One Recipe with Many Possibilities!

If there’s only one singular virtue to celebrate in the kitchen, it’s versatility. The ability to showcase your recipes in a range of variations is the calling card of any great cook. Adapting to what you have available, and what mood strikes invites countless culinary opportunities to your kitchen.

Professional Home Economist and exceptionally versatile in her own right, Emily Richards is one of our favourite Canadian food heroes. Her legacy of cookbooks and contributions to our country’s food identity is extraordinary.

We tapped Emily to create a delicious Swirl Roll recipe using Canadian ingredients like potatoes and canola oil, with a choose-your-own filling adventure. Set aside some mashed potato left-overs and channel Emily’s enthusiasm for options, from sweet to savoury.  This dough complements almost any ingredient combination! Whipping up batch after batch of buns, Emily set the stage for not only demonstrating the versatility of canola oil itself, but also the versatility of one simple dough recipe.

Using mashed potatoes to make these ethereally soft and smushy buns may seem unorthodox, but Emily knows how to work a recipe, one that not only highlights quality-grown-in-Canada ingredients but also utilizes whatever you may have in your fridge – there’s no such thing as languished leftovers in her house! Potatoes bring moisture to this dough, locking it in and releasing once proofed and baked.

Sharing her kitchen secrets with a packed Zoom room at Canola Eat Well’s very well-attended bake-alongs, Emily expressed her admiration for her go-to oil, “Canola oil is neutral and perfect for making this tender dough. The combination of mashed potatoes and canola means they freeze really well and so you can enjoy fresh buns all week long.” 

What will fill your Swirl Rolls? That smattering of scrambled eggs can be tomorrow’s grab-and-go protein-rich stuffed bun with cheddar cheese, bacon or sausage. Remnants of braised short rib would be sublime in a Yorkshire Pudding-esque roll with gravy and mushrooms. Add an extra layer by tossing in your favourite herbs and spices, either right into the dough, or fresh out of the oven, brushed with canola oil.

Repeat this recipe and make it your own, what goes in is up to you! Inspire us below or on social media, let us know what your favourite Swirl Roll fillings are.