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Our favourite time of the year
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Chefs Marc and Chantal welcome you to Cuisine & Passion
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The decorations are up, the snow is on the ground--at least until it hits eight and nine degrees on Sunday and Monday--and our thoughts are turning to the holidays.
Again this year, we have new menus for Christmas dinner and your New Year's Eve party. Yule Log cakes will be available as will traditional Christmas Cakes and, of course, we have two kinds of tourtières on offer, as well.
Again this year, we will be making full Christmas dinners available through the Orléans-Cumberland Community Resource Centre to 20 Orléans families--80 people--who otherwise might not enjoy a holiday dinner. It's part of our annual Holiday Magic program, something that has become a tradition around here. (Read below how you can get involved.) So yes, it's going to be a fabulous holiday season. We hope to see you, again, very soon!
Chefs Chantal Gagné and Marc Miron
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| Christmas menu now available
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Save time, enjoy a delicious meal
 How does this sound for Christmas dinner?
We begin with a beautiful Chicken Consommé and Smoked Duck Dumpling. And that's just the appetizer!
Our main dish consists of Oven-roasted Boneless Turkey with Herbs and Lemon, Traditional Stuffing, Roasted Potatoes, Carrot and Rutabaga Purée, Cranberry Ketchup and Turkey Jus. Finally, our Baked Alaska Trifle is the perfect ending to a wonderful meal.
You can purchase each course separately or enjoy this complete three-course dinner on Christmas Day for just $35 per person. Download the full Christmas menu here.
Dinners will be prepared for pick-up on Monday, December 24. |
| Let us help you celebrate New Year's Eve, too!
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Why not make it a night to remember
 It's New Year's Eve. Who wants to spend time in the kitchen preparing food? Let us make your celebration feast and you can spend time enjoying the party! Ring in the New Year with a French-themed dinner from Cuisine & Passion and you'll start with Apple Cider and Onion Soup with Aged-Cheddar Croutons before moving on to either Beef Wellington and Red Wine Sauce or Salmon Medallion filled with Spinach and Scallops. Side dishes include Green Bean Amandine and Sweet Potato Gratin Dauphinois. For dessert, Individual Gateau Concorde will be served.
As with our Christmas dinners, each course can be purchased separately, but for those who purchase the entire meal for $45, we will add an amuse-gueule of Mini Quiche Loraine.
Download the full New Year's Eve dinner here.
Dinners will be prepared for pick-up on Monday, December 31.
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| Like/follow us and win!
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We're going all social media on you!
Follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook and you will have
a chance to win two seats at an upcoming demonstration class.
Download the upcoming class list here. Don't wait! Click now!
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| French-Canadian classic available for a limited time
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 Want to add a little Quebecois tradition to your Christmas feast this year?
Tourtière du lac St-Jean is a deep-dish pie covered in flaky pastry dough and filled with venison, duck, chicken, pork and beef. Because we are making only a limited number of this specialty item, we would advise ordering yours now. Each pie feeds six to eight people and comes in its own 1.5-litre ceramic ramekin. They are priced at just $60 each.
We also have our regular tourtières--hand-rolled pastry dough and a tasty filling of pork, veal and beef plus a hearty dose of fresh herbs--available at just $15.99 each.
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| Take the pressure off this Christmas
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Have yourself a culinary Christmas!
 | Denis Trehudic, the
head pastry chef at the Montreal Casino, comes
by every year to make our beautiful Christmas cakes.
Available soon! |
Our goal is to make your Christmas a little tastier--and much less stressful--every year. Here are some of the products that are available either now or for pre-order:
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Christmas Dinner
(to be pre-ordered)
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$35.00 per person
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New Year's Eve Dinner (to be pre-ordered)
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$45.00 per person
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Tourtière
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$15.99
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Tourtière Lac St-Jean
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$60.00
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Fruitcake
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$35.00
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Yule Log
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$18.99
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Also available are gift certificates, gift baskets, cookie baskets ($18) and Christmas tree centrepieces ($40).
Why not drop by to have a look? Let us help in the kitchen so you can spend the holidays with family and friends!
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| Cooking tip: Roasting the perfect turkey
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by Chef Marc Miron
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A few simple tricks to make
your holiday dinner a success
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Prefer not to cook your own turkey? We can do it for you!
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At Cuisine & Passion, we like to debone the turkey and roll the dark meat up around the stuffing. The white meat is also rolled and roasted. This preparation allows for more even cooking and gives you beautiful, tender and juicy meat.
But, if you are cooking your own, chances are good it will be on the bone. Start by removing the giblets from your fresh or thawed turkey and rinsing the bird inside and out. After you pat it dry with paper towels, you are ready to roast. Here are a few tips to help ensure success.
