The weather is changing, and with that, comes the cooler months full of Holiday entertaining and parties. Though everyone loves a good get-together with family and friends, the Holiday season can also be a time of worry about the effort required to prepare tasty and festive meals and snacks.

What is the easiest way to take some of that worry away? Serve up some simple to prepare, delicious canapes and appetizers that every guest is sure to love. While guests are enjoying your pre-prepared hors d’oeuvres, you will have some extra time to mingle and still be confident that your hard work guarantees you serve up one of the best parties of the season! 

Joanna Tomal (owner of the popular Piazza Bistro in Oakville) likes to serve up a recipe that makes for a sophisticated party appetizer, a baked brie! Joanna suggests serving up a whole wheel of baked brie, complete with fresh herbs, a dollop of homemade cranberry sauce and a sprinkling of brown sugar and roasted pecans. For the extra touch, Tomal serves her baked brie on their Italian family heirloom platter with homemade rosemary olive oil and sea salt crostini. This is a surprisingly easy appetizer to prepare and your guests will love the rich and decadent flavours.

Ida Pusateri, of Pusateri’s Fine Foods in Oakville and Toronto, is an expert host. She had a couple of suggestions for canapé and appetizer recipes that will take the stress out of hosting, and your guests will think you made some magic in the kitchen. 

Her first suggestion was a recipe for Fruitcake Crostini with Olive Tapenade, Golden Sultanas & Balsamic Drizzle. Festive fruitcake gets a holiday makeover in this recipe. Not a fruitcake fan? A baguette or your favourite fancy crackers will do the trick if you prefer.

Fruitcake Crostini with Olive Tapenade,
Golden Sultanas & Balsamic Drizzle

Ingredients:
Fruitcake Crostini
• 1 loaf Toque et Tablier Gâteaux aux fruits, frozen
• Olive oil, Kosher salt, Fresh ground black pepper as needed
Olive & Sultana Tapenade
• 1 Cup Golden sultanas
• ½ Cup Kalamata olives, pitted & drained
• ½ Cup Fresh parsley, chopped
• 3 Tbsp Fresh squeezed orange juice
• 2 Tbsp Orange zest
• 1 Tbsp Grapefruit zest
• 2 Tbsp Capers, rinsed
• 1 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
•  Fresh basil, sliced into ribbons, as needed

Cooking Instruction:
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Fruit Cake Crostini: Remove fruitcake from the freezer and slice thinly. Brush lightly with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and bake until crispy, 8-10 minutes.
• Olive & Sultana Tapenade: Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until coarsely chopped.
• To Assemble: Place the crostini on a tray, spread with the tapenade and top with a small pinch of basil ribbons.

Ida’s second suggestion for a perfect Holiday appetizer: Bacon Wrapped Spiced Dates with Goat’s Cheese. Crisp and salty bacon, creamy and tangy goat cheese, and sweet spiced dates form a perfect partnership in this irresistible canapé.

Bacon Wrapped Spiced Dates with Goat’s Cheese

Ingredients:
• ½ Cup Red wine vinegar
• ½  Cup Orange juice
• 1  Tbsp Sugar
• ¼  tsp Allspice, ground
• ¼  tsp Cloves, ground
• ¼  tsp Black peppercorns, whole
• ¼  tsp Ginger, ground
• 24 Dates, pitted
• 12  slices Thinly sliced bacon, cut in half crosswise
• 120-150 g Goat’s cheese, cut into rounds, at room temperature

Cooking Instruction:
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Bring vinegar, orange juice, sugar and spices to a boil in a small pot. Add dates and simmer for 10-12 minutes, until soft but not mushy.
• While dates are simmering, roll goat’s cheese rounds into ovals slightly smaller than the dates. Pop them in the freezer to harden.
• Cool the dates at room temperature. Slice each date down the side and gently pry open, inserting a chilled oval of goat cheese into each.
• Wrap each date with half a piece of bacon, and secure with a toothpick.
• Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet until crispy and golden, 15-20 minutes, turning halfway so bacon cooks evenly.
• Transfer to a serving tray, pierce each with a toothpick and serve warm or at room temperature.

