Sidekicks are the stars The right accompaniments make holiday meals explode with flavour By: AV Kitching Posted: 5:35 PM CST Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023 Last Modified: 12:50 PM CST Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023 Updates

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What’s on your Christmas table?

Festive feasts regularly feature meaty main courses as the star of the Christmas meal, leaving the equally important side dishes languishing in the shadows.

But a forkful of turkey on its own is a bland mouthful. It’s the potatoes, vegetables, gravy and salads, all piled up, balancing precariously on tines, that make the perfect bite.

With that in mind the Free Press has asked five Winnipeg chefs to share the story behind their favourite or most memorable side dish so the supporting players on the table can have their time in the limelight.

Eileen’s Corn Casserole

It’s a dish straight from Jesse Friesen’s childhood. A firm favourite at his family’s Christmas table, Friesen’s grandmother’s corn casserole is unassuming at first glance but holds hidden depths.

Baked corn with salsa stirred through it, topped with feta and bread crumbs, seems an unlikely combination, but its genius lies in the combination of flavours: sweet, tangy, crunchy, slightly spicy and smoky, creating a perfect, utterly moreish mouthful.

His maternal grandmother, Eileen Morrison, who died in 2013, would make the dish every holiday season and now Friesen says his Christmas is incomplete without it. He reckons his grandmother must have found it in an old Reader’s Digest magazine.

“It brings back a lot of memories. It’s a silly dish — an old white lady trying to make something somewhat Mexican — but everyone loved it… she was known for that,” says Friesen, the executive chef at Academy Hospitality who leads the kitchens of the group’s restaurants including Mottola Grocery, Pizzeria Gusto and the Merchant Kitchen.

His version sees him either grilling corn on the cob or roasting fresh corn kernels in the oven before mixing them together with his homemade salsa roja. The mixture is then topped with bread crumbs and feta before being baked for 10 minutes.

“My grandmother was the one person that inspired me to be a chef,” he says. “She put so much care and love into everything; she always wanted to make sure people were full, happy and satisfied.”

Salsa Roja Recipe

(serves 4-6 people)

500 ml (2 cups) canned tomatoes
60 ml (¼ cup) diced small yellow onion, small dice
15 ml (1 tbsp) garlic, chopped
30 ml (2 tbsp) jalapenos, small dice
60 ml (¼ cup) white vinegar
60 ml (¼ cup) white sugar
5 ml (1 tsp) cumin
5 ml (1 tsp) smoked paprika
15 ml (1 tbsp) fresh cilantro, chopped
Salt to taste

Method

Combine all ingredients into a pot, with the exception of the cilantro. On medium heat, bring the mixture to a simmer and reduce by 1/4. Transfer the salsa to a blender and lightly blend, making sure not to purée entirely, but to achieve a coarse texture. Transfer to a bowl and place in fridge to cool. Once cooled, add the chopped cilantro, mix. Taste, seasoning with additional salt if needed.

 

Corn Casserole Recipe

5 cobs fresh corn, husked, or 750 ml (3 cups) frozen corn, thawed
250 ml (1 cup) salsa roja
125 ml (½ cup) feta, crumbled
125 ml (½ cup) seasoned breadcrumbs
30 ml (2 tbsp) cilantro, chopped
60 ml (¼ cup) cilantro leaves

Method

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Rinse husked corn with cold water, pat dry. With a sharp knife, cut the corn kernels off the cob. Transfer the corn to a sheet pan, place in oven and roast for 10 minutes.

Remove corn from oven and transfer to a mixing bowl. Add salsa roja and chopped cilantro to the mixing bowl, mix lightly with a spoon.

Transfer the corn mixture to a cast iron pan or Dutch oven, spread evenly in the pan. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top of the corn mixture. Sprinkle the feta on top of the bread crumbs. Place in the oven.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the corn is hot and the crumbs are slightly toasted.

Garnish with cilantro leaves.

 

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Helene’s Rotkohl (and rouladen)

It’s not the fanciest of ingredients but when treated with care and paired with correct flavours, the humble cabbage in Kristopher Kurus’s rotkohl is a star in its own right.

