Food item photos by David Baratz for USA WEEKEND
Whether Mexican or Greek or Chinese, cultural heritage often influences what we like to see on the buffet table at family gatherings. Here, five worldly TV chefs go back to their roots to share the delicious food memories that instantly bring them home for the holidays.
"Sticking" with Chinese traditions
"Chinese are obsessed with holidays and festivals," says Ching-He Huang, host of Cooking Channel's Chinese Food Made Easy. She was born in Taiwan to Chinese parents but spent most of her childhood in South Africa and England. "My parents tried hard to keep our Chinese traditions."
On Dec. 22, Huang's family in Taiwan celebrates the winter-solstice holiday Dongzhi. "It's a whole day of preparation and logistical cooking: the duck roasting in the oven, the chicken on the wok, the dumplings in a pan, soup in the rice cooker," she says. "All the dishes would be served at once. When my family feasts together, there is no space on the tables for flowers — only food!"
But even when she doesn't make it back to Taiwan for the celebration, she prepares a version of her late grandmother's chicken-and-rice dish, bi-ge, at home in London. Huang remembers watching her grandmother waste no part of the chicken — not even the blood, which can be mixed with sticky rice and grilled. This was a profound lesson: To waste nothing is to show respect for the animal.
The holiday also means an endless supply of tang yuan — a bit like gnocchi — but served as a sticky dessert). Huang's grandmother also was masterful at making these balls of sweetened dough with brown sugar and sticky-rice flour, which she then boiled in ginger-sugar water. "We eat tang yuan," Huang says, "so that our family will remain close and 'stick' together."
From Ching-He Huang’s Chinese Food in Minutes (2009 Harper Collins UK)
1 Tb. peanut oil
2-inch piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and sliced
6 dried Shitake mushrooms, presoaked in hot water for 20 minutes, then drained and sliced, stalks removed
14 ounces chicken thighs, skinned and halved on the bone
3 1/2 ounces Shaohsing rice wine or dry sherry
3 1/2 ounces pure sesame oil
1/2 tsp. salt
11 ounces jasmine rice
18 ounces water
Heat a wok over a high heat and add the peanut oil. When the oil starts to smoke, add the ginger and stir-fry for 1 minute, then add the mushrooms and cook for 30 seconds. Add the chicken and stir-fry until starting to turn opaque, then add the rice wine or sherry and the sesame oil and cook for 2 minutes. Season with salt.
Wash the rice until the water runs clear. Put the rice into a pan, pour the chicken and all the wok juices over it and mix well. Pour the water into the pan and bring to a boil, then cover the pan and simmer on a medium heat for 20 minutes.
Fluff up the rice and serve immediately.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Sweetening the holidays with Indian confections
Growing up in India and Dubai in a Catholic family meant a unique integration of traditions for Aarti Sequeira, who got her big break winning The Next Food Network Star chef contest this year and is now host of her own Food Network show, Aarti Party.
"I loved when my mom made sweet, sticky lamb chops at the holidays — it felt like a treat," says Sequeira, whose parents and youngest sister still live in Bangalore, India.
These days, she and her Irish-German American husband, Brendan McNamara, live a world away, in Los Angeles. And they celebrate the holidays at his parents' retreat in the mountains of North Carolina. But no matter where Sequeira is, her roots come through in the kitchen.
Her no-fuss holiday menu usually includes tandoori chicken, a pilaf and a salad. In fact, this Indian meal is now such a part of her in-laws' Christmas that there's a contest to see who can withstand the hottest chiles. (McNamara's stepfather seems to be a frequent winner.) And the Indian sweets Sequeira prepares also have been a hit.
"The first time I made coconut toffee for them, I wasn't sure how it would go over," she says. "But they finished off the first round, and I had to make another batch. That made me happy."
Because most Indians are Hindus and don't celebrate Christmas, Christmas confections in India are unique. "When I have kids,"she says, "they will get roped into making these sweets, so they learn a little about where they're from, where coconuts grow wild."
Courtesy of Aarti Sequeira
Baking spray
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
2 cups unsweetened desiccated coconut (also called finely grated)
Pinch ground cardamom
Drop pink food coloring, optional
Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper overlapping the sides (for easy lifting). In a heavy-bottomed 3-quart saucepan over medium heat, mix the sugar and the water. Cook until the mixture reaches the soft-ball stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.
