These Waterloo region eateries have you covered for holiday fare

Waterloo region has a wide range of restaurants and chefs preparing dishes from around the world that you could include in your holiday feasting – from Guyanese stew and tortilla Española to Central American tamales, sweets and spicy Caribbean beverages.

Here's a short sampler to consider.

La Lola Catering 

Tapas is a good way to start what will likely be this year's smaller holiday family-dinner or make it an entire meal. 

La Lola Catering in downtown Preston is preparing holiday-season croquetas Béchamel-based, they are creamy and rich morsels with a fine and crispy deep-fried panko crust.

"Families in Spain will also splurge at Christmas to buy Jamon Ibérico de Bellota, Iberian acorn-fed ham," said Vanessa Stankiewicz, co-owner of La Lola. "We're bringing a leg in to carve."

La Lola also makes a thick potato pancake or omelette – Tortilla Española – that is wonderfully amped up with a special ingredient.

"We are recognized for paella, but I would claim this tortilla is the Spanish national dish. You can't go anywhere in Spain and not find it," she says. "The Christmas version has black truffle and Brie."

Serve it with a good quality sipping Vermouth as they do in Barcelona.

Red House food and drink

At Waterloo's Red House, chef-owner Dan McCowan has a South American-inspired beef oxtail pepperpot on the menu for December.

"My dad is Guyanese, and I grew up eating West Indian food. Pepperpot is the national dish of Guyana. It's a braise with beef and oxtail but the other main ingredients that make it unique are cassareep, a cassava extract, and wiri wiri peppers. It's a sweet and spicy combination," McCowan says. He calls it a Christmas Day dish, but it will be available into the new year as well.

Nuestro 88 in Kitchener is featuring a multi-course Filipino take-away Christmas meal that includes choices of stuffed mussels, mechado beef stew, grilled eggplant and biko, a coconut rice cake (order by December 22).

American Latina Grocery

At America Latina Grocery & Eatery, Mynor Garcia points to one dish that is especially popular during the holidays.

"A tradition during December in most of Latin America are tamales. We make both Salvadoran and Colombian versions," he said.

It's a similar wrapped food for Arnold Yescas of Underground Flavour Group. He's making nacatamales, similar to the Mexican version.

"They're very special in the Nicaraguan home. It takes several hours to make preparing rice, meat, potato, tomato, prunes, green olive, capers and raisins," said Yescas, adding that it was Anthony Bourdain's favourite dish when he visited the country.

Masa (corn) dough is scented with bitter orange and mint, wrapped in a banana leaf and boiled for several hours.

"It's kind of like unwrapping a Christmas gift and is usually enjoyed with some bread and a coffee," he said.  

Drinks

As polarizing a concoction as it might be, eggnog might come to mind as the traditional festive drink to serve; however, a sip of a sorrel-based Jamaican beverage could change your mind, according to chef Teneile Warren of Nyam Kitchen Revival.  

She said curried goat is on the Christmas menu in many Jamaican households, as is boozy Jamaican Black Cake, the dried fruits of which have soaked in white rum and port wine for about a year.

"But there is no Christmas without sorrel in my household," Warren said. "The smell of the sorrel steeping with the spices connects me to home. This is a spiced-up drink that is enjoyed all across the Africa Diaspora."

Warren has generously divulged her recipe (see below), with the note that dried sorrel, a red blossom, can be found at area Asian, Latinx, Caribbean and African stores.

Sweet!

Sweets, of course, have an important place on holiday tables across the globe. My traditional vote is for Italian panettone — a luscious, light and yet moist hybrid of brioche and fruitcake — available in many varieties at local grocery stores, with more refined versions found at Vincenzo's Waterloo.

At America Latina, Garcia said he's been stocking up on panela, an ingredient for making natilla, a Colombian custard sweetened with the raw cane sugar and traditionally a Christmas treat served with cheese fritters called buñuelos.

"Every country has their little sweet. In Colombia, they make natilla. You make it and bring some to your neighbours," he said.

Rosel De Guzman of Rosel's Flavours for Life: Authentic Filipino Food makes traditional and vibrantly coloured Filipino "ube cake" using purple sweet potato. Order the cake by Dec.22 for pick-up on Dec. 24.

"It's a chiffon cake, but it's different than here," said De Guzman. "It's a combination of sweet and salty with a buttercream filling. It's a really unique taste compared to what we have in Canada."

Jamaican Sorrel

Recipe courtesy Teneile Warren, Nyam Kitchen Revival

You can drink your sorrel as is, or consider making a cocktail with Jamaican sorrel and your favourite rum.

Ingredients:
3 cups dried sorrel
10 cups water
½ lb. chopped ginger
10 allspice or pimento berries, cracked
2 cinnamon sticks
½ teaspoon whole cloves
4 green cardamom pods
1 star anise
Peel of one small orange
Peel of medium-sized lime
1 cup dark brown sugar (optional)

Method:
In a large pot, add the sorrel, ginger, water, pimento, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, star anise and citrus peels. Place the pot on medium heat and bring to a boil. Leave it at full boil for 10 minutes. Place a cover on the pot. On low heat, let the sorrel continue to steep for an hour. Remove from the flame and allow the liquid to come to room temperature with the cover on. You can place it in the fridge to continue steeping overnight or move on to step two now.

Using a large strainer or sieve, strain the steeped sorrel into a bowl or large jug. Discard the solids. At this point, the sorrel is ready to drink. It can be consumed as a hot or cold tea. If you would like a sweetened beverage, move on to step three now.

Add ½ cup of the sugar, the juice of the peeled lime and the juice of the peeled orange. Stir until all the sugar has been dissolved.  If the taste is not to your liking, you can add more sugar.