Nice and easy will do it
Local chef Patrick Wiese offers advice on de-stressing holiday cooking
It’s a familiar refrain: between shopping, socializing, gift-wrapping and party-going, cooking over the holidays seems like another item on an already-too-long to-do list.
Luckily, Patrick Wiese has you covered.
Whether you’re wondering how to find the perfect recipe for holiday entertaining — or even looking for someone to cook your Christmas dinner — the Hamilton-based chef who acted as a celebrity judge during NOSH, the city’s first Culinary Week, has some solutions on hand.
Wiese, who kicked off his culinary career as a personal chef for Oprah Winfrey, has created two easy holiday recipes: a roasted and a holiday cranberry sangria spritzer and a roasted grape, currant and walnut strudel.
The strudel — which is sweetened only with apple juice and has no added sugar — only requires one stirring utensil.
“There’s no knife needed. It’s a very easy, practical, fun, whip-it-together kind of recipe,” he said.
Wiese’s sangria recipe was inspired by something he made spontaneously for friends one evening and includes rosemary, lemon grass and ginger for “pizzazz.”
But if holiday cooking isn’t in the cards, Wiese also provides a catering service that delivers a full Christmas dinner. Priced at about $35 to $75 per person, the menu includes turkey or ham, all the trimmings, and delivery.
“It gives them a sense of still having that Christmas feeling, but they’re not in the kitchen for hours,” he said. “The reality is, some people are just too busy.”
Even if a big Christmas dinner isn’t in the cards, Wiese has one word of advice about holiday cooking.
“I always say just get in the kitchen, grab some friends, grab your family, and have some fun.”
Wiese also prepares his intimate (maximum of 16 diners, so lots of face time with the chef ), multicourse dinners several times a year to benefit the charity Matthew’s Friends Canada, for which he is the chef ambassador. The kickoff for the 2017 series is Jan. 13.
For more information about Wiese’s Christmas dinner catering and/or tickets for his intimate dinner series, visit www.twistedkitchen.ca. To view the strudel video, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEcZk_K4JZo.
Roasted Grape Christmas Strudel
This is a quick, practical and fun way to spice up your holiday menu. This recipe needs no knife, except to slice the end product. 1 cup each, red and green seedless grapes 1 tablespoon oil 2 teaspoons salt 1½ cups apple juice 1 cup pitted dates 1 cup currants (can substitute raisins) 1 cup dried cranberries 2 tsp cinnamon, plus a pinch for the butter 2 tsp dried ginger, plus a pinch for the butter ½ tsp nutmeg, plus a pinch for the butter 1 box phyllo dough 1 stick unsalted butter ¼ cup poppy seeds ½ cup chopped walnuts
Preheat your oven to 375 F. In a medium-size bowl, toss green and red grapes in the oil with a pinch of salt. Put the grapes into a small cooking dish or sheet pan and bake for 30 minutes, giving them a shake at the 15minute mark to move them around so they cook on all sides.
While the grapes are in the oven, grab a medium saucepan and put in 1½ cups of apple juice with the dates, currants, cranberries, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
Cook over medium heat until all liquid is dissolved, about 25 minutes, stirring to make sure that all the fruit is soft. Put on the side to cool.
In a small saucepan, melt one stick of butter, adding a little bit (pinch) of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.
Once the grapes are done, pull them out of the oven. They should be lightly roasted on all sides and look soft. Let them cool and then mix them into your date-currant-cranberry mixture. At this point, you can also fold in the walnuts and poppy seeds.
Now prepare the phyllo (which has been thawed if it was frozen). Gently place a damp, clean cloth on top of the flat phyllo sheets next to your workspace to keep them from drying out. Have the fruit mixture and melted butter handy.
Grab some friends, grab your family, and have some fun
Carefully peel off one sheet and lay it on a flat surface such as a cutting board, then gently brush it with melted, spiced butter, making sure that the edges are moistened. Put another sheet on top of that and repeat with the butter. Do about five sheets this way.
Dividing the layered phyllo lengthwise in thirds, spoon a row of the fruit mixture along the far right section leaving enough of an edge to pull the edge of the pastry over the fruit and gently flip it, tucking it fairly tightly as you roll it into a log.
Place it on a sheet pan and brush the top and sides with the butter/ spice mixture.
Bake in an oven for 25 minutes at 375 F. The strudel should be golden brown when it comes out of the oven.
Let cool for about 10 minutes, then slice it and enjoy.
Holiday Cranberry Sangria Spritzer
Sangria is a fairly simple recipe. It’s pretty much chop, stir.
At Christmas time, friends can pop by at any moment so I had to think fast about having something to entertain them with a beverage. And that’s how the Christmas Sangria Spritzer was born.
I try to use good quality, inexpensive drinking wine for my sangria. It doesn’t have to break the bank. I am sure many winemakers would scoff at the suggestion, but good wine makes good sangria. A little secret … another advantage to using good wine is that you can pour yourself a glass while assembling this recipe. 1 Granny Smith apple 1 starfruit (carambola) 1 heaping cup fresh cranberries 1 piece lemon grass 1 piece fresh ginger (2 inches) 1 large sprig rosemary 1 bottle Pinot Grigio ½ cup cranberry juice ¼ cup sugar (plus more for garnish) 1 can ginger ale soda Juice of one lime
Chop up the apple, and maybe some extra. I prefer them in small cubes to snack on while enjoying the sangria, or as I like to call it: dinner. I mean, it has food in it so that counts, right?
In a large pitcher, combine all of the ingredients. Mix well, so that the sugar fully dissolves.
Place the pitcher in the refrigerator to chill. During this time the sugar will fully dissolve and the lemon grass, ginger and rosemary will infuse your sangria. If you are wondering why I chose these ingredients, well, it’s because I like my sangria sweet but with a bit of pizzazz — a “Twisted” way of doing things.
Now for the garnish. This is where family and friends can help. I took sprigs of rosemary and made them look like Christmas trees standing in each glass of sangria.
Simply place about ½ cup of granulated sugar in a shallow bowl. Lightly wet the rosemary and give it a good shake to remove any excess water. Then roll the sprigs in the sugar until they are coated as you please and pop them into the glasses. The sugar will melt as you sip.
So simple, but fun. These can also be used anywhere on a table that has been decorated for the holiday season.
Once the pitcher has chilled for about an hour, it should be ready to serve. Enjoy!