Stir in the coconut, cardamom and food coloring, if using. (The toffee should be a pale, gentle pink.)
Quickly spread the mixture evenly in the prepared pan, firmly pressing it into the corners. Allow it to cool and harden (takes a number of hours). Cut or break into delicate squares or pieces and enjoy.
Yield: 10–12 servings
Mixing it up on the Mexican border
There's always more than a dozen guests for the holidays at Marcela Valladolid's family home in Mexico. But even more can drop by unexpectedly, so the host always has plenty of food.
"Our holiday table is loud!"says Valladolid, who also hosts Food Network's Mexican Made Easy. You can hear the commotion upon entering her father's house in Tijuana, the border town where she was raised. But then it hits you: the smell of cinnamon from the bunuelos (fried cinnamon crisps). After walking farther into the house, you notice the air is redolent with charred poblanos, used in such traditional dishes as poblano rajas, poblano tamales and poblano rice.
"We celebrate with a mix of Mexican and American traditions," Valladolid says. Indeed, on her table, you're as likely to find ham and pumpkin pie as you are tamales and pozole stew.
"The menu has to appease both the American and Mexican guests," says Valladolid, who now lives in San Diego. "Christmas, we either serve dishes that are traditionally of one culture (such as a Christmas ham or Mexican tamales) or fuse the two to create more interesting dishes like my ancho-crusted lamb rack."
Preserving her family's food culture is crucial to her, especially now that she has a son. "Most of my friends growing up had the exact same mix of cultures and dishes at their holiday table," she says. "It is a bond that's unique to Mexican-Americans who grow up in border towns."
Courtesy of Marcela Valladolid
An ancho chile is a dried poblano, perfect for adding a little heat to this bread crumb crust. If you don’t have a spice grinder, a coffee bean grinder will work just as well. (Grind the chile first and then make the bread crumbs in the grinder to clean it out.) Traditional mint jelly works fine as an accompaniment.
1 ancho chile, stemmed, and seeded
4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
3 large shallots, minced (about 3/4 cup)
2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
1½ cups fresh bread crumbs made from French bread
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 well-trimmed racks of lamb (each about 1 1/4 pounds)
3 tsp. Dijon mustard
Tear the chile into small pieces and place in a spice grinder. Grind the chile to a powder.
Melt the butter in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and thyme and sauté for 3 minutes, or until the shallots are soft. Add the chile powder and stir. Add the bread crumbs and cook for 5 minutes, or until the crumbs are golden brown. Remove from the heat and season to taste with salt and pepper. Let the crumb topping cool.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over high heat. Season the lamb racks all over with salt and pepper. Working in batches, add the lamb racks to the skillet, rounded side down. Sear for 6 minutes, or until brown. Transfer to a large rimmed baking sheet, seared side up.
Spread 1½ teaspoons of the mustard over each rack. Press the crumb topping into the mustard on the racks.
Roast for 20 minutes for medium-rare, or until desired doneness. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing into chops.
Yield: 4 Servings
Courtesy of Marcela Valladolid
7 cups fresh corn kernels, from 7 ears (if corn isn't in season, use frozen corn that's been thawed and drained)
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 Tb. salt
1/2 Tb. baking powder
1/2 cup harina de maiz (dried corn flour) *
20 dried corn husks, soaked in warm water for 30 minutes*
*Can be found in Hispanic grocery stores
Working in batches, add the corn kernels to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until pale. Add the egg, salt and baking powder. Mix to incorporate. Add the flour and pureed corn and mix until blended and forms a loose smooth dough.
Put a corn husk lengthwise in front of you with the wide side closest to you. Spread 3 tablespoons of the dough all over the bottom half (wide side) of the corn husk, leaving about a 1-inch-wide border on the left and right sides. Pick up the 2 long sides of the corn husk and bring them together. Roll both sides of the corn husks in the same direction over the filling.
Repeat with remaining corn husks and dough. Arrange the tamales, seam sides down, in a steamer and add 1/2-inch of water. Cover with a tight-fitting lid, bring to a simmer and steam for 1 hour, adding additional water, as needed to maintain 1/2-inch water in the pan. Remove tamales from the steamer and serve.
