Winter Solstice Virtual Celebration

Posted: December 8, 2020

Winter Solstice
Wednesday, December 16 | 2 pm
Facebook Live

Gatherings for the Winter Solstice bring comfort, warmth, and people together to share stories, laughter and of course, food. In many Indigenous cultures, winter represents an ancestral spirit, so reflecting on the past by sharing stories and thanking our ancestors is an important part of honouring where we’re from, especially as we plan for the cold months ahead.

Pull up a seat as we enjoy tales, teachings and story-telling from our Elders-in-Residence, special guests Rob Malo and Cliff Cardinal, and our very own Joseph Alex, Culinary Skills Instructor, is going to show us how to cook a meal perfect for this time of year. Hope to see you there!

SCHEDULE

Tracy Brant, Chair, Indigenous Education, brings greetings.

Elder Paul Guimond

Elder Paul will begin our event with an Honour Song and a teaching of the bear. He will also regale us with tales from his past.

Elder Jules Lavallee

Elder Jules Lavallee shares stories from his childhood growing up in St. Laurent.

Rob Malo

Rob Malo, also known as TiBert le Voyageur is a Franco-Manitoban Métis storyteller, author, stage performer, juggler, poet, and community builder who shares his passion for history and culture with people of all ages. Recognized by Storytellers of Canada as being a Master Storyteller, Rob has also been the Storyteller in Residence at the University of Manitoba. He delights audiences through storytelling, music and song.

Joseph Alex, Culinary Skills Instructor

Joseph Alex shows us how to prepare a nutritious venison (deer meat) stew with winter squash, and takes us through all the health benefits you can reap from your dish.

For dessert, wild rice pudding!

Cliff Cardinal (Creator and Performer)

Cliff Cardinal premieres his new story A Christmas Tail for the Red River College community!

Born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Cliff Cardinal is best known for his solo play “huff”, which he has performed over 200 times. This hard-hitting yet hilarious show about indigenous youth who abuse solvents, has won numerous awards including the Buddies in Bad Times’ Vanguard Award for Risk and Innovation and two Dora Awards (Outstanding Performance, Outstanding New Play). The production was awarded a five-star review in The Guardian Observer which called it a “hard-hitting tour de force.” “huff” has been published, translated into French, continues to tour and has been released as a podcast by the CBC. Cliff also wrote “Stitch” and “Too Good To Be True” before embarking in new solo venture, “Cliff Cardinal’s CBC Special”. He is the associate artist at VideoCabaret. You can also hear his band, Cliff Cardinal and The Skylarks, on Spotify.

Recipes

Venison Stew

By RRC Culinary Skills Students

This recipe was developed by the students of the RRC Indigenous Culinary Skills class and we are happy to share it with you. The ingredients in this recipe are different than a traditional beef stew as it contains ingredients that are used to help get more nutrition and added health benefits. This particular recipe is a great source of fiber, Vitamins A, C, E and B vitamins and calcium and magnesium. Sweet potatoes are also useful in managing diabetes and lowering your LDL (bad cholesterol) which lowers your risk of heart disease. Not to mention sweet potatoes and squash are also staples of Indigenous people’s diets. Venison is a high quality source of protein, lower in saturated fat then other domesticated red meats and rich in Iron and zinc. (not to mention super tasty). So go ahead and eat without the worry, this will go great with Bannock and a tasty dessert of wild rice pudding.

Venison Stew

Venison, cubed, boneless, trimmed of fat

Oil

Onion, medium dice

Garlic, minced

Flour

Tomato paste

Beef stock or broth (low or no sodium)

Bay leaf

Thyme

Celery, medium dice

Carrots, medium dice

Squash, (peeled, seeded) medium dice

Sweet potato (peeled) medium dice

Tomatoes, chopped coarsely

Peas (frozen if thawed)

Salt

Pepper

Parsley

3 lbs

60 ml

1 onion

4 cloves

1/3 cup

60 ml

1.5 Liters

3 sprigs

1 cup

1.5 cups

1 cup

season as desired

as desired

In a large heavy bottomed pot, heat oil until hot and add venison cubes and brown on all sides, brown in batches if necessary. Do not overcrowd the pot or you will only steam the meat.
Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is slightly browned.
Add the flour to the meat mixture and stir to make a “roux”. Continue to cook until the flour has browned slightly.
Stir in the tomato paste and stock/ broth and bring to a boil, stir constantly to avoid burning the bottom of the pot. Stir until sauce thickens.
Add thyme and bay leaf and cover, simmer for 30 minutes on low heat.
Add the carrots, celery, sweet potato and squash to the stew and continue to simmer for 1- 1.5 hours, until you can break apart the meat with a fork. Add tomatoes and peas and season to your liking.
Immediately before you serve add chopped parsley for appearance.
Enjoy with Bannock!!!

Wild rice pudding

Wild rice, cooked and cooled

White rice, cooked and cooled

Maple syrup
Milk (whole or 2%)

Cornstarch

Salt

Vanilla

Dried cranberries or raisins

Cinnamon

1 ½ cups

1/3 cup

3 cups

1 ½ tbsp

pinch

1 tsp

¼ cup

5 ml

In a small sauce pan or pot, combine rice, 2 ½ cups of the milk, maple syrup and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer.

Add the cornstarch to the remaining ½ cup milk and mix well, slowly add to the simmering rice pudding mix and stir while adding. Let the pudding come to a boil, to activate the starch, and reduce heat and let simmer an additional 5 minutes.

Remove from heat, add cinnamon and dried cranberries or raisins (if you don’t like either you don’t need to add, it just adds some natural sweetness).

Let cool in refrigerator or serve warm. Enjoy!

Indigenous Education

Winter Solstice Virtual Celebration

SCHEDULE

Recipes

Venison Stew

Wild rice pudding

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