Like a fairy godmother, albeit one armed with a spatula rather than a wand, Kurus tranforms the raggedy cabbage, coaxing waxy leaves to take on a glossy hue.

Slow cooking renders its tough texture into a soft, tender tangle, with green apple and onion woven through. Sharpened with apple cider vinegar and softened with sugar, the vegetal brassica takes on a gentler tone.

“It’s one of those unassuming things but when you serve it people are fighting over the last piece,” shares Kurus, chef and co-owner of Deer + Almond (85 Princess St.).

“My maternal grandmother Helene Bauer always makes it. It’s something I had growing up. It’s very much my style: humble but tasty.”

Bauer’s dish involves shaving or thinly slicing a medium head of red cabbage before cooking it on medium heat for at least an hour. The resulting mass, the bright purple mellowed into almost mulberry plum shade, is served alongside another family stapl, rouladen.

“Rouladen are thinly sliced beef slathered in mustard with pickles and onion inside and rolled up. These two dishes are often served together,” Kurus says.

Rotkohl Recipe

1 medium red cabbage, sliced thin
2 green apples, small dice
15 ml (1 tbsp) butter
45 ml (3 tbsp) apple cider vinegar
30 ml (2 tbsp) sugar
2 bay leaves
1 onion, brunoise (very fine dice, but not minced)
80 ml (1/3) cup water
Salt and pepper

Method

Combine all ingredients in a pot over medium heat. Cover and cook for approximately one hour until cabbage is soft. Add additional salt, vinegar and sugar at the end to season to your liking.

Rouladen Recipe

(makes 10)

10 cuts rouladen meat
10 slices bacon
1 large onion, sliced thin
10 pickle spears
Dijon mustard
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Red wine
10 wooden non-flavoured toothpicks

Method

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Place rouladen meat down length-wise. (This cut can be bought from most European butchers. I typically use Miller’s Meats.)

Season meat generously with salt, pepper and paprika. Any sort of pre-made barbecue seasoning will also work. Rub into meat.

Coat meat with an even layer of Dijon mustard. If you don’t have Dijon, yellow mustard works.

Lie 1 piece of bacon down lengthwise on each piece of rouladen. Near the bottom of each piece add one pickle spear and a small handful of your sliced onions.

Like rolling up a beach towel, roll each rouladen up as tightly as possible. Use wooden toothpick at the end to keep the rouladen together. Make sure you pierce the rouladen in such a way that the tooth pick is horizontal with the meat. If you pierce right through the next step will be difficult.

Sear rouladen on each side until golden brown, then transfer into a braising pan. Cover with a mixture of 80 per cent water, 20 per cent red wine.

Braise for roughly 90 mins at 350 F, or until tender. Don’t overcook or they will become dry.

Once cooked, remove toothpick and enjoy! The leftover braising liquid is a great base for a gravy or sauce to enjoy with your rouladen.

 

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Deep-Fried Brussels Sprouts in a Fish Sauce and Balsamic Vinegar Reduction

A much-loathed holiday vegetable, owing to its rather bitter taste, the reason the brussels sprouts served on Edward Lam’s Christmas table shine is down the marriage of briny, umami-packed fish sauce and the velvety, complex sweetness of balsamic.

“This year we will be having a big Christmas dinner because my brother and sister-in-law are coming in from Hong Kong,” says Lam, chef-owner of Yujiro Japanese Restaurant (1822 Grant Ave.). “My three kids will be home as well, so we will have around 10 people at the table.”

Lam’s dish is an accidental discovery — the addition of fish sauce is a mistake he’d made when preparing a balsamic reduction. Previously not a fan of brussels sprouts, the chef had tried to get himself to like the vegetable, to no avail.

“I tried a lot of different ways to cook brussels sprouts but I didn’t really like them. Then I accidentally spilled fish sauce into a balsamic vinegar reduction and when I tasted it I was very shocked — it tasted really good,” he says.

