Great Canadian recipes

Celebrate family traditions with four dishes that are inspired by ethnic and regional cooking from across Canada.

Updated:: 2009-09-18 12:09

Published:: 2006-06-24 00:00

By: Homemakers.com

Canadian Geographic and the Food Network Canada collaborated to put together a cookbook they describe as "a celebration of family traditions from Canadian kitchens." They compiled recipes from their readers and viewers to create a unique collection of recipes that represents Canadians from coast to coast.

Homemakers selected four staple recipes that complement each other beautifully and, together, make up a menu that will have your guests coming back for more. Click on the titles below to see recipes.

Nan's Pea Soup
“In recalling winters during my childhood in Newfoundland, I have memories of huge snowdrifts, the booming sounds of ocean ice cracking and Nan's Pea Soup. Even now, when winters are colder than usual in Ontario, where I now live, I think of my grandmother's soup, which warms the hands and the heart.

My fondest memories are of playing in the snow, skating on the bogs and ponds, sliding down "ballicatters" (slabs of ice pushed up by the tide) and then returning to my grandparents' house. I'd sit on the furnace grate and dry my mittens and boots, waiting for the tingling in my fingers and toes to subside and signal that I was warm enough to go out again. But that never happened before I filled up on the thick, hearty soup simmering on the stove in Nan's warm kitchen and always available for the grandchildren who stopped in to warm up and refuel.”

Elizabeth Gacek, Brampton, Ontario

Nona Mina's Chicken Cacciatore
"This comforting recipe was passed down from my grandmother to my mother and then from my mother to me. Like most of the recipes from my mother and grandmother, I learned it orally and, over the years, have tested it and made a few changes. Whenever I make this dish, the house smells incredible! It is both flavourful and low in fat."

Maria Carmen Iammatteo, Richmond Hill, Ontario

Herby Garlic Mashed Potatoes
“What family dinner, particularly a special holiday feast, would be complete without mashed potatoes? Regardless of what you serve as a main course, potatoes are a wonderful staple side dish. Coast to coast in this beautiful country, marvellous varieties of potatoes are grown to our delight. These crowd-pleasing mashed potatoes have the added zest of fresh herbs and the tang of roasted garlic.

This dish has become a standard at every family gathering in my household. Every member of my family, from the younger brother who never notices food to my father who doesn't believe in "fancy cooking," has begged for bigger servings each Christmas and Thanksgiving.

The recipe was an even bigger hit with my in-laws in New Brunswick, who are potato fans as well as critics of recipes outside of East Coast favourites. On that occasion, I used wonderful P.E.I. spuds, and the result was richer and earthier than with the creamy, mild Vancouver Island variety. The quality of the local ingredients - from potatoes to cream and garlic - speaks to the particular flavours of the region in which they are produced. This dish makes the best of all that these ingredients have to offer, no matter where in Canada you make it!”

Diana Murphy, Victoria, British Columbia

Blueberry Cake
“My family has handed down recipes that were brought from France to the Acadian area of New Brunswick in the early 1600s. The list is long, from traditional meat pies and fricot to molasses cookies. These are all good, but I've chosen instead a blueberry cake with caramel sauce.

This cake reminds me most of my childhood summers on the farm by the seashore. My sister and I would pick fresh blueberries so that Grandma could bake us her wonderful cake. It was served warm with the heavenly caramel sauce drizzled all over, and the blueberries would burst with every scrumptious bite. It was heavenly.

Grandmother took pleasure watching us take that first bite. Although she was diabetic and couldn't partake, her joy came from putting love into this for her grandchildren.

Ah, sweet memories - in more ways than one!”

Jeannette Schwalm, Sutton West, Ontario

For two more recipes from The Great Canadian Feast cookbook try:

Happy Day Chicken
Punjabi Spicy Leg of Lamb

Excerpted from The Great Canadian Feast, edited by Laurel Aziz; copyright 2002 by Key Porter Books. Excerpted, with permission by Key Porter Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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