A bold and edgy holiday buffet

Chef Marie-Fleur St-Pierre offers some of her favorite recipes to garnish your table this Christmas. A marriage of local and Asian flavors good to lick your fingers!

Wild rose marinated beets

The wild rose (also called wild rose) grows in abundance in Bas-Saint-Laurent. The delicate fragrance of the petals goes perfectly with the earthiness of the red beets. Serve with goat cheese, lamb terrines and smoked trout.

Yield: one 500 ml jar

Ingredients

• Twenty small cooked and peeled red beets
• 50 g of wild rose petals from Bas-Saint-Laurent from Racines Boréales
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 cup cider vinegar or red wine
• 1 cup of water
• 5 c. cane sugar
• 1 C. tablespoons Saint Laurent salt

Preparation

• 1. Place the beets, rose petals, cinnamon, sugar and salt in a 500ml glass jar.
• 2. In a small saucepan, heat the vinegar and water until boiling.
• 3. Pour the hot liquid over the beets.
• 4. Close the jar and leave in the fridge for at least 7 days.

Pea soup with smoked sturgeon

Do like chef Marie-Fleur St-Pierre and dare to add smoked sturgeon from Kamouraska to your pea soup. You will not regret it !

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

• 2 cups Le Pré Rieur brand dried yellow peas
• 8 cups water for soaking
• 1 whole piece of store-bought salted bacon
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 knob of butter
• 2 cups chopped onions
• 1 cup grated carrots
• 8 cups chicken broth or water
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 sprigs of lemon thyme
• 3 tbsp. tablespoons dried savory
• 1 C. tablespoon herbs of Provence
• Salt and pepper (in the middle of cooking so as not to affect the cooking of the peas)
• 1 1/2 cups smoked sturgeon from Poissonnerie Lauzier, shredded
• Smoked paprika and olive oil

Preparation

• 1. Soak the peas for 24 hours in cold water, then rinse well. To book.
• 2. In a large cauldron, preferably a Creuset type, heat the olive oil over medium heat with a knob of butter.
• 3. Add onion and carrots, as well as thyme and bay leaf.
• 4. Cook for about 5 minutes.
• 5. Add the piece of bacon, the rinsed peas, the broth and the dried herbs.
• 6. Cook for about 2 hours over medium heat.
• 7. Stir from time to time to ensure that the preparation does not stick to the bottom. Halfway through cooking, add salt and pepper, to taste.
• 8. Remove the bacon, cut it into small pieces and put it back in the soup.
• 9. When the peas are tender, take 2 cups of the preparation and pass it through the blender, which will give the soup a nice velvety texture. Put back in the cauldron.
• 10. Just before serving, add the smoked sturgeon, then sprinkle with a little smoked paprika and a drizzle of olive oil.

Meat Pie Dumplings

Marie-Fleur St-Pierre offers her exploded version of the tourtière in the form of dumplings, with the addition of soy sauce, for a sweet side. Your guests will be asking for more!

Yield: about thirty dumplings

Ingredients

• 1 C. vegetable oil
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 tbsp. tablespoons (or a little more to taste) tourtière spices (suggestion: Charlevoix tourtière spices by Épices de cru)
• 1 small grated potato, not rinsed
• 1 C. tablespoons dark soy sauce (suggestion: that of Ôkini, chef Jun I’s grocery brand)
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• About 30 store-bought dumplings
• Suggested toppings: sesame seeds or J’ai Feng Dry Dip Seasoning, Chef Anita Feng’s brand of products.

Preparation

• 1. In a skillet, heat the vegetable oil.
• 2. Brown the onion for 2 or 3 minutes, then add the meat, grated potato, spices and stock.
• 3. Simmer for about twenty minutes.
• 4. Add the soy sauce and let cool for at least 12 hours.
• 5. Prepare a small bowl of water to moisten the fingers, which facilitates handling. Stuff the dumplings in the center, then fold in half to obtain a triangular shape. Press well with your fingers to close the dumpling tightly.
• 6. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, then add the dumplings, a small amount at a time. Boil for about 2 minutes.
• 7. Enjoy with a sauce composed of soy sauce and black vinegar (half and half) or fruit ketchup.

Prawn toast with hoisin sauce

This dish that chef Marie-Fleur St-Pierre first discovered in Montreal’s Chinatown has become a classic at home, for birthdays and family celebrations. She uses local ingredients such as northern shrimp, ginger from Quebec and Gorria pepper, the Espelette pepper from Quebec.

Yield: around 30 bites

Ingredients

• 1 pound cold-water shrimp, well patted dry
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 Quebec garlic clove
• 1 C. tablespoons grated Quebec ginger (if possible)
• 2 green onions, minced
• 2 egg whites
• 2 tbsp. tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 C. sesame oil
• 1 C. ground gorria pepper from Spice Trekkers or other
• 1 C. ground white pepper
• 8 slices of white bread without the crust (the chef suggests Première Moisson)
• Sufficient sesame seeds
• 1 cup vegetable oil

Preparation

• 1. Place all ingredients except bread, sesame seeds and vegetable oil in a food processor.
• 2. Pulse until smooth, then transfer to a bowl.
• 3. Spread the eight slices of bread with the shrimp mixture, then dip them on the stuffing side in the sesame seeds.
• 4. Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a nonstick skillet.
• 5. Cook the toasts two at a time, starting with the stuffing side, three minutes on each side.
• 6. Reserve in an oven at 250 ^ohf.
• 7. When all the toasts are fried, cut each into triangles. Serve with store-bought hoisin sauce and garnish with thin slices of fried ginger if desired.