- Stuff the bird loosely with no more than 3/4 cup of stuffing per pound of bird.
- If you are stuffing the bird, tie the drumsticks and wings together with string.
- If you place the bird on a rack in a roasting pan, you will get good air circulation and a better-roasted bird.
- Roast in an oven at 350F. You are looking for a final internal temperature of no less than 165F. The thermometer should be inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, pointing toward the body but not touching the bone. If the bird is stuffed, the middle of the stuffing should reach at least 165F, too.
- Once your bird has lightly browned, cover it loosely with a foil tent. With about 45 minutes of roasting left, remove the foil tent to brown the skin. No need to baste, but basting will give you a more even browning.
- How long to cook? Here's a rough guide:
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| Holiday baking class
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Chef Chantal's sweet treats
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Chef Chantal's at the
head of the class!
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Most of the time it is Chef Marc at the front of the class, teaching about cuisines from around the globe. But it was Chef Chantal who presented two holiday-dessert classes this past month--and what sweet classes they were!
Recipes included Rosemary Butter Cookies, Lemon Drizzle Cake, Pumpkin Cupcakes, Apricot and Coconut Slices, Yuletide Cherry Cookies and Chocolate Mousse.
If you didn't attend a class (or even if you did!), you can purchase both the Rosemary Butter Cookies and the Yuletide Cherry Cookies here at the store.
Rather try something yourself? Check out the recipe for the Lemon Drizzle Cake below. Enjoy!
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| Holiday Magic: A passion for giving
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Helping in the community
 Did you know that hundreds of families in Orléans visit the food bank each month just so they have something to eat? These are our friends and neighbours!
Not a day goes by that we don't count our blessings. And once again this year, we have launched our Holiday Magic program, a chance for all of us to give back to those in need.
For just $50, you can feed a family of four this Christmas. For each family, Chef Marc will prepare a traditional three-course turkey dinner valued at more than $140 for each family, and the good folks at the Orléans-Cumberland Community Resource Centre will distribute the food.
For your donation, your name will be placed on a festive tag that will adorn the large sign in the store.
Our goal is to feed 20 families (80 people) this year. Won't you help?
Give a little. Help a lot. |
| Think global. Give local.
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Giving has never been easier
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Beautiful gift baskets for every occasion.
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Wouldn't it be nice to surprise someone with a gift basket loaded with local food products? Well, you can!
Choose from a selection of our ready-to-go baskets or select the Cuisine & Passion house-made sauces, jams, spices or other products you'd like to include in a basket. Just tell us your budget and we'll put together a custom selection for you.
Whether it's a gift certificate for a cooking class or a basket filled with culinary delights, we can help you take care of all your giving needs. Drop in soon!
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| Featured recipe: Lemon Drizzle Cake
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by Chef
Marc Miron
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Perfect combination of sweet and tart
Chef Chantal describes this cake as "super, super easy." The rest of us describe it as "super, super tasty!"
Two quick notes. First, although the cake batter calls for extra-fine sugar, you can use regular sugar without harm. Also, while one lemon will give you all the zest you need, it probably won't give you enough lemon juice for both the batter and the syrup, so make sure you have an extra one, just in case.
Ingredients 1 3/4 cup flour 2 tsp baking powder 1 cup extra-fine or regular white sugar 4 eggs 2/3 cup sour cream zest of one large lemon 4 tbsp lemon juice 2/3 cup canola oil Method - Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8-inch (20 cm) springform cake pan and line bottom with parchment paper.
- Sift flour and baking powder into mixing bowl and stir in sugar.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, lemon zest, lemon juice and oil.
- Pour egg mixture into dry ingredients and mix well until evenly combined.
- Bake for 45-60 min. until cake has risen and is golden brown.
Syrup In a small pan, mix together 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar and 3 tablespoons of lemon juice. Stir over low heat until just beginning to bubble and turn syrupy. As soon as the cake comes out of oven, prick the surface with a fine skewer in several spots, then brush the syrup over the top. Let the cake cool completely in the pan before turning out and serving. Enjoy! |
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Give the
gift of fine cuisine
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Looking for a great housewarming or birthday gift, or a unique way to say thanks for helping out? A gift basket from Cuisine & Passion is just the answer! You can design it yourself or let us put together the perfect combination of tasty treats fresh from our kitchen.
Bring a smile to someone's face today! Drop in, call us at 613-845-1090 or email us now for more information.
| | Visit us today at 2297 St. Joseph Blvd. in Orléans (beside Pizza Hut) and we will help you make that certain someone feel extra special! |
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