canadian

Just came back from my native beautiful land, Canada. Or more precisely Quebec, on the East part of Canada a.k.a. the french part. So coming from the land of maples, which in the fall is simply magical to see with all those bright red leaves, and it’s exceptional elixir called maple syrup I had to share a breakfast recipe we do on occasion, the famous “crêpe à la quebecoise” is a thin crepe with bacon, cheese and a drizzle of delicious maple syrup. A fairly easy to make recipe which is sweet and savoury, the perfect bite to a great day. The idea is to start with the sweet and savory crepe, then you make a second with fruits and maple syrup. All the ingredients are on the table and people choose what they feel like. Some prefer only bacon and maple syrup others are adding an egg to the mix, it’s…

View Post

canada

Hot chicken sandwich

By thefoodolic July 19, 2016

A popular dish from Canada, the famous hot chicken sandwich consists of shredded leftovers of chicken or turkey served with an homemade gravy and sweet peas. Hot chicken sandwich or simply ‘Hot Chicken’ is one of those forgotten top 10 traditional dishes from Canada. It’s not spicy at all, in contrary to the famous Nashville hot chicken. It’s mostly popular in the French speaking part of Canada. As a kid, I used to love it when my mom would do a whole roasted chicken for dinner, not because I loved the dish but because I knew I would get my favorite meal the next day! If you go visit the Eastern part of Canada, you’ll see this dish in many “Casse-croûte” (tiny restaurants, for a quick bite, by the road), or roasted chicken fast food chains. This dish isn’t what I would call: high gastronomy… it’s more of a comfort food or…

View Post

Main Meals

Paté Chinois / French Canadian Shepherd’s pie

By thefoodolic April 21, 2016

A traditional family dinner that is part of every French Canadian table is the famous ‘paté chinois’ which translate to ‘chinese paté’. A 3 layer pie of ground meat followed by the corn and topped by mashed potatoes. This version got a Spanish flair with some extra paprika, garlic, thyme and olive oil. Paté Chinois / French Canadian Shepherd’s pie is a typical French Canadian meal… Apparently created by the British railroad workers, in the 19th century, as an imitation of the famous “cottage pie” (beef, lamb and mashed potatoes). The dish was an imminent “hit”, at least, for the “on site” railroad workers which included many French Canadians and many Chinese workers. The French brought it back home and called it: Chinese paté… which as nothing to do with China… The “paté chinois” differs from the cottage pie or shepherd pie mainly because of the corn layer in the middle.…

View Post

Main Meals

European poutine

By thefoodolic April 2, 2016

If you ask any French Canadian living abroad; what they miss the most from home, it’s certain that you’ll see “the poutine” in the top 3. This is an emotional meal for any French Canadian and it’s actually pretty much impossible to reproduce the traditional one outside of Quebec because of the lack of that fresh of the day “squeech squeech” cheese. We say “squeech squeech” because it does that sound when we bite in it, although if it’s more than 24 hours old, the sound goes away. The cheese is in fact a fresh cheddar curd cheese and it’s main quality is, that’s the “secret of poutine”, that it doesn’t melt. So you can pour that hot gravy sauce on top of it and it won’t melt. Poutine is the meal you get after a night out with friends, or in a food stand in summer time, it’s always nice to…

View Post