Chef Curtis Pintye from the Canadian High Commission takes Shrabasti Mallik through the quintessential Canadian Christmas delicacies that he has whipped up at the Taj Palace
Father Christmas, gifts, stockings, decorations, Christmas trees, family — everything is synonymous to Christmas. The nip in the wind, the church choir preparing for the mass and the aroma of freshly baked cakes and cookies from mum’s oven are all indicators to the massive festival celebrating the birth of Christ. Everywhere, it is the same — lights, joys, laughter and the food. Especially the food.
While roast turkey is a must for a dinner in an American Thanksgiving, it is an indispensible preparation for a Canadian Christmas spread. “It is tradition,” said Curtis Pintye, head chef at Canada House, the official residence of the High Commissioner of Canada.
In case you are wondering about the sumptuous delicacies that a Canadian Christmas spread is made up of, you do not need to go far. Kafe Fontana at the Taj Palace is just the place for you. Not only can you indulge in a classic Canadian Christmas celebration but you can also ask chef Curtis, as he likes to be addressed, stories about the food. And trust us, he will have plenty to share.
To begin with, we must tell you that there are innumerable choices just in starters — vegetarian and non vegetarian included. And no, these were not the regular caesar salad or veg salads, they were real Canadian salads with shrimps, scallops, potatoes, vegetables, bacon and what not. We tried the pears and cherry tomato salad, the pomelo salad with maple and dijon dressing and the shrimp starter. The shrimps were served in cocktail glasses and were quite a delight. “Canada is known for its sea food so we have a lot of shrimps, oysters and scallops. Basically, all things that you will find in abundance there,” he laughed.
The cream of tomato soup with grilled cheese croutons, arugula is a must try on a wintry afternoon. “A lot of these preparations have flavours of the fall. So, we have been using a lot of sweet potatoes, carrots and vegetables that we normally get in Canada during this time of the year. It is severely cold in the country and nothing grows so we rely a lot on these fall vegetables,” chef Curtis told us.
For a very merry Canadian Christmas, you have to have roast turkey. And we could see the pride in the chef’s face when he told us so. “With that we have some traditional sides like mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole. Again, all in fall flavours,” he said. And if you are a potato lover like us, there are chances that you will be getting a third or, may be, a fourth helping of it. The mashed potatoes in particular were delicious, warm and as smooth as a smoothie. We were told that after the potatoes are mashed it is whipped very well with, well, lots of butter. The turkey, on the other hand, was quite delectable — juicy and succulent.
“A lot of our traditional and classic Canadian food comes from the out east areas like Ontario and adjoining areas. So, along with what we have there are also dishes like tourtière (finely diced pork pie) and cranberry sauce and gravy,” the chef pointed out. The tourtière is a classic meat pie and comes from the province of Quebec and is a food for the rustic people and the peasants. But irrespective of its humble origins, it was real tasty. When you are there, you can also try out some of the other Canadian special dishes like fried bannock and mincemeat tarts.
The salmon and honey is another delight that you may want to try, and we suggest that you must. The honey tasted different and chef Curtis told us that it was brought from Canada and from the place he hailed from.
“Where I come from, there is a huge production of honey because there are endless fields of canola and mustard. The honey is of superior quality and we got them in for this spread. A lot of the food is rustic and simple, we are not complicated people,” he shared.
All this later and chef Curtis was not quite done. He told us about the quintessential Canadian dish called the poutine which is made of french fries, cheese curds (which is similar to out Indian paneer except that it is set with rennet) and non veg gravy. “Poutin is a bad word for mess because the dish is actually a mess. You have this gravy topped with melted cheese with french fries on top,” he said.
The feast is on till December 20.