Celebration suppers

[Boom Boom]

Challah is very similar to brioche.

You've got reminishing about the Harbour Bakery in Toronto and Hitsman's Bakery in Ottawa now!

[skdadl]

'Way back in the 70s, there was a wee hole-in-the-wall on Dupont just east of Bathurst that served their own freshly baked brioche with coffee on Sunday mornings -- such an unusual thing for Toronto then and even now, and like most such charming places, it went under in only a few years. I don't know how many businesses have been in that spot since.

The Harbord Bakery is a blessed spot too, again especially on Sunday mornings. And there's a great bakery in the big building at Queen's Quay -- they do brioche. But it's not the same as having a neighbourhood place you can just drop in on -- vast patches of Toronto expect you to ... go somewhere else.

[Mandos]

There are two kinds of people: those who deliberately pronounce "quay" as "kway" and those who don't.

[Antonia]

Good find Skdadl. That is the exact recipe. Right down to the amounts. (Use fresh thyme). I just had another slab from the fridge. It is incredible.

[skdadl]

That cook cleans leeks differently from the way I was taught -- s/he slices rounds first, then drops them into a bowl of tepid water and expects the grit to rinse out and sink to bottom. Has anyone else done that? Does it work? I was taught to do a lengthwise cut to w/i half-inch of root, then rinse rinse rinse separate layers until all grit gone, which is not a fun project for me. You also don't get perfect rounds that way. But running into grit is no fun either.

[lagatta]

He (Thomas Keller, a famous Californian chef and cookbook author) wanted the fancy presentation with the rounds, but I always wash leeks as skdadl says. I'd rather a less-fancy presentation than the dreaded leek grit. (Oh, how I love leeks).

The kind of brioche one has for breakfast (to say nothing of panettone, babka and other holiday brioches) is two sweet for a savoury bread pudding (some are known as "strata"). They do make a sinful sweet bread pudding. Pain brioché looks a bit like crappy white bread, but contains milk and a small amount of sugar, which is not jarring in that kind of recipe - it is about as sweet as standard challah, which can sub for it. You can also use old-fashioned loaves of plain white bread from a bakery.

[Antonia]

Lagatta is correct. We used a hearty white bread, crusty (we removed Rhe crusts) and washed the leeks as you both describe.

[lagatta]

I've often made a paella around New Year's (just because I find there is too much heavy meat around the year's end holidays, and confess I do love seafood, though we may have to bid farewell to it)   Lucy Waverman in the Globe and Mail has an easy-to-follow recipe. http://tinyurl.com/WavermanPaella Remember that there are many variations on paella; one can even make a Spanish rice with saffron and chicken. Yep, saffron is expensive, but a little goes a long way. Even if the ingredients you use are frozen and fewer in number, it will still be good. Don't forget the lima beans, peas or shelled broad beans - you can find those frozen at Portuguese shops here.

I can also buy chicken or turkey chorizo, for non-pork eaters, from Fernando on Roy near St-Laurent (the former Zinman's poultry). But you can simply omit it too.

[sparqui]

In Spain, families often go out for a paella lunch to celebrate almost every occasion including birthdays.

[Toedancer]

MAGOO, what r u preparing for your Xmas dinner this year? I know it's only Nov., but I only have 60 hours with the kid this year and I want some ideas I can get ahead on.
Plus I have a queshun. At Thanksgiving I still wasn't really snap/crackle/pop socially, so kind of missed a lot, but during eating part I was absolutely amazed at the wonderful taste of the poultry I was eating. I heard someone say it was a male chicken. At least that's what I think I heard. So what the hell was it?

[lagatta]

Toe, I'm sure you are talking about a CAPON, a castrated male chicken. They get very large and tasty. They have more fat than a turkey, which is not a bad thing at all if they are cooked properly to draw off the fat - they are very tender and can be very flavourful (though as always this depends on the quality of the chicken). I know people who much prefer them to a turkey for a celebratory roast.

A cockerel with all his gentlemen parts of course gets tough and scrappy. Not good roasted, but he can be very good braised, as in the classic coq au vin.

[Toedancer]

YES that's it, thanks Lagatta.    I'll prolly have to go the farmers market to order one.

[lagatta]

The farmers' market, or butcher shops, particularly Southern European ones.

[lagatta]

Well, it is "that" time of year again. Reading over this thread makes me very sad because of some truculent Croghan stories. There are also people who are presumably alive and well, but no longer on the board...

I see Toe is cooking up a storm. I'm not making supper for either the Réveillon (24 Dec) or Christmas Day; I'm invited to both. Cheat réveillon will be early, and supposedly not a very heavy supper (perhaps fish?) as friend who is hosting it has a family event on the 25th. I am making vegetable dishes for the 25th; friend hosting that is making a turkey and a sweet potato dish (which may be sweetened with added brown sugar or maple syrup; she is originally from Alabama and people in the US South sure like sweet stuff, though she is usually very careful about what she eats. She asked me to bring a green vegetable: I'm making rapini, the usual way, blanched or steamed a bit then sautéed in olive oil with garlic, and think I'll also make stewed red cabbage with red onion. Other suggestions are welcome. I really can't eat a lot of turkey any more; sure I'll have a bit.

Anyone making tourtière?

[lagatta]

Chowhound, a big food board site, now has a "vegetarian and vegan" board. I tend to avoid boards like that as they often segue into faddish diets, but they have an interesting topic on Vegetarian Thanksgiving dishes - originally started by a Canadian poster. But some of the "Thanksgiving" dishes work fine for the year's end suppers at Christmas (or Saturnalia, or the Solstice, or Festivus) and New Year's. There will still be plenty of winter squash, and some types will keep fine if you buy them now at markets.

While I have no desire to eat a "tofurkey", there are some nut and pulse-based "roasts" that are very nice indeed. http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/871763

The nutloaf and riffs on it: http://www.thekitchn.com/vegetarian-thanksgiving-nutloa-102222 That is a classic of British veg cooking; I'm wondering which former colony such ideas originated in?

It can obviously be made spicier, if one likes that!