Tomato and Basil Soup
Few dishes are as comforting as tomato soup with grilled cheese. In Canada, this pairing is pure nostalgia — warming bowls of tomato-basil soup served alongside golden, gooey sandwiches made with chedder cheese on white bread were a childhood staple. Simple, nourishing, and endlessly adaptable, tomato soup is as welcome on a snowy afternoon as it is at a summer table made with fresh garden tomatoes.
Ukrainian Style Borscht
Borscht is one of those dishes that tells the story of migration and memory. Brought to Canada by Ukrainian settlers who arrived on the Prairies in the late 1800s, it became a staple on homestead tables, especially in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. The hearty beets, cabbage, and potatoes mirrored what could be grown in Canada’s fertile soil, making it both practical and comforting. Today, borscht is not just a Ukrainian tradition, but a Prairie classic — a bowl of warmth that connects family kitchens across generations.
French Onion Soup
Few dishes are as comforting as French onion soup, with its rich broth, caramelized onions, and gooey layer of melted cheese. While its origins are firmly French, the dish has long been embraced in Québec, where French culinary traditions have shaped Canadian cooking for centuries. On cold winter nights, it’s a bowl that feels both rustic and elegant, bringing warmth and history together.
Roast Potato and Pesto Salad
Potatoes have long been part of Canada’s food story. Early settlers relied on them as a dependable crop that could withstand our climate, and today fields in Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, and Alberta still produce some of the best in the world. This dish celebrates their humble roots with a modern twist: roasted baby potatoes, finished with tangy crème fraîche, fragrant pesto, and fresh coriander — simple, colourful, and deeply satisfying.
Seasonal Salads with Basil and Parma
These simple plates remind me of my Aunt Carmel, who always believed the best dishes came from what was fresh and seasonal. Inspired by Italian flavours but adapted for Canadian kitchens, they celebrate the way we eat here: greenhouse tomatoes in spring, melons in summer, or figs in early fall. Fresh mozzarella, basil, and olive oil tie them all together — timeless, elegant, and always seasonal.
Beet Salad with Feta and Mint
Beets are one of Canada’s true seasonal treasures — hardy, earthy, and long valued in Prairie gardens and Atlantic kitchens alike. Ukrainian settlers brought them into the heart of Prairie cooking through borscht, while in the Maritimes, jars of pickled beets lined pantry shelves as a winter staple. Today, they remain a fixture at farmers’ markets coast to coast. This salad celebrates their natural sweetness with mint and creamy cheese, offering a dish that feels rustic yet refreshingly modern.
Butternut with Rocket and Feta
In Canada, fall means squash piled high at farmers’ markets — a true emblem of the harvest season. Butternut, with its golden sweetness, has long been part of Prairie and Ontario gardens, valued for its ability to store through winter. Here it’s paired with peppery rocket, tangy cheese, and toasted nuts for a salad that feels both rustic and modern — a colourful dish that brings warmth to cool autumn evenings.
Mexican Inspired Corn Salad
Corn carries nostalgia for many Canadians — from county fairs and backyard corn roasts to evenings gathered around butter-drenched cobs. Ontario’s Kent County, often called the “corn capital of Canada,” has long symbolized this harvest tradition. This salad takes that sweetness and gives it a bold Mexican twist, blending smoky, creamy, and tangy flavours into a dish that feels both familiar and exciting.
Bulgur Wheat with Tomatoes and Herbs
Bulgar wheat has nourished the Mediterranean for thousands of years, but in Canada it found a new home through waves of Greek and Middle Eastern immigration. By the late 20th century, it appeared at community dinners, Greek festivals, and eventually in health-conscious kitchens across the country. With Canadian wheat at its core, this salad blends sun-ripened tomatoes, cucumber, and herbs into a dish that feels both timeless and distinctly Canadian.
Mexican Pork Stuffed Peppers
Stuffed peppers are a dish that has travelled across continents — from Eastern European kitchens to Mexican taquerías — and found a welcome home in Canada. Immigrant families brought their own versions, often filled with rice and pork, and over time, Canadian kitchens adapted them with local abundance. Bell peppers, now a staple of Prairie gardens and Ontario greenhouses, meet Mexican flavours of cumin, chili, beans, and corn to create a dish that feels both global and deeply Canadian. Colourful, hearty, and endlessly adaptable, these peppers are as fitting at a backyard barbecue as they are on a weeknight family table.
Hearty Mushroom Risotto
Risotto is the kind of dish that slows you down — demanding patience and rewarding it with creamy, comforting perfection. For me, it carries the memory of crisp Canadian autumns spent mushroom picking, baskets filled with chanterelles or morels, the forest floor alive with colour and scent. Across Canada, mushroom foraging has become both tradition and passion, from BC’s golden chanterelles to Quebec’s prized morels. This dish brings that wild bounty into the kitchen, pairing Italian technique with Canadian harvests for a bowl that feels rustic, seasonal, and deeply comforting.
Potato and Cheese Perogies
Perogies take me straight back to Christmas gatherings — flour dusting the counters, family crowded into the kitchen, and trays of dumplings waiting to be boiled and fried. As kids, they were always the best part of the meal: soft pillows stuffed with potato and cheese, piled high with bacon, tomatoes, and sour cream. Making them from scratch is a labour of love, but one that tastes like home and tradition in so many Canadian families.
Chicken, Veg and Brie
Canadian winters call for food that’s both comforting and celebratory — the kind of meal that feels like gathering around the table after a day in the cold. This dish brings together roasted chicken wrapped in prosciutto and sage, sweet root vegetables caramelized in the oven, and a baked wheel of brie that melts into luxurious softness. It’s rustic yet elegant, hearty yet indulgent — a perfect reflection of how Canadians embrace winter cooking, turning simple ingredients into a feast that warms both body and spirit.