Eat Seasonally This Winter

I find myself cooking at home most frequently in the height of winter. Maybe it’s because temperatures are typically at an all-year low, or that I am feeling sheepish about all of the costly holiday season celebrations and feasting I took part in throughout November and December. Whatever the reason, I find much comfort in milling about my kitchen, cooking up batches of soups, pasta sauces, roasting pans of root vegetables, chicken, turkey (not just for the holidays, friends!) and well, I can go on…

As less and less fresh Canadian-grown ingredients are available as winter goes on, I find myself getting more inventive about how I am cooking with what I find at the grocery store and what I’ve got kicking around in my cupboards.

Here’s a few helpful tips for home cooking with Canadian ingredients this winter.

Make your root vegetable soups a little more interesting

Soup is a classic go-to when it comes to cooking up the plethora of Canadian-grown root vegetables that are still readily available at grocers and farmers markets. People often get tunnel vision with hearty soups, making a classic butternut squash or potato soup over and over…and over.

Try mixing up the base of root vegetables that you put into your winter soups. For example, swap up a cup of diced potatoes for diced rutabaga or parsnips and you’ll discover a new depth of flavour with minimal effort.

In terms of brightening up a basic soup, adding a little sauerkraut is always nice as it adds tang, texture and salt, and the same goes for a splash or two of pickle juice. I am a huge advocate for making the most of excess pickle juice and I know you’ve got some in your fridge!

Winter salads are welcome

I wrote about this in my spring column last year, but here’s a friendly reminder that there are so many Canadian farmers with greenhouse operations year-round. Making a fresh and local salad outside of summer and fall is very much doable.

Something I love to do is look at classic salads and imagine how roasted vegetables could fit into them in lieu of say, tomatoes or cucumbers. Acorn squash looks beautiful and tastes just a great in a panzanella. Using some perfectly-charred cabbage instead of iceberg in a wedge salad-style preparation? Heaven!

Whoever said you can’t make friends with salad certainly hasn’t made a winter salad.

Smoked and cured meats can bolster flavour of dishes at minimal cost

It’s no secret that Canadian farmers raise some of the best proteins the world has to offer. Whether you love popping into your local grocery store, an Italian grocer, a longstanding Polish deli or a neighbourhood Asian market, you’re going to have a great selection of smoked and cured meats at your disposal.

At a time of year where many try to spend less on, well, most things in one’s day-to-day life, products like farmer’s sausage, smoked salmon, bresaola, and even beef jerky, are a clever way to boost both the flavour of simple comfort dishes as well as the protein. A little goes a long way with ingredients like these, especially when slow-cooked with pulses (more on that in my next point) and that is what I love most.

One of my favourite tricks is to add some diced jerky into a classic risotto for smokiness, salt and texture. Oh, and never underestimate the delicious power of a smoked pork hock, smoked turkey leg or chicken thigh!

Pulses (i.e. lentils, beans, chickpeas et al.) offer great value and nutrition

If you ask me, there is never a bad time of year for cooking pulses, but with their economical cost, and February 10th being World Pulses Day, winter feels like the perfect season to do so.

Growing up in Saskatchewan, I have long known the versatility of lentils—whether they are red, green, beluga or otherwise—and I find myself cooking them up regularly in cassoulet-style dishes, or simply as part of a hearty salad. Living in Alberta as an adult, I have come to learn that all types of pulses grow here, including black beans, fava beans, field peas and pintos. It’s pretty cool that all of these things are right here in our Canadian backyard.

While pulses can vary in terms of preparations and cook times, what most share is being a great plant-based protein source, among plenty of other vitamins, minerals, and fibre—and just Mairlyn Smith, Canada’s Queen of Fibre!

Explore dried fruits and vegetables

There are always frozen vegetables but have you tried the flavour-packed home preservation technique of drying in-season fruits and vegetables? If you haven’t tried it yourself you can find things like dried (or freeze-dried) berries, mushrooms, and other vegetables at your local farmers’ market and small-scale grocers.

Dried fruits can be reconstituted in winter drinks like mulled wine and cider, adding to their flavour profiles. I love bringing dried saskatoon berries back to life with a little fruit wine, butter and spices to make a delicious sauce to top my go-to sour cream panna cotta recipe or any sort of simple pound cake.

Dried mushrooms are one of the best dried products to have at your ready for savoury cooking. They are packed with umami and can give things like soups, cream-based pasta sauces, risotto (and so much more) added dimension.