Yield: 20 tamales
Courtesy of Marcela Valladolid, 2009
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
6 (8-inch) flour tortillas, whole or cut into shapes
On a large plate, combine the sugar and cinnamon. In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, add enough vegetable oil to come halfway up the sides of the pan. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until a deep-frying thermometer, inserted in the oil, reaches 350F degrees. (If you do not have a thermometer, test the oil with a piece of tortilla, which should sizzle when it touches the oil and should brown in about 2 to 3 minutes.) Fry the whole tortillas, 1 at a time, until golden brown. With a slotted spoon, transfer the crisps to paper towels to drain. While still warm, dip them into the cinnamon-sugar mixture, turning to coat. Serve.
Cook's Note: These crisps can be made ahead, sealed in cellophane bags and given as gifts! A fun way to present these crisps is to serve a couple in a bowl of vanilla bean ice cream with fresh, seasonal berries on top.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Connecting to the past, staying in the present
The holidays for author and food columnist Mark Bittman are all about cultural heritage — just not necessarily his own.
"I'm pretty secular, but I really love to check out other people's traditions," says Bittman, who was raised in a Jewish home. "I like to do winter celebrations or longest-night dinners in mid-winter. I've done Hanukkah, Christmas — it's all an excuse to have a party."
As a food writer for 30 years (his latest book is The Food Matters Cookbook), Bittman has cooked sweet potatoes in a million different ways. But his childhood memories come into play with his sweet-salty riff on potato pancakes, a traditional Hanukkah food but something he's just as likely to make for any other fall or winter celebration.
His personal twist is to use a combination of white and sweet potatoes instead of the more traditional white-only.
"Unless you make them at the last minute, they're no good," says Bittman, who lives in New York City and writes the food column "The Minimalist" for The New York Times (and stars in a Cooking Channel show of the same name). "So I like the idea of having people standing around, keeping me company, as I fry them up. And I feel happy making something that connects me to my grandmother and to the children and other generations that I'm feeding. That's what the holidays are about. I like that. But I also like to try new things."
Courtesy of Mark Bittman
2 pounds sweet potatoes
1 medium onion
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbs. breadcrumbs, preferably fresh
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbs. neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn, plus more as needed
Peel the sweet potatoes, then grate them and the onion in a food processor or by hand; press in a colander or strainer to remove excess moisture. Heat a large skillet, preferably nonstick or cast iron, over medium heat.
Toss the potatoes and onion in a bowl with the eggs, breadcrumbs, and a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper; put 2 Tbs. oil in the skillet and heat until it begins to turn nut brown. Working in batches, spoon the sweet potato mixture into the skillet to form 1/4- to 1/2-inch-thick pancakes of any diameter you like. Cook, turning once, until browned on both sides, about 10 minutes total. Repeat with the remaining batter, adding more oil to the skillet if it becomes dry. Serve hot.
Yield: 4 servings.
A Mediterranean mix
Picture a table laden with stuffed grape leaves, spanakopita (spinach pie), hummus dip and lots of sweet, sweet baklava. You must be at Iron Chef Michael Symon's family holiday celebration in Cleveland. "I always was jealous that my friends got ham at Christmas," says Symon, who is of Greek, Italian and Eastern European descent. "But I wouldn't change a thing now."
In fact, he honors his heritage (and his late grandmother) with the Italian tradition of the Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve — dishes such as squid-ink pasta with calamari, fried sardines with lemon and fried shrimp with saffron aioli.
Symon's busy TV schedule — Food Feuds and The Next Iron Chef on Food Network and Cook Like an Iron Chef on Cooking Channel —is almost as jam-packed as his 40- or 50-person holiday gathering. "We have a 15-foot table that we line with food. My mom brings lasagna and baklava, and I fill the table with everything else. It's usually very casual and lively."
Last year, everyone came in pajamas — which is a good thing, because with all that great food, elastic waistbands sure come in handy.
