Canadian Recipes
12 recipes found
Steak Montreal
This recipe--affectionately dubbed Steak Montreal--lands somewhere between Montreal smoked meat, steak frites, and steak au poivre. What ties it all together is my homemade version of the iconic Montreal steak seasoning, the brainchild of Schwartz's Deli and the flavor backbone of the city's bizarro pastrami. Order their towering smoked meat sandwich and you'll get what I mean. Montreal steak seasoning is a staple in spice aisles everywhere, but most versions miss the mark on the coarse texture and fresh grind that define the Schwartz's original. Luckily, it's easy (and delicious) to make at home--and you get full control over how coarse or fine you want the blend. If you have them on hand, throw in an extra teaspoon of Szechuan peppercorns for a little extra zing.
Poutine
Composed of freshly made French fries bathed in a rich, brown gravy and dotted with squeaky pieces of fresh cheese, poutine is a Canadian specialty with small town roots. Several restaurants claim to have invented the dish in rural Quebec, an area known for cheesemaking, either in the late 1950s or early ’60s. (In one story former restaurateur Fernand Lachance replied, “Ça va te faire une maudite poutine!”, slang for “That will make a damned mess!”, to a customer who requested cheese curds on fries. Another story links poutine to restaurant owner Jean-Paul Roy, who noticed customers were adding the curds, sold separately at his drive-in, to their fries.) Poutine has expanded beyond its rural beginning, and can be found topped with everything from bacon to duck confit. Here, the fries are made fresh (highly recommended), but frozen packaged fries can be used in a pinch. Layer poutine a bit like you would nachos, except start with cheese on the bottom of the dish, followed by the fries, more cheese and, finally, the gravy.
Citrus Spinach Salad
This spinach salad recipe is light and refreshing with citrus sweetness and bursting with flavor. It is also super healthy!
Daneta Budalich’s PB, Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Recipe courtesy of Daneta Budalich for Green & Black’s
Canadian apple butter
Ploye, Traditional Buckwheat Pancake
Ploye is a traditional French Canadian recipe made with 3 ingredients, and used in place of bread or served for breakfast. Gluten free, egg free, dairy free.
Sugar pie
This is a traditional pie recipe from Quebec. The filling is simple, with maple sugar, cream and flour. It turns into a custardy, sweet maple fudge filling.
Butter Tarts
There may be no more perfectly satisfying treat than a Canadian butter tart. It is small and sweet, bracingly so, with hints of butterscotch and caramel. And each bite delivers three textures: flaky crust, chewy top, gooey center. While its exact origins may never be found, the tart became popular in Ontario in the early 20th century and spread across Canada thanks to its inclusion in the 1913 “Five Roses Cook Book.” Today there are numerous variations. Runny or firm? Raisins or plain? This recipe can be adapted to please all partisans.
Butter Tart Squares
The Junior League of Toronto called this recipe “a ‘no fuss’ treat for butter tart lovers.” Canadian butter tarts are gooey, sugary delights enjoyed year-round. For these squares, rather than make individual pastry shells, you simply pour the butter tart filling over a shortbread base. Once baked, it can be cut into squares like a bar cookie.
Nanaimo Bars
The Nanaimo bar is a tremendously sweet, no-bake layered bar cookie from Canada made almost exclusively of packaged ingredients. The buttercream layer gets its yellow hue from custard powder, a vital ingredient that makes this a true Nanaimo bar. Use an offset spatula to give the chocolate top a surface as smooth as freshly Zambonied ice. The novelist Margaret Atwood included this recipe, from the chef Susan Mendelson, in her “Canlit Foodbook,” a fund-raising book that featured food from literature, as well as author recipes. Ms. Atwood prefers walnuts in this recipe, but any combination of walnuts, almonds or pecans will do. We’ve added a smidge more cocoa and the optional addition of salt — but leave it out for the true Nanaimo bar experience.
Caesar Cocktail
Sometimes it seems there are as many Caesar recipes as there are Canadians of drinking age. The building blocks are usually the same: vodka, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, lime juice, spices (for the rim of the glass) and clam-tomato juice, be it the standard Mott’s Clamato or one of the newer brands. But every bar and citizen has a special twist, usually in the departments of spices and garnish. This recipe is an adaptation of the one used by the bartender London Richard at his restaurant Sorso, near Calgary, Alberta. For vodka, he prefers Calgary’s own Burwood Vodka. For the spiced rim, the nationally popular mix known as Montreal steak spice plays a part. The garnish is a pickled pineapple and a bacon-wrapped, cream-cheese stuffed pickle. This version is a bit less complicated. But since a Caesar is a form of individual expression, follow your creative urge wherever it takes you. As long as you’ve got the Clamato and a decently complex spiced rim, you’ll end up with a wonderfully savory eye-opener that may render the Bloody Mary a dim memory.
Finnish Pancakes
Outside Thunder Bay, you won’t find many places that serve the Hoito’s style of Finnish pancakes, which bear no resemblance to fluffy American-style pancakes. At the restaurant, they are each the size of a dinner plate, heavy and dense.