Episodes & Recipes

Discover what we’ll be cooking in each episode

Yaya Jari and Chef Ian

When Chef Ian takes a look at Yaya Jari’s menu, he quickly realizes they’ll be celebrating “Christmas in September” in the Ottawa Valley.

Yaya Jari is initially reluctant to audition for the show, but once committed, she proves up to the challenge and creates a menu that includes Cornish game hens and not one, not two, but five traditional side dishes.

Chef Ian’s organizational skills are tested when he enlists his father and two children as sous chefs. With Yaya Jari at his side offering advice and the help of his family, he’s soon got an assembly line going and trays of food are ready for the oven.

By the end of the show, with Chef Ian’s family joining hers to enjoy a bountiful Christmas in September dinner together, Yaya Jari is no longer a reluctant participant. Indeed, as she says, “This is something I’ll remember until the day I die. I’m so happy, my cheeks hurt from smiling!”

Recipe coming soon.

Nonna and Chef Adam

Standing in the middle of the Lansdowne farmer’s market, Chef Adam is shocked when he realizes he’s only been given $15 to buy the ingredients for a lasagna that’s meant to feed eight people. His only option is to haggle with vendors to get prices down, but even though he does this, he still comes up short.

Then we meet 92-year-old Nonna in Little Italy with her granddaughter Carina and we understand why she thinks $15 is more than enough. Her backyard garden overflows with almost everything needed for the lasagna and what’s not picked fresh, she’s already got canned or preserved for future use in her recipes.

Luckily for chef Adam, she’s willing to share her bounty of pomodoro, tomato sauce, and her recipe for lasagna noodles, but only after she beats him at arm wrestling!

Under Nonna’s direction and making all the food from scratch, including the pasta, Chef Adam realizes that you can still eat like it’s 1955 if you’ve got a big garden and you’re willing to put in the time to preserve the foods you’ve grown.

Recipe coming soon.

Babusia Natalya and Chef Raghav

As the executive chef at one of Ottawa’s high-end restaurants, Raghav hopes that whatever he’s asked to cook will be a challenge. His wish comes true when he can’t even pronounce the name of the recipe.

He faces another challenge when the recipe calls for equal amounts of blueberries and gooseberries and he learns that gooseberries aren’t available at this time of year.

Grandma Natalya, who has recently come from Ukraine to be with her son and his family, is looking for a taste of home to share with them. She tells Chef Raghav that this is a recipe for varenyky, a simple dessert beloved by all in her country.

Grandma Natalya watches with growing impatience as Chef Raghav carefully follows her instructions step by slow step. When his attempts to roll out the dough for wrapping the blueberries seems to take forever, she takes matters into her own hands, rolling out the dough until it’s thin enough to see through.

When he presents the blueberry varenyky to Grandma Natalya’s family and sees how much this desert from home means to all of them, Chef Raghav is happy he could rise to the challenge.

Recipe coming soon.

When Chef Tristan, the head chef at Mati restaurant, discovers he’s got $80 to buy ingredients for two traditional Lebanese dishes, he’s certain he can meet the challenge.

Then he discovers the envelope containing grandma’s instructions also includes a tape measure to ensure he gets exactly the right size of zucchini and he begins to wonder if he can meet another challenge — a very particular grandma!

Teta (Arabic for Grandma) Afaf came to Canada from Lebanon 50 years ago. In addition to her three sons and one daughter, she also has a very big extended family. Her favourite thing is to have everyone at the table eating traditional food like Kousa Mehshi and a Lebanese zucchini quiche - the dishes she’s asked Chef Tristan to prepare.

Chef Tristan was able to get all of the necessary ingredients so Teta is allowed to give him three minutes of hands-on help. Turns out the recipes and grandma are so exacting he needs every second of that three minutes and it becomes a bit of a rivalry to see who’s fastest. Guess who wins!?

He’s the boss in his own kitchen so Chef Tristan is used to giving orders, not taking them, but he keeps his sense of humour as Teta not only tells him what to do and how to do it, but also keeps pushing him to hurry, concerned the food will not be ready when her family arrives.

When he sees how much her large family loves the food he’s prepared for them, he knows that every minute in the kitchen with “Boss” Teta was worth it.

Teta Afaf and Chef Tristan

Kousa Mehshi Ingredients
- White zucchini (2 dozen)
- 1 teaspoon dried mint
- 2 – 3 cloves minced garlic
- 1 kilogram ground beef
- 1 ¼ uncooked white rice
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 can tomato juice
Note: carving out the zucchini requires a special carving tool which can be found in specialty shops or online.
Kousa Mehshi Instructions
1. Carve the inside of the zucchini and set aside for the quiche
2. In a bowl, mix together the ground beef, rice, salt, and pepper
3. In a large pot, melt the butter and add garlic and dry mint. Saute until it becomes fragrant.
4. Stuff the zucchini halfway with the meat/rice mixture
5. Place the zucchini in a large pot and add the tomato juice to cover the zucchini plus about 1 inch above the zucchini.
6. Cover the pot and cook on med heat for 30-40 minutes.
7. Once the zucchini is soft, turn off the heat.
———
Lebanese Zucchini Quiche Ingredients
- Leftover zucchini (from carving for the Kousa Mehshi)
- 1 bunch parsley, chopped
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon dry mint
- 1 ½ cup all purpose flour
- 9 eggs
- 6 teaspoon baking powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Vegetable oil
Lebanese Zucchini Quiche Instructions
1. Oil a baking pan with vegetable oil and set on side
2. Add salt to the zucchini stuffing and squeeze all the water out and place in a large bowl.
3. Add the parsley, onion, dry mint, salt, pepper, flour and mix together.
4. Add the eggs and baking powder and mix well with large spoon or spatula.
5. Pour the mixture to the oiled pan and bake at 350 C for 35-45 min, until fully cooked on inside

Grandma Mary and Chef Julien

Chef Julien at EVOO, a high-end Greek restaurant, learned to cook by spending time with his father, who is also a chef. He loves to cook simple comfort food that is easy to make, but still worthy of the connoisseurs who patronize his restaurant.

