We have a brand-new Festive Menu for 2018—and it’s our best yet! Here’s why
One of the most exciting aspects of running a fast-paced catering firm is the chance to put an innovative new twist on traditional dishes. It’s a fun challenge that we relish (pun intended!), especially at a time of rapid growth for our company, when we’ve been able to make some amazing new additions to our team.
As we announced in a previous blog, Kiss the Cook’s new Executive Chef Steven Sinclair recently came on board and he’s wasted no time making his mark in our catering kitchen (you may recognize it as the place where we make culinary magic happen every day). Here’s a little secret: Steven’s a huge fan of the holiday season. October through New Year’s is his gastronomic happy time, so he’s been hard at work with the rest of our team creating delectable new additions to our Festive Menu.
It wouldn’t be the holidays without a turkey feast
All of that innovation and inspiration isn’t just a mouth-watering reminder of what makes the season such a meaningful one for foodies like us, it also helps us reconnect with its deeper meaning. I can’t tell you how thankful I am for the support of our many clients. Every time we receive a glowing review on social media, by phone or in person, it’s like an added jolt of heart-warming energy for our team. All that love helps drive our creativity, innovation, and fuels a passion for doing what we love: creating amazing experiences through food! And what a kick-off to this Holiday season—we’ve had an incredible pre-Thanksgiving week, catering a record 5,126 turkey dinners to private and corporate clients. We’ve already staged some amazing events and had the opportunity to introduce a host of great new festive dishes. Just a reminder—our schedule is filling fast, so if you’d like us to serve one of these great new options at your next event, now is the time to place your orders.
The season is also a chance to get reacquainted with annual staples like creamy egg nog, warm pumpkin or apple pie and, of course, a feast of juicy turkey with all the familiar trimmings! Each year we start the holidays off with one ambitious goal in mind: taking our Festive Menu in a clever new direction, while still keeping many of the traditional dishes you’ve come to know and love. This year is no different, but I have to say, I think we may have outdone ourselves. This could well be our best Festive Menu ever!
Our yummy turkey sliders with brussels sprout slaw & cranberry chutney
Why, you ask? Our goal this year was to celebrate the familiarity of traditional festive dishes, all while adding a unique spin to make them truly unforgettable. Case in point: we re-worked our hors d’oeuvres menu and featured amazing new dishes such as our turkey sliders with cranberry chutney and stuffing muffins wrapped in prosciutto—transforming old-school recipes into scrumptious finger foods.
Now, don’t panic—traditional favourites such as our signature Turkey Feast are back and better than ever before. Chef Steven has put his own experienced touch on our tried-and-true recipes, bringing some of the flare he learned in his mom’s kitchen to add yuletide zest to our famous turkey gravy and making our best-ever stuffing even better. Yeah, we know, you probably didn’t think that was even possible. Apparently, it is.
Too good to be true brussels sprout sliders with grilled halloumi cheese and caramelized onion
We didn’t stop at the hors d’oeuvres menu. Because we’re a little nuts for nostalgia, we highly recommend donning your favourite ugly sweater and delving into our brand new Christmas Cutout Ravioli—a recipe that would make any discerning Nonna proud. These festive pillows of cheesy joy are stuffed with award-winning ricotta and adorned with our famous slow-roasted tomato sauce. It’s also a vegetarian dish, one of many new additions to our menu for non-meat-eaters. It pairs well with vegetarian starters such as our Caprese Pops, Brussels Sprout Sliders—you have to try them to understand just how tasty these pint-sized veggies can be—or our Crispy Polenta Cakes with tomato jam and goat’s cheese mousse.
Our Holiday Stuffing Bites are always a crowd pleaser
I also highly recommend our Winter Wonderland Platters featuring new favourites such as our House Specialty Porchetta with roasted red peppers and onions, garlic rapini and green onion aioli, not to mention original delicacies like our Cauliflower Steaks featuring a tangy olive and herb salsa. The best part is you can indulge in these dishes guilt-free if you’ve promised to eat healthy over the holidays. They’re also great for working lunches because the platters can be served to perfection at room temperature—a nod to the success with this summer’s popular grilled-and-chilled platters.
Throwing a larger holiday party this year? We pulled out all the stops to create mind-blowing food stations so memorable you’ll probably hear guests raving about them for years to come.
Chef’s carving stations are the perfect addition to any party
In addition to our super-popular chef’s carving stations—featuring everything from smoked turkey and prime rib to Porchetta—we’ve made some delicious additions that make it possible to enjoy a traditional turkey dinner in food station form. With a focus on being on-trend and on-theme for the season, we’ve launched new staples such as our Holiday Poutine food station.
A yuletide twist on a Quebecois favourite
This dish puts a Yuletide spin on the trademark Quebecois dish combining oven-baked potato wedges or golden fries with freshly-carved turkey, homemade stuffing, Quebec cheese curds, cranberry sauce and poutine gravy. Try it once and you may never want to eat a traditional turkey dinner again. But this year I think our funnest of the bunch is the mouth-watering Stuffing Waffles food station. We’ve transformed our best-ever stuffing into waffle form and topped it with fresh, hand-carved turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and added cranberry orange sauce on the side just in case your taste buds weren’t already in ecstasy. But here’s the catch. These two amazing food stations are only available from October through the end of December, so you’ll have to book now if you want to experience the very best in festive comfort food.
Our Stuffing Waffle Station is all about creativity and deliciousness
But what’s a holiday feast without a sweet finish? You’ll love new faves such as our Seasonal Dessert Squares—an unforgettable match up of pumpkin cheesecake, triple chocolate brownie, cranberry ginger blondie, apple crumble, lemon and wild blueberry oat—not to mention our Festive Cutout Cookies (a perfectly-baked pleasure that we love to enjoy this time of year). But I think the real standout for 2018 are our Deluxe Super-Sized Cookies. My personal favourite, Mexican hot chocolate is incredible, along with other heavenly flavours such as chewy ginger, oatmeal cocoa nib and Snickerdoodle. I honestly can’t describe how wonderful these cookies taste. You’ll just have to try them all.
I can’t wait to bring the best of our kitchen to your office, event or dining room table this holiday season. It really is the most wonderful time of the year. Happy Thanksgiving!
Fia Pagnello
Looking to book your next festive feast? Contact us now