Pusateri’s final tip for hosting a great Holiday party? Use simple, delicious ingredients and prepare as much as possible in advance. Great advice, if you ask us!

by Heather Peter

Local Links

Piazza Bistro, Oakville
piazzabistro.ca

Pusateri’s, Oakville
pusateris.com

Hosting a large family meal or dinner party can be a daunting task. No one wants to serve up roast poultry, and have it coming out looking like something out of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. With the cooler weather and shorter evenings upon us, most of us start to think about roasting a meal indoors rather than grilling on the BBQ.  We’re here to make sure you prepare a meal that family and guests will be raving about for months to come – until the next one, of course!

Whether you’re looking for a more traditional take on a Sunday roast, or something more modern, the first step to the perfect meal is always the source. Find a butcher that you know and trust, either at your favourite grocery store or at one of the many local butchers in town. Your butcher can help with meal suggestions you may not have thought of, will have great tips on how to cook or prepare your meat, and can assist you with creating the exact meal you had in mind.

The first thing Rick Suitor, owner of Ernie’s Meat Market in Burlington, suggests when creating a perfect Sunday meal is to make sure
you always use a meat thermometer, to ensure you’re getting that perfect result on anything you choose. For a more traditional dinner, Suitor suggests something like a boneless prime rib roast. At Ernie’s Meat Market, they use Triple AAA, Alberta Beef, so rest assured you’ll get some great flavour out of the meat no matter how it’s cooked. A boneless prime rib roast is less work when cooking (since there’s no weight or extra size from the bone) and it tends to be a safer bet. His cooking tip: always be sure to let the roast sit afterwards, and don’t cover beef or pork.

A more modern option that Suitor has seen selling at the Market recently has been their Stuffed Chicken. Though roast chicken is a classic, the stuffed chickens can have a wide range of flavours and options, such as their Cordon Bleu; stuffed with Havarti Cheese and Black Forest Ham, then breaded. Suitor sees the stuffed chicken as more of a plated option, and it’s all about the presentation. He suggests slicing the stuffed chicken and serving it in a pinwheel fashion, for the ultimate eye-catching impression on guests.

When serving up a more traditional meal, Damian Goriup, Owner and Head Butcher at Florence Meats in Oakville, would also advise a cut like prime rib. Prime rib boasts tender, flavourful meat with good marbling, it’s fairly simple to prepare, and can serve a large crowd. Goriup advises you season your roast the night before with coarse salt and pepper, and allow it to reach room temperature prior to cooking.

For a more modern option, Goriup suggests a Beef Tenderloin Roast, because this cut is simple to prepare, does not take as long to cook as a prime rib, and it always comes out tender.  One of the most important considerations to ensure you end up with a flavourful roast, according to Goriup, is to buy local Ontario dry aged beef. Season simply with coarse sea salt and ground pepper, allowing the true flavours of the beef to shine.

So now you’re ready to host your own Sunday dinner, and impress your family and guests with some cooking finesse and meat-knowledge. Don’t be afraid to try something new, but always remember to ask your butcher for their tips and tricks with specific cuts. It could make a big difference!

Local Links

Florence Meats
2136 Speers Road, Oakville
florencemeats.com

J & G Quality Meats
175 Plains Road East, Aldershot

Ernie’s Meat Market
1450 Headon Road, Burlington
erniesmeatmarket.ca

Aslan Market Butcher Shop
5237 Upper Middle Road # 1, Burlington

Cumbraes of Dundas
26 King Street West, Dundas
cumbraes.com

Dietrichs Meat Warehouse
1260 Speers Road, Oakville
dietrichs.ca

Just an Olde Fashioned Butchery
165 Lakeshore Road East, Oakville

By Heather Peter