New Pick Up Dinners & Cooking Classes available now!
A Place Where Interesting Food Things Happen.
🕎 Happy Hanukkah 🕎
When the days grow short, and there is more darkness than light, Jews celebrate Hanukkah, their Festival of Lights. Small candles burning in the dark commemorates a time when, against all odds, the oppressed and outnumbered defeated their oppressors; a reminder of the power of hope and resilience. Thousands of years later, the players of this ancient story — Greeks, Jews and Syrians — come together for an unlikely reunion at a little corner store in Canada, this time to share the bounty of their kitchens. Little candles and delicious food, connecting us all through time
Last year, Alissa Kondogiannis and her mom Miriam cooked up hundreds of their fabulous potato latkes. 12 months is a long time to wait, but we can finally enjoy them again this week — either hot & crispy as part of her Greco-Jewish Hanukkah Pick-Up Dinner, or frozen, ready to heat and serve at home. Come 2023 you'll be able to make them yourself — her recipe will be in the forthcoming Depanneur Cookbook!
Looking for something interesting to explore along with your Hanukkah dinner? Check this out: WED, Dec 1, 7pm Bene Appetit: The Culinary Traditions of the Bene Indian Jews presented by MOFAD (Museum of Food and Drink, NYC)
India, a country of almost 1.4 billion is home to only 5,000 Jews. This tiny population, known as Bene Indian Jews, preserves their connection to religious heritage in the diaspora through culinary traditions and rituals that have adapted to the ingredients of the Indian subcontinent. Zoom Event | $10 US | Tickets
by Alissa Kondogiannis Pre Order by TUE Nov 30
Pick Up WED Dec 1, 6-7:30pm
Greek and Jewish cuisine is not an especially common fusion, which is actually kind of odd, given the thousand-plus years of coexistence that they shared in antiquity, stretching back to at least 400 BCE. The ebb and flow of empires and diasporas severed ties and diverged paths, but some common threads remain — e.g. the tradition of leaning to the left during the Passover seder it considered by some to derive from the preferred leaning posture of reclining Greek & Roman nobles at their banquets… an emulation of the table manners of the ancient ruling class, emphasizing the luxury of eating like a free man vs. slave.
Tonight’s dinner is a Greek-Jewish fusion, prepared by Alissa Kondogiannis, a Greek-Jewish mash-up herself, equally inspired by classic Hanukkah treats and the Mediterranean flavours of Greece.
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Lemony Lentil Soup
This lemony lentil soup is full of bright, zesty flavours. A family favourite at this time of year, this soup is a simple purée of red lentils, white onion and garlic with a splash of lemon.
Latkes
The main attraction at any Hannukah gathering, fluffy on the inside and crisp on the outside, latkes are made with grated potatoes, eggs, flour and onions. Fried to crispy perfection, they are great hot or cold.
Tzatziki
Greeks and Jews are interwoven in the Hannukah story, this meal represents that with the addition of Greece’s most popular mezze dish. With cucumber, garlic, yoghurt and dill, it makes simple sour cream feel a little self-conscious. Also available #vegan with tahini instead.
Fried Eggplant Salad with Dill
Essentially a pile of garlicky fried eggplant with a tangy vinaigrette, this is the perfect Channukah “salad”. Layered with Aleppo pepper, shallots and dill and a hearty helping of olive oil.
Loukoumades
Sold in almost every cafe in Greece, with a zest of orange and a hint of cinnamon, these little doughnuts are drenched in honey syrup and make the perfect end to a Channukah meal. Available #vegan
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Also available: Frozen Latkes (8) | $18
Just reheat & serve!
Vegetarian (dairy) –or– Vegan
$48 for 2 • $90 for 4
by Syrian Sisters Pre Order by THU Dec 2
Pick Up FRI Dec 3, 6-7:30pm
In early 2016, shortly after hundreds of Syrian refugee families arrived in Toronto, The Depanneur reached out with an invitation to share our kitchen. From that small gesture of hospitality emerged Newcomer Kitchen, which evolved into a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating social and economic opportunities for newcomer women while enriching the culinary landscape of our city. Now, 5 years and thousands of meals later, a small group of the original participants have teamed up to form their own catering business, Syrian Sisters. Tonight’s menu features a selection of traditional Syrian dishes that were among my favourites from the Newcomer Kitchen project.
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Shamandar Hummus
A gorgeously pink relative of hummus, it’s made with creamy chickpeas and sweet, earthy beets combined with yogurt, tahini, lemon, and a bit garlic, finished with walnut pieces and parsley, and served with toasted pita chips.
Mosaqaa Batinjan bil Lahmeh
Eggplants and tomatoes are at the heart of many wonderful Levantine dishes. This dish, a flavourful eggplant stew with tomatoes, peppers and halal beef is a relative of Greek moussaka or Lebanese maghmour.
Also available vegetarian, with chickpeas & potatoes.
Both come with a side of bulgur bel sharia, a nutty bulgur wheat pilaf cooked with strands of golden fried vermicelli
Malfouf Salatet
A cool, refreshing salad made of chopped cabbage, diced tomatoes and pomegranate seeds, dressed with olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, sumac, and fresh mint.
Basbousa
A golden, semolina-based cake that is soaked in an orange-blossom scented sugar syrup; the addition of yogurt and grated coconut gives it a rich, macaroon-like quality.
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Also available:
Handmade balls of pressed yogurt cheese, flavoured with mint and nigella seeds, preserved in olive oil
Pay It Forward — Donate when ordering a Pick Up Dinner or Communal Picnic, and The Dep will match it to prepare fresh meals for shelters in the community.
Cooking Classes
This is our first series of post-lockdown, in-person, indoor events, and will be open to those who are double vaxxed. I am asking for participants to please submit via email and/or print out and bring their vaccination receipts – these are very easy to obtain online and are a prerequisite for attending. I understand that there may be some people who have been unable to get vaccinated for various legitimate reasons, but I would respectfully ask those people to please wait until we are in the clear before participating in this kind of group activity. In the event of a change in the local status of the COVID situation, we reserve the right to cancel this class at any time, in which case all participants will receive a full refund.
with Sonya Gammal
In this hands-on workshop, Chef Sonya Gammal, a tourtière aficionado with many years of experience will be leading you through all the steps from pastry to finished pie, with your choice of beef & pork or mushroom & lentil filling. Participants will leave with recipes along with their own 9” tourtiere (4-6 servings) plus extra tourtière in class for everyone to sample.
with Ksenija Hotic
Bosnian sarme (cabbage rolls) are stuffed with a mix of beef, lamb, rice and spices, wrapped in leaves from whole heads of naturally fermented cabbage. While the sarme are cooking you’ll learn how to make delicious Bosnian-style baklava, a delicate baked sweet made with thin, buttery phyllo pastry, walnuts and honey.
