

Let the tagine cook for at least an hour …

And through the magic of the internet and hour has passed and here’s your finished tagine!

I’d recommend you serve it along with some couscous. Here I’ve added some chick peas and fava beans to the couscous.

If you live in the Montreal area, we’ve found the best place to find any ingredients for Middle Eastern/North African cooking is Adonis Market!

There you have our Chicken Tagine!

As always, feel free to make this recipe your own and let us know the results!

Bon apetit!

One Swedish dish that feels very familiar to this Canadian Jew is Gravad Lax. This salmon that is cured in a salt and sugar mix has similarity to my beloved lox. Both are incredibly delicious, but Gravad Lax can be made at home with relative ease!

Okay, let’s see how this is done.

The ingredients:

• fresh salmon filet (try to find one with good marbling … uh, like well striped)
• 100 ml of table salt
• 100 ml of white sugar
• 1 tsp of white pepper
• fresh dill
• gin (optional … heck you know me, it’s my go to option in just about everything!)

Add the salt to the sugar and mix it well!

Add the white pepper to the salt/sugar mixture. Mix it all until it’s a uniform colour.

Coat the salmon is this mixture. Make sure every bit of the salmon is covered. Don’t be afraid to get your hands messy, this is where most of the flavour will come from!

Line the bottom of a large casserole dish or tupperware container with fresh dill.

Place the coated salmon on top of your dill … uh … carpet?

Cover the salmon completely with more fresh dill.

The salmon should be pretty well hidden!

Now, my little trick …

Pour some gin over the entire dish. Don’t soak it, just a splash for flavour.

You can also use vodka or aquavit for this step. It’s optional, you’ll get pretty good Gravad Lax without doing it … but you don’t just want pretty good do ya?

Now your going to cover this and let it sit for 3 days in the fridge!

Once every 24 hours make sure to uncover the salmon and flip it over on to the other side. This will prevent the salmon from curing unevenly. Remember to cover it back up before putting it back into the fridge!

Through the magic of the internet, 3 days have passed! Time to get our salmon out!

Take your salmon and rinse off all the curing spices (that’s the salt, sugar and pepper mix)

Make sure to get both sides!

Slice your salmon into thin slices. Make sure to cut against the grain or the slices will fall apart.

Use a slow sawing motion and push away from the larger piece as you get to the skin. The skin is much tougher than the flesh of the salmon and the knife will stop as you hit the skin. Pushing away will get the flesh to easily lift from the skin (I know, I say it like it’s gonna just happen … don’t worry if it takes a few slices to get the hang of it).

Try your best to get the slices thin and uniform. Hey, this is a Swedish dish, we don’t want any piece outshining any other pieces! (fun socialism joke for all my Swedish family!)

Serve it on hard bread with some mustard sauce!

There you have it, Gravad Lax!

As they say in Sweden … OM NOM NOM!

We like having guests over to our home. Something that always gets people talking are Infused Vodkas.

Sometimes you can infuse them with a theme in mind (as you’ll see later in our Christmas vodka), or maybe to remind you of a special place. We’ve actually infused vodka using young branches from birch trees near our cottage, so every sip reminds us of our times there.

Today, we’ll show you our Creamsicle, Earl Grey Tea and Christmas Vodka Infusions!

This first one is always popular,

The CREAMSICLE vodka infusion

For this infusion you’ll need:

• 250ml of vodka
• one orange
• one vanilla bean

First we take our vanilla bean and slice it in half. That slice makes sure we get the vanilla to infuse. Oh, and it also smells amazing!

To get the orange zest, you can just use a standard vegetable peeler if you don’t happen to have a zester. If you do have a zester, that’s odd. You probably have a melon baller too.

Add the sliced vanilla bean and orange zest to the vodka

Now, honestly, you just wait 24 hours for the flavours to infuse the vodka.

It may seem like a long time to wait, but wait until you taste the results!

You can remove the bean and zest anytime after this, if you keep them in the vodka they’ll look pretty and the flavours will continue to become stronger!

the EARL GREY TEA vodka

For this one you’ll need:

• 250 ml of vodka
• one teabag of Earl Grey tea
• one lemon

When I first was thinking of combinations, the idea of Earl Grey tea came to mind. Looking for a complimentary flavour, it was pretty obvious to add lemon to tea!

I’m sure you can guess the next step here … add the teabag to the vodka with the zest of one lemon

Now, with a teabag the infusion happens much quicker. I’d recommend removing the teabag after about 12 hours, but you can keep it there if you want something stronger

We love to play around with recipes like this. Try another type of tea. Maybe and herbal tea like hibiscus or something floral like a chamomile!

For the holidays, we like to make something that really has the flavours of the season. So, if the lovely Christmas glögg isn’t enough Christmas cheer, try our next infusion!

the CHRISTMAS vodka

This one is always popular during the holidays. Once you taste it, you’ll know why

For this one you will need:

• 250 ml of vodka
• one orange
• 2 sticks of cinnamon
• one whole nutmeg
• cloves (to taste)
• cardamom (to taste)

You’ll also need a hammer … don’t ask, just keep reading!

Crack your whole nutmeg with a hammer. If you don’t crack that tough outer shell, the nutmeg really won’t infuse too well

Add the zest of one orange, cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom and half of the nutmeg to the vodka

Again, let it sit for a day

There’s a lot going on in this infusion and the cinnamon sticks being wrapped up by the orange zest makes for a pretty presentation. If you made this a day before having guests over, you can leave in all the ingredients just to show off how cool you are … but if there is any left over, you’ll probably want to take them out to stop any further infusing.

So there you have it!

Three very different infused vodkas.

The most fun is trying your own combinations. We once did one using roasted golden beets (shockingly tasty!)

Let us know some of the combinations you come up with. Send us pictures too!

Salut!