HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
What local chefs are cooking for the big day
What does Calgary’s culinary world do during the holiday season? Cook, of course. And eat, too. Here’s a look at what some local chefs and restaurateurs do for Christmas Day dinner and beyond.
ANNA MARCHISANO MARINZI CHEF AND OWNER OF PIZZA ON THE FLY
Anna Marchisano Marinzi and her family moved to Canada from Rome eight years ago and last year she opened Pizza on the Fly, a Roman-style takeout pizza place in the Nexen building downtown.
When she’s not making pizza by the slice, she’s with her family and right now that means getting ready for Christmas. On Christmas Eve, they eat fish: salmon and butter, caviar, deep-fried cod, pasta with fish.
“And on Christmas Day, it’s lamb with potatoes, lasagna, very rich pastas,” she said. “On the side, we have lots of cakes: panettone and pandoro, things like that, that are easy to find in Canada.”
They unpack their nativity set, which they brought from Italy. And she makes struffoli, little balls of fried dough that are heaped on a plate, then drizzled with honey and sprinkled with coloured candies.
While her children never had Christmas stockings in Italy, they’ve adopted the tradition now that they’re in Canada. Santa doesn’t load them, though; they ’re filled on Jan. 6 by Befana, an old Italian woman who brings candy to good kids and charcoal to naughty ones. Santa. Befana. Similar yet different.
The only Canadian Christmas edible that truly mystifies her are the Cadbury holiday eggs and Kinder Eggs that pop up in grocery stores this time of year.
“We Italians find that so funny, that Canadians think chocolate eggs are OK at Christmas,” said Marinzi. “For the Italian people, Easter is for eggs, not Christmas.”
KEVIN KENT CHEF AND OWNER OF KNIFEWEAR AND KENT OF INGLEWOOD, AUTHOR OF THE KNIFENERD GUIDE TO JAPANESE KNIVES
Kevin Kent spent several years living and working as a chef in London, where his family comes from. On Christmas Eve, after a hectic month of cooking for others, he’d make perogies and cabbage rolls.
“Then, on Christmas Day, we’d pack a picnic and go for a 10-hour walk through the city. We’d be all alone. Trafalgar Square would be completely empty. We’d have the city of London to ourselves and we’d have quiet picnics in what are usually very busy places,” he said.
“Then we’d get home that night and we’d have perogies and cabbage rolls. We’d just cook up some sausage and our dinner would be done. It was a wonderful way to spend Christmas.”
This year, his family is gathering for a traditional English-Canadian Christmas feast with turkey. But in true Kent style, there’s a twist.
“If I’m left to my own devices for dessert, I’ll get a saskatoon pie from Pearson’s Berry Farm and vanilla ice cream from Made by Marcus,” he said. “That’s my goto dessert, all the time.”
SEBASTIAN SZTABZYB CO-OWNER OF PHIL & SEBASTIAN COFFEE ROASTERS AND HOOPLA DONUTS
Sebastian Sztabzyb was born in Argentina, but his grandparents came from Poland and his family still maintains its ancestral traditions.
He and his family — who are Jewish — don’t celebrate Christmas, but they do appreciate a fine family gathering every year during the eight days of Hanukkah, which ended this year on Dec 10.
“We light candles and the kids get little presents every day,” he said.
And they eat. Hanukkah festivities revolve around food cooked in oil to mark the miracle of the oil that lasted eight days instead of one.
“We have fried foods — lots of latkes and doughnuts,” he said.
At Hanukkah, the traditional doughnut is called sufganiyah and is filled with jelly and they’re best eaten fresh, just as soon as they ’re made.
For Sztabzyb, doughnuts have pretty much taken over his life since the opening of the latest Phil & Sebastian venture, Hoopla Donuts, in Calgary Place downtown. He has been starting work at midnight for the last few weeks, making thousands of doughnuts before dawn every day. They ’ve been selling out every day by mid-morning and he doesn’t anticipate much of a change in his schedule — or sales — before Christmas.
“I’ve massaged a lot of dough this year,” he said with a laugh. “But I think I’ll look back on this period as something that was really fun.”
OLIVIER REYNAUD CO-OWNER OF ROUGE RESTAURANT
Originally from France, Olivier Reynaud has been living in Canada for 20-some years and as a result he has picked up a lot of Canadian traditions.
Every year, he and his family cook turkey, which is brined beforehand, but Reynaud adds a beautiful French touch to each side dish — potato gratin; a stuffing-like bread made with roasted pine nuts and tarragon; and mushrooms and shallots in puff pastry.
And for dessert, there’s oreillette, an orange-flavoured, doughnut-like pastry made with a recipe passed down from Reynaud’s Provencal grandmother.
They cook their big meal on Christmas Day because on Christmas Eve Reynaud takes his daughters skiing.
“I started doing that when they were very small. I thought I’d tire them out so they didn’t wake me up at 6 a.m. on Christmas,” he said. “It worked and now it has become a tradition.”
GIUSEPPE DI GENNARO CHEF AND OWNER OF COTTO ITALIAN COMFORT FOOD
Originally from Naples, Italy, Giuseppe Di Gennaro will have a full house at Christmas this year as some of his Italian relatives are visiting. His wife Fiona is from Australia, so they celebrate some Australian and Canadian traditions, including a Christmas tree.
But Di Gennaro does all the cooking, something he loves, even though he’s in the kitchen most days of the year.
“My culinary traditions take over the whole thing,” he said.
Like Marchisano Marinzi, he also makes struffoli, which he sets in the middle of the table for everyone to graze on all afternoon on Christmas Day.
He makes a special savoury pie, too, that’s stuffed with escarole, raisins and pine nuts.
And, yes, there’s always panettone and pandoro, traditional Italian holiday breads.
Perhaps most importantly, he said, his family spends as much time together as they can.
“We play cards and we sit around the table and talk,” he said.
“That is the best kind of Christmas.”