Festive Favourites

We all know that this year looks a little different than the rest.

That is why this holiday season we wanted to share how each of our @MyCanadianBeef advocates are celebrating with their loved ones. Learn how they are adapting their favourite recipes for those smaller celebrations.

Chef Walters Johnson Family Christine Lee-McNaughton Fareen Samuel Joubert

Chef Walters

Due to my upbringing, when I became a chef, I was very keen to prove to my family that this career choice was not a profound mistake.

So, when the holiday season came around, I sourced high-quality beef and dressed it luxuriously to impress all of our guests. I brought out my fancy knives, strapped up my apron, and took center stage to serve something incredibly special to my family.

Canadian Wagyu was the typical choice, seasoned heavily with salt and pepper, grilled over coals, and brushed with herbs and brown butter to a perfect resting temperature of 125F. I would accompany this with a rich sauce of roasted beef bones, rendered foie gras, and any number of other luxury ingredients.

This became my favourite holiday tradition.

Try out one of these recipes

prep time

15 min

cook time

60 min

Egyptian Rice Beef BowlInspired by Koshari, a traditional street food in Egypt, this weeknight rice bowl features a hearty mixture of protein and fibre-rich whole grain, beans and ground beef, all topped with a zesty tomato salsa. This meal gets an iron boost with the synergy-effect of combining meat, beans, chard and whole grain.

Marinated Flank Steak Tacos with Spicy Carrot and Bean Sprout Slaw. View the recipe on Jason’s blog now!

Johnson Family

The holiday season always revolves around family and with family time, comes a lot of memories made in the kitchen. Our family continues to grow, we welcomed our first grandchild this year and have another upcoming wedding to look forward to next year. There is nothing quite like the feeling of seeing all your family gathered around the table enjoying a home-cooked meal that everybody has helped to prepare. When meal planning, we naturally begin with beef and build our meal around that. Whether it is a perfectly cooked steak, a steaming pot of chili or a cozy pot roast, it always hits the spot. As time goes on, we appreciate these moments together more than ever and are so thankful for all the memories made!

Try one of these recipes

prep time

20 min

cook time

50 min

All Family Big Batch Beef ChiliAdapted from a recipe by Chef Jean-Francois Fortin of the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, this chili makes a big pot – perfect for when you have the gang over or want to stock your freezer with speedy weeknight dinners. The seasoning is quite mild so if you want to spice it up, serve with some hot sauce or add ½ tsp chili pepper flakes while sautéing the seasonings.

prep time

5 min

cook time

55 min

Traditional Beef TourtièreTourtiere is a French Canadian classic dish that is traditionally serviced Christmas eve. If you’ve never had tourtière as a family tradition, this one is so easy and so delicious, we’re guessing that this one will be it!

Christine Lee-McNaughton

During the holidays, being a beef farmer, my husband finds Prime Rib to be a classic holiday roast. Prime Rib is definitely a showstopper and a family favourite, but I don’t want to take away from some of the wonderful appetizers during the holiday season! I make Beef Pinwheels for guests to nosh on while gathering before the meal. You can make your own dough or even use store-bought puff pastry dough. Just mix together your ground beef, finely chopped onion, spices, herbs, layer it on your pastry, roll, cut, and bake! Always a crowd-pleaser!

Try out one of these recipes

prep time

25 min

cook time

1:30

Rouladen-style Roast BeefInspired by Emily Richards @ERiscooking, this stuffed rolled roast is an easy way to take a budget roast like Eye of Round and turn it into something you’d be proud to serve to company. It’s very lean so you may even consider wrapping it in bacon – who doesn’t like bacon after all? Other options for filling: add asiago or Parmesan to the mixture, use pesto instead of mustard.

prep time

15 min

cook time

2:15

Mushroom-Crusted Roast BeefAdd something new to your roast beef repertoire with this Mushroon-Crusted Roast Beef recipe. Made from dried mushrooms, the crust adds an intense mushroom flavour to both the sauce and the roast beef.

Fareen

I’m lucky to be surrounded with a big family and that we are all close. Aunts, uncles, cousins…we get together every month. It’s always centred around food because food just always brings people together. One of my favourite things that you see often at these gatherings are meat pies. Delicate pastry filled with savoury ground beef makes the perfect appetizer and definitely embraced at any festive occasion.

This became my favourite holiday tradition.

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Samuel Joubert

This is my famous cheese-stuffed hamburger steak recipe with Brandy sauce. I LOVE serving this recipe to friends on a Saturday night along with lots of wine. This recipe seems simple but trust me it is LEGENDARY! The patty is perfect and juicy the cheese explodes in your mouth and not to mention the sauce… Ahhh that sumptuous and decadent sauce. I can’t wait to eat the leftovers!

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