Courtesy of Michael Symon
Lamb
6 shallots, minced (about ¾ cup)
4 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup chopped fresh rosemary
2 Tbs. sugar
2 Tbs. coriander seeds, toasted and crushed
1 Tbs. crushed red pepper flakes
1½ Tbs. kosher salt
1 6-pound bone-in leg of lamb
Mix together in a medium bowl the shallots, garlic, rosemary, sugar, coriander, red pepper flakes and salt. Rub the mixture all over the surface of the lamb. Place in a large glass baking dish, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Remove the lamb from the baking dish, rinse off the seasonings and pat dry. Let the lamb sit at room temperature for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 375F degrees.
Heat a roasting pan or large ovenproof skittle over medium heat. Add the lamb and brown on all sides, 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer the lamb, fat side up, to a roasting rack set into a roasting pan. Roast until the lamb reached an internal temperature of 140F degrees, about 1½ hours.
Remove the lamb room the pan and set it aside to rest for 20 minutes.
Slice the lamb and serve with the tzatziki sauce.
Tzatziki Sauce
2 cups Greek yogurt
1 cucumber
Kosher salt
Juice of 2 lemons
3 Tbs. chopped fresh mint
1 Tb. minced garlic
1 Tb. minced shallot
Freshly ground black pepper
Put the yogurt in a cheesecloth-lined strainer set over a bowl and let drain for
24 hours in the refrigerator. Peel and dice the cucumber. Sprinkle it with
salt and place in a strainer at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours to drain.
Stir together the yogurt, cucumber, lemon juice, mint, garlic and shallot in a
medium bowl until thoroughly combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
YIELD: 8 Servings
A French-Canadian holiday
Canadian Chuck Hughes starts celebrating early. Beginning in late September and running through New Year’s, you can’t go to his family home on Lake Memphremagog in Quebec without the ever-present oyster—harvested and flown in from Prince Edward Island or New Brunswick just that morning.
“At every family gathering is me with one or two cases of oysters, shucking away,” says Hughes, host of Chuck’s Day Off on Cooking Channel and chef–co-owner of the Montreal restaurant Garde Manger.
Hughes’ family opts for the bivalves (served mostly on the half-shell with a little squeeze of lemon), whereas the more prevalent French-Canadian tradition is tourtiere, a meat pie. “Oysters are always the perfect way to start the holiday meal. They get everyone loosened up. Have a drink, have a few oysters, and mingle—that’s what we do.”
Or, rather, that’s what everyone else in his family does. Meanwhile, as the ordained family shucker, this popular TV chef takes a backseat in the kitchen. “My mother is still the boss,” he says. “Growing up I was her helper. If she had to form stiff peaks with egg whites, that was my job. I was always doing the grunt work. And things haven’t changed.”
Courtesy of Chuck Hughes
Pastry:
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsalted butter, chilled, rough chopped
Pinch of salt
1 egg, chilled
1 Tbs. ice water, plus more if needed
Filling:
1/3 cup maple syrup (80 ml)
1 egg
½ cup 35% cream (125 ml)
1½ cup brown sugar (300 g)
1 cup pecans (250 g)
Ice cream or whipped cream, for serving
Process flour, butter and a pinch of salt in a food processor until mixture resembles big breadcrumbs.
Whisk egg and 1 Tbs. chilled water in a bowl until combined.
With food processor motor running, add wet mixture to flour mixture. Process until mixture begins to form large clumps, stopping machine before it forms a ball. Add more water if necessary; you want the dough to just barely hang together, and not be too wet.
Turn pastry out onto a work surface and knead very gently to bring together. Form into a disc, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour (two is even better).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a light dusting of flour on your board, roll out pastry to desired thinness. Lay into pie shell, prick with a fork all over, trim and adjust the edge decoratively, as you wish.
In a large bowl, mix syrup, egg, cream and brown sugar until thoroughly combined.
Pour pie mixture into pastry-lined dish. Top with pecans and bake for about 35 minutes or until set. Let cool before serving with ice cream or whipped cream.
Yield: 6–8 servings
Courtesy of Chuck Hughes
2 cups milk
12 oysters with their liquid (cut in half if large)
2 Tbs. chives, chopped
1 Tb. butter
Salt and pepper
Hot buttered baguette
Over medium heat, simmer milk in a saucepan (without boiling). Add the oysters,
chives and butter, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Season to taste. Serve with
slices of hot buttered baguette.
Yield: 2 servings
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