He hopes the recipe Grandma has chosen will be for a dish like stew, or something else that spells comfort. When he opens the envelope, he doesn’t know that Beef Ogali is a stew, the Ugandan version of comfort food.

He heads to Damas Supermarket, a place where he believes he can find the ingredients called for in the recipe, but once there his hopes are dashed. He’s unable to find several of the necessary items, including something called Ogali.

Grandma Mary came to Canada in 1970 from Uganda as a young woman. She is now the mother of four daughters and a son who have bless her with six grandchildren. Julien is happy to know that recipe she gave him is indeed a kind of stew, and that this is food Grandma loves to cook every day for her growing family to provide nourishment, as well as comfort. She also loves to get her hands on the food because she’s used to cooking by touch.

Because Julien couldn’t find all of the ingredients called for, Grandma Mary will have to keep her hands to herself while Chef Julien does the cooking. But luckily for Julien, she is able to provide all of the missing ingredients including African collard greens, white corn meal, and ogali.

But when the corn meal dish called Ogali Beef Stew is ready to serve Grandma can no longer stop herself. Chef Julien tries to stop her, but she’s using her hands to shape the dish before it’s presented at table. When Chef Julien resists, she explains that everyone at the table will be using their hands because that’s how you eat Ogali!

Once the food is served, Grandma Mary and her daughter Aliyah are happy to share the meal he’s prepared with Chef Julien.

Serves 6
Beef Stew Ingredients
- 1 1/3 kg beef, chopped into bite size pieces
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 1.5 tablespoons oil
- 1 tablespoon of salt
- 1 tablespoon turmeric
- 2 1⁄2 cups tomatoes, chopped into medium sized pieces
- 2 small red chilli peppers
- 3 cups water
Beef Stew Instructions
1. In a frying pan, heat oil on medium to high heat.
2. Brown onions in pot for approximately five minutes
3. Add 1 tablespoon of salt
4. Add meat to the onions stir meat for 2 - 3 minutes in pot with onions and cover
5. Add turmeric and stir for five minutes to make sure it doesn’t stick
6. Reduce heat to too low and cover
7. Once sauce is reduced, add tomato and red chilli peppers
8. Stir periodically and cook at medium heat for 15 - 20 minutes
9. When sauce is reduced, add water in high heat
10. Bring to a boil until the sauce reduces
11. Turn to low heat and simmer for 20 minutes
12. Ready to serve
———
Collard greens Ingredients
- One bunch of collard greens, finely chopped
- 4 teaspoons of canola oil
- 1 1/2 medium onions cut small
- 2 medium tomatoes chopped
- 1 teaspoon of salt
Collard Green Instructions
1. In a frying pan, heat oil at high heat
2. When hot, add the onion and brown them
3. Add tomatoes, salt and, collard greens and cover pot; stir intermittently so they don’t stick to the pot
4. Cover for 10 or 15 minutes at medium heat
5. Ready to serve
———
Ogali Ingredients
- 8 cups of boiling hot water
- 2.5 cups of corn flour
Ogali Instructions
1. Boil water
2. Slowly add corn flour on high heat mixing quickly for 5 minutes
3. Turn heat to low for 10 to 15 minutes watching closely to see when it gets thick
4. Cut into pieces and it’s ready to serve

Glammie Caroline and Chef Egemen

Chef Egemen is the hottest chef in town because he’s also a fire circus performer. But when he’s given a recipe for Fish Molé and told to shop in a Indian supermarket that’s vegetarian, a talent for fire taming won’t help him.

Unable to find many of the items on the list, Chef Egemen improvises. He hopes that frozen hash browns will be a good replacement for the two pounds of white cod called for in the recipe and ends up spending only $8 of the $35 he’s been given for this challenge.

Glammie Caroline, who was born in India and raised in the UK, has lived in countries around the world. She takes her culinary inspirations from everywhere. When she sees the substitutes Chef Egemen proposes to use, she knows she must come to the rescue.

An hour later, using ingredients she’s brought to the restaurant kitchen, she is happily supervising Chef Egemen as he prepares Kerala Fish Mole, a dish from South India, where Glammie Caroline was born.

When he sees how much friends and family love the dish he’s prepared, he’s happy he didn’t end up using hash browns instead of the delicious fish she provided.

Meen Molee (Kerala Fish in Coconut milk)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb Fish eg Cod, cut in pieces
- 1tsp Turmeric
- 2 tsps Cumin powder
- 1 1/2 garlic, minced
- I green chilli
- 1 red chilli
- 1 Can Coconut milk
- 4 tbsp Oil or Ghee
- 2 Medium Onions, chopped fine
- 1” piece Ginger, minced
- 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- Salt to taste
- 1 large Tomato, chopped
- Curry leaves
- Coriander leaves
Instructions
1. Heat oil in pot, add curry leaves, then onions and sauté until soft
2. Add ginger, garlic and green chilli and cook for a few minutes
3. Add the spices and cook for a few minutes
4. Add fish and fry until coated with the onions and spice
5. Add Tomato and mix
6. Add the coconut milk, lemon juice and salt
7. Bring to a boil and then simmer on low heat for 20-30 mins until fish is cooked
8. Garnish with red chilli and Coriander leaves
9. Serve hot with rice or Nan