Oak Leaves and Silver Bells

For many of us, the holidays are a joyous time. Filled with light and love, holidays found in the middle of winter hold a special place in the hearts of people the world over. In the midst of ever-shorter days and lengthening nights, when cold bites and frost lingers a bit longer each day, it’s nearly a miracle that we can all pull together and find time for celebration. The magic of the holidays is found in that celebration, in the inherent warmth of gatherings and parties.

Of course, no celebration is complete without food and drink to be shared and enjoyed by all. Winter holidays are a central point on most calendars, and the treasures you’ll find on the table reflect that. From carefully crafted cocktails to sublime seasonal flavors, the holidays are full of delights.

“When you get into this time of year, the desire – the push – that someone might have might be ‘It’s celebratory! Let’s go big, let’s go crazy!’ It’s the holidays, and you want to do something extraordinary,” said Brendan Cox, Head Chef and owner of the Oak Leaf in Pittsboro. “But I think this time of year is when flavors become more focused, because you’re dealing with ingredients that require more work.”

In spring and summer, bright colors and fresh flavors dominate. Winter is when things that grow underground take center stage. Over time, people have discovered which foods will hold through the season, and it is those that we most closely associate with the latter half of the year. Parsnips, potatoes, carrots and root vegetables work alongside rich, savory flavors to create the kind of comfort food that inspires fond memories of home and hearth.

“You can take the idea of comfort food, the idea of something simple, and transform it. There’s a billion different ways to make mashed potatoes,” said Cox. “As you gain more experience, especially in food, you can be purposeful. Instead of throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks, you can edit and revise … you can distill something down to its essential idea.”

Taking inspiration from the refined balance found in the dishes of Joël Robuchon, Cox endeavors to make his establishment a place where anyone and everyone can enjoy fine farm-to-table dining. Where Robuchon’s famous “purée de pommes” excels in the sublime simplicity of a pound of butter for every two pounds of potatoes, Cox’s creations from quality ingredients make the holidays a little less heavy.

“When we’re talking about food, and the way we like to cook, we’re really dealing with three main flavors on a plate,” said Cox. “This is the time of year when you really want to focus on straightforward ingredients.”

Fat carries flavor exceptionally well, but a vegetable purée can come off cleaner while helping to highlight and brighten other flavors. Chef Cox saves parsnips for December because of his “love for and tendency to overuse them,” but using a parsnip purée instead of a traditional roux or reduction to thicken sauces and stews results in a cleaner, lighter dish that showcases unexpected flavors.

“Deep, rich and complex flavors that are on the plate are streamlined and intensified,” said Cox. “I’m not reinventing the wheel. I’m not that guy, we’re not that restaurant. We just want to make people happy and make them feel comfortable.”

The holiday menu at the Oak Leaf covers everything from oysters and truffles to chestnuts and braised beef. Dry-brined, cured in simple salt and pepper and marinated until it’s seared and slow-cooked with a trademark mirepoix, the braised beef at the Oak Leaf is a seasonal staple.

“When someone sits down here and eats that plate of braised meat, I don’t want them to taste the beef, the red wine, the braise, the vegetables,” said Cox. “I don’t want them to taste anything else except what the finished dish is. It should be greater than the sum of its parts.”

The ever-changing menu at the Oak Leaf is part of its charm. The fluid nature of its offerings helps to ensure that no one, whether they be customer or staff, gets bored. It evokes a homespun feel, an atmosphere where you’re being made dinner by someone who put actual thought into what to cook that day, rather than what to mass-produce for the month.

“We always try, in a nice way, to let people know that if you come in on one day and eat something and love it, and then come in two weeks later, that dish might not still be on the menu,” said Cox. “By then I’ve cooked that dish a couple hundred times, and I’m ready to move on to something else.”

The Oak Leaf won’t be open on Christmas proper, because Chef Cox believes in ensuring that each member of his staff can spend Christmas with their friends and family, but the restaurant does offer a special lunch on Christmas Eve. A prix fixe three-course seasonal meal, the Holiday Lunch is an Oak Leaf tradition.

“This place should be a warm hug,” says Chef Brendan Cox. “A grandma hug. We cook grandma food, but with a purée on the plate and whatnot.”