A twist on Christmas traditions

Kasha Connolly, who is originally from Poland, runs Hazel Mountain Chocolates in the Burren with her partner, John. The award-winning business woman recently opened a second chocolate shop and cacao brew bar in Galway and has released a second edition of her Burren Wild Baker cookbook just in time for Christmas.

Borscht, gingerbread cookies and poppy-seed cake are just some of the traditional foods that Kasha Connolly associates with Christmas in her native Poland, with preparations for dinner on Christmas Eve starting in early December.

“We bake many dishes from sourdough,” she explains of the work involved, “and it’s always 12 dishes to represent the 12 apostles.”

While dishes vary depending on the region, most Polish families will start their Christmas Eve celebration with a type of beetroot soup called borscht, which is served with mushroom dumplings.

Rather than turkey and ham, carp is the centrepiece – though in Kasha’s home they would serve hake prepared to an old Jewish recipe, with a warm side salad of spiced stewed carrots and raisins.

And as for dessert, poppy-seed cake infused with honey, baked cheesecake and apple tart are the sweet treats that Kasha most associates with Christmas – though, of course, it’s not just the memories of food that she cherishes from her childhood.

“My mum would always tell us that if we see the first star in the sky, we were ready to sit at the table, so we’d spend hours trying to spot the star,” she recalls. “And then there’s a tradition before you sit down to dinner. It’s a wishing tradition that you go to every one of your family members and you just give them wishes and it’s quite personalised.

“We use Communion-like bread when we wish good things for each other – we kind of break it up and eat it.”

Other Polish customs include baking gingerbread cookies to hang on the tree, opening gifts on Christmas Eve before midnight mass, and preparing a winter stew made with wild game, sauerkraut, mushrooms, juniper and red wine to have on Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day when family and friends come to call.

And while Kasha now celebrates a typical “Irish Christmas” with John and his family in Co Clare, she still incorporates traditions from home, such as serving hake or herring for a starter on Christmas Day.

Though since moving to Ireland almost 10 years ago, she has become rather fond of our humble mince pies, despite some initial bewilderment.

“At first when I heard mince pie, obviously I was confused: ‘Is it meat?’” she laughs, adding that she was quickly converted.

“I could eat it all year round.”

Visit www.hazelmountainchocolate.com

Canadian Christmas

Janine Kennedy, who grew up in Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, Canada, lives on a dairy farm in Templetuohy, Co Tipperary, with her husband Patrick and their daughters Maeve (three) and Ciara (11 months). Janine runs The Siúcra Shack, creating Canadian-inspired pâtisserie treats, which she sells at outlets including The Green Sheep cafe in Thurles and local farmers’ markets.

One of Janine Kennedy’s fondest Christmas memories from Cape Breton is drinking eggnog with her mother.

“She’d have a splash of brandy in her’s and I’d have mine just plain with a grating of nutmeg over the top,” she explains.

“They sell it in the milk section of the grocery store in cartons just like milk, and they start bringing it out in November, so any time leading up to Christmas, if you are wrapping presents or decorating the tree, you always have a bit of eggnog on hand. It’s definitely something I’ve had to learn to make from scratch here!”

While Cape Breton was heavily influenced by Scottish settlers, Janine has Acadian-French roots, which makes for some unique Christmas traditions.

For example, after mass on Christmas Eve, her family would sit down together to a meal that includes seafood chowder, a meat pie known as a tourtière and a creamy maple syrup pudding called pouding chômeur.

That said, there is also a strong Celtic-influence on a Nova Scotian Christmas.

“We certainly would have that tradition of visiting our neighbours and having a drink in the kitchen and a bit of a kitchen party, so you’d definitely see more céilís around this time of year, traditional Scottish music and hot whiskeys and eggnog,” says Janine.

A lack of direct flights and unpredictable weather conditions have meant that, since moving to Ireland, Janine has not yet returned home for Christmas, but she has incorporated aspects from home into her family’s celebrations. For example, baking ice box sugar cookies, gingerbread and shortbread topped with candied cherries with her daughters, and serving the traditional French Acadian dishes on Christmas Eve.

And the aforementioned homemade eggnog – made in the manner of a crème anglaise and infused with star anise, cinnamon sticks and cloves – has even earned its own following in Tipperary.

“I get demands for it now,” she laughs, “it’s so funny.”

For further information, follow The Siúcra Shack on Facebook and Instagram

Mexican Christmas

Lily Ramirez-Foran, who is originally from Mexico, lives in Dublin with her husband Alan, where they run Picado Mexican: a pantry style shop and demo kitchen that hosts classes and supper clubs showcasing traditional Mexican food. Lily also runs the popular blog www.amexicancook.ie

After almost 17 years in Ireland, Lily Ramirez-Foran may very well be more Irish than the Irish themselves when it comes to her favourite thing about Christmas dinner.

“I’d never had brussels sprouts until I came to Ireland – and they were such a revelation,” she exclaims. “I thought: ‘Oh my God, these are so good!’”

Back in Mexico, however, Christmas would start with the preparation of tamales – dough parcels stuffed with spicy pork, beef and cheese or chicken and steamed in banana leaves or corn husks.

“It’s one of the oldest dishes recorded in Mexican history,” Lily explains, “and it’s eaten throughout December.”

In the run-up to Christmas Eve, Lily and her neighbours would also partake in a tradition known as las posadas – where neighbours go from house to house with figures from the nativity set seeking “shelter” – like Mary and Joseph, looking for a room at the inn.

After being “turned away” from two or three homes, the group are finally invited in by the next neighbour for a party, with the nativity figures placed under the Christmas tree for the night. The following evening, the procession starts all over again, and continues for nine nights in total.

“So, by the time you get to Christmas Eve, you’re pretty much done,” laughs Lily of the celebrations.

Christmas dinner is traditionally held on the evening of 24 December and centres around a stuffed leg of pork prepared with prunes, nuts and olives and served with a fruity sauce. Dessert, meanwhile, is a sweet fried tortilla called a bunuelo, which is served with a sauce called black honey; raw cane sugar melted down and infused with spices before being drizzled on top.

Since moving to Ireland, Lily has only spent one Christmas in Mexico, but she and her in-laws take turns having an “Irish” and “Mexican” dinner. This year, her in-laws will cook a traditional Christmas dinner on 25 December, while she and Alan will prepare a Mexican feast for New Year’s Eve. And as well as the brussels sprouts, she is looking forward to another Irish treat on Christmas day.

“My mother-in-law makes a deadly stuffing with sausage meat and lemon and butter and breadcrumbs,” she sighs. “It’s so tasty!”

Visit www.picadomexican.com for more information. CL