3 Quebecois Comfort Food Recipes Perfect for Christmas Dinner

Look eastward for this year’s holiday feast: Quebecois comfort food offers pure winter warmth on the darkest of nights. And no one does it better than chef J-C Poirier, whose Vancouver restaurant, St. Lawrence, serves up loving (and decidedly delicious) homages to his home province nightly, to high acclaim. We took a page out of his book for this year’s Christmas menu—here, a trio of festive, indulgent, perfectly rib-sticking dishes, plucked from Poirier’s Where the River Narrows.

By Jean-Christophe Poirier with Joie Alvaro Kent

Rustic Meat Pie
(Tourtière du Lac St-Jean)

“Tourtière made in the style of Lac St-Jean is different. It has cubes of different meats instead of ground meat, and sometimes incorporates wild meat from hunting season. The pie also contains cubed potatoes and is baked far longer in the oven, in a deep dish. But I always thought the traditional way of cooking it—we’re talking 6 to 8 hours in the oven—is, well… too long. I prefer to braise the meat for the filling first, then add it to the pastry shell.” Find the recipe here.

Roasted Cauliflower with Romesco Sauce
(Chou-Fleur Rôti et Sauce Romesco)

“Roasting is a total game changer when it comes to the flavour of cauliflower—and roasting a whole head of cauliflower is visually impressive for the people sitting at the dinner table. And while romesco is from Spain, and decidedly not French, it’s so delicious, I think you should definitely have it in your repertoire.” Find the recipe here.

Asparagus with Chervil Butter Sauce and Puff Pastry
(Feuilleté d’Asperges au Beurre de Cerfeuil) 

“White asparagus would be my preference here; the stalks are more delicate and sweet, with just a hint of bitterness, while green asparagus is more on the grassy side. But white asparagus are often unavailable and more pricey. I like asparagus prepared simply with a sauce, in this case a beurre blanc, but it’s also exquisite with a Sauce Hollandaise or mousseline.” Find the recipe here.

Excerpted from Where the River Narrows by Jean-Christophe Poirier with Joie Alvaro Kent. Copyright © 2022 Jean-Christophe Poirier. Photography © 2022 Brit Gill. Published by Appetite by Random House, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.