Lam’s sprouts are deep-fried first so the veggies takes on a crispy texture, before being tossed in the reduction and dressed with sliced grapes and homemade lemon oil. He says roasting parboiled brussels in a hot oven for 10 minutes can also produce the same crispy texture.

“My kids don’t like brussels sprouts, but they eat this one because it’s so delicious. Nowadays it is a familiar side dish on our Christmas table.”

Recipe

300 g brussels sprouts
3 pieces green grapes, sliced
50 ml (1/4 cup) fish sauce
150 ml (3/4 cup) balsamic vinegar
40 g brown sugar
Lemon oil to dress (Place half a sliced lemon in a pot before adding enough canola or any other flavourless oil to cover the lemon. Simmer briskly on medium-high heat, until the lemon slices turn brown. Immediately remove the lemon, or drain your oil, discarding the lemons. Cool the oil to be used later.)

Directions

Put fish sauce, balsamic vinegar and brown sugar in a pot. Simmer and reduce it to half. Set aside for use later.

Wash and slice your green grapes lengthwise.

Clean and cut brussels sprouts in half, removing the hard white core. Deep-fry sprouts in batches until golden brown. If you do not have a deep-frier, plunge cleaned sprouts into rapidly boiling water for five minutes. Drain, then air dry before tossing the veggies in a flavourless (not olive) oil. Lie in a single sheet in a very hot oven, cranked to its highest setting, keeping a close eye on the sprouts until you see the outer leaves start to turn brown. Remove immediately and toss in the balsamic and fish sauce reduction. Add sliced grapes and dress lightly with the lemon oil.

 

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Wild Rice Salad with Mushrooms & Sumac Dressing

“I love cooking traditional foods for my family, especially when it comes to the holidays,” says Christa Bruneau-Guenther, chef-owner of Feast Café Bistro, her restaurant serving Indigneous-inspired cuisine at 587 Ellice Ave.

“This year, we are at least 16 people and the dinner will be at my house. I will make this salad, some brussels sprouts, stuffing, a carrot dish and my turkey, my mom will do perogies, my brother will bring cabbage rolls and my dad will make meatballs.”

Bruneau-Guenther’s dish is a relatively new addition to her table, a recipe she developed at the beginning of the pandemic which she then taught online.

“It’s one of the first times I ever did this recipe,” she says. “I sold 85 kits and when I did the Zoom I had people cooking alongside me. Now that salad is becoming one of the things I use for many holiday meals.

“I think people can access wild rice so freely in Manitoba now. Wild rice is such a high protein — it has more protein and iron in it than quinoa, and it is extremely healthy for vegan and vegetarians.”

Bruneau-Guenther’s dish can be made days in advance, one of the many reasons she says she loves it.

“It’s almost better when it sits. And you can have it cold, at room temperature or hot; it’s just a wonderful dish that works however you have it.

Recipe

(serves 4 to 6 people)

Salad Ingredients
375 ml (1 1/2) cups cooked wild rice (3/4 cup dried)
45 ml (3 tbsp) butter
2 small shallots diced small
4 cloves garlic minced small
500 ml (2 cups) assorted mushrooms sliced (cremini, button, shiitake or oyster)
60 ml (4 tbsp) vegetable stock (or water)
250 ml (1 cup) cup roasted butternut squash, cubed
60 ml (4 tbsp) dried cranberries
Salt and pepper to taste
Toasted walnuts & fresh parsley (for garnish- optional)

Dressing ingredients
75 ml (5 tbsp) crème fraiche
45 ml (3 tbsp) olive oil
5 ml (1 tsp) sumac (or zest of one lemon)
45 ml (3 tbsp) chives, chopped small
30 ml (2 tbsp) lemon juice
10 ml (2 tsp) maple syrup
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Bring a large pot water to a boil, add pinch of salt, add wild rice. Cook until fluffy, puffed and al dente; it will take around 25 minutes. Drain, let cool (this can be done the day before and refrigerated).

Meanwhile, peel and deseed one small butternut squash. Cut into small bite-sized cubes (or use store-bought ready-to-eat squash). Heat oven to 450 degrees. Place squash on sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil, pinch salt and pepper. Roast eight to ten minutes until fork inserts easily. Set aside.

