Twas the week before Christmas and all through the house … was chaos! At this time of year so much is going on between work, shopping, cooking, end-of-year parties, Christmas vacation, and of course, the gathering of family and friends to celebrate various religious holidays. Not sure about your families, but with us, most of the holidays revolve around food traditions. Being of Polish background, Kirstie gets to enjoy homemade perogies on Christmas Eve. Her husband, on the other hand, holds the annual ‘Boxing Day Pizza Party,’ a tradition he grew up with. Aside from the traditional feast, Jody’s family gathers for lunch at the iconic ‘Harmony Lunch’ for their legendary hamburgers on Christmas Eve day.
Over the holidays, Jody and I treat ourselves to some food luxuries that we often serve our clients, but –believe it or not – we don’t normally indulge in! Oozey brie cheese with trendy crackers, toasted nuts and other munchies, or even crab legs and other seafood.
After stopping into T&J Seafoods this week (on Elm Street in Kitchener, off of Strange Street), we realized that seafood is definitely one of those luxuries that people tend to gravitate towards around the holidays. One of their biggest sellers at this time of year is their house-smoked salmon. They make both hot and cold smoked salmon.
The former being the kind that literally flakes when handled, and has a more ‘cooked’ appearance.
Their signature cold-smoked salmon (the stuff folks are lined up for) is cured first with salt and sugar, and then oak-smoked to produce a beautiful melt-in-your-mouth texture when carefully sliced thin. Serve this one on its own, simply with some bread, pickles and cream cheese.
The hot smoked salmon is a fabulous quick fix dip or even an addition to pasta or rice. We’ve also included an easy cracker recipe: if you can make cookies, you can make crackers!
Happy Holidays from Kirstie and Jody!
T&J’s Hot-Smoked Salmon Spread
- 1/2 lb hot-smoked salmon
- 1/2 cup Greek-style thick yogurt
- 1/4 cup finely sliced chives
- Juice of half a lemon
Flake cold smoked salmon in a bowl; Mix all other ingredients together; Serve with crackers or bread.
Heat oven to 325 degrees F;
In a mixing bowl blend flax seeds, flour, baking powder and salt;
Using your fingers, blend in butter until it looks like coarse meal;
Add milk and mix until dough ball forms; wrap and chill 10 minutes (or day before);
Divide dough into about four pieces; on a lightly floured surface, roll dough thinly (1/16 inch); transfer to baking sheet;
Bake until crisp and golden approximately 20 minutes. When cool, break into pieces.
Crackers
- 1/2 cup flax seeds
- 1-1/2 cups unbleached flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp softened butter
- 1/2 cup 1% or skim milk