Heat large pan to medium-high on stove. Add butter & shallots. Cook for two to three minutes until soft.

Add mushrooms and sauté for three to five minutes. Add garlic. Cook for a further two minutes. Add cranberries and water or vegetable stock to pan. Cover for one minute to allow cranberries to rehydrate and deglaze pan drippings. Season mixture with salt and pepper. Turn off heat. Add cooked wild rice and the squash to the pan. Stir well until combined.

Transfer warm wild rice mixture to a bowl.

Mix all dressing ingredients in small bowl, add to wild rice mixture and toss to coat.

Garnish with puffed wild rice or toasted walnuts & fresh parsley (optional).

Instructions to cook the puffed wild rice: Heat a shallow stainless steel pot or pan to medium-high. Add a few centimetres of any cooking oil: canola, vegetable, or grapeseed oil. Heat to 275 F. Place one to two tablespoons of raw wild rice into the pan. Deep fry until the rice fully opens and looks like puffed wheat. Drain on paper towel. Add mixture to your salad.

 

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Effie’s Cabbage Rolls

Cole Mospanchuck’s Christmases always feature what he calls the “Winnipeg classic”: perogies and cabbage rolls.

“I am Ukrainian and I grew up eating Ukrainian Christmas dinners,” the executive chef at Nonsuch (125 Pacific Ave.) shares.

A favourite is his paternal grandmother Effie’s cabbage rolls, filled with bacon and rice. It’s a recipe he uses to this day, although the rice is no longer from a packet and his tomato sauce doesn’t come out of a bottle.

“I remember she would make my dad go to Dollarama to get Heinz’s tomato sauce and Uncle Ben’s rice. She grew up in a big farming family and she has around 14 siblings; I think she is the 15th,” he says.

He remembers his aunties getting together in the lead-up to the celebration, rolling, stuffing and freezing up to 30 dozen cabbage rolls, which they would then pass on to extended family members.

Mospanchuck’s grandmother died in 2012 and the cabbage rolls served at more recent Christmas meals are closer to the Polish version, denser and filled with ground meat and rice.

“My mother’s side of the family are Hungarian and my maternal grandmother Emily usually makes them,” he says.

Recipe (in three parts)

1 Taiwanese cabbage (available from Superstore or any Asian supermarket)

Method

Remove the core from the head of cabbage.

Boil the whole head and remove leaves as they separate, place into an ice bath.

Drain leaves thoroughly and dry on a paper towel. Place into a plastic bag and freeze for at least 24 hours.

FILLING RECIPE

500 ml (2 cups) rice
450 g (1 lb) bacon
1 large onion, diced
Salt and pepper
Lemon juice

Method

Fry bacon. Remove the meat, leaving the grease, and chop into bits. Add one finely minced onion to bacon grease, cook till soft and translucent.

Cook 500 ml (2 cups) of rice in chicken stock (or water) according to package instructions.

Add bacon bits back to the onions, stir through cooked rice, and season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Mix well.

SAUCE RECIPE

2 x 236-ml (8-oz) can of tomatoes
60 ml (1/4 cup) brown sugar
60 ml (1/4 cup) lemon juice
125 ml (1/2 cup) water
2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) salt
1 ml (1/4 tsp) pepper
1 ml (1/4 tsp) paprika

Method

Add tomatoes, water, brown sugar and spices. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Adjust salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste.

 

ASSEMBLY:

Trim out any hard veins from the prepared cabbage leaves.

Using either one whole leaf or two smaller leaves place 1.5-2 tablespoons of filling into the cabbage and roll away from yourself.

Tuck the ends into each roll, and place seam side down in a sauce-lined baking dish.

Repeat the process until you are out of cabbage (this recipe should yield approximately four dozen cabbage rolls)

Once you’re done rolling, top with sauce and bake covered at 350F for 80 minutes, or until fork tender.

Cabbage rolls freeze great, and can be frozen before or after cooking. To reheat, simply use a slow cooker or an oven set to 350F.

 

av.kitching@freepress.mb.ca