Fire and Smoke
When in the throes of the deep freeze, it’s understandable that our food preferences and cravings tend to change. The depths of winter often pique our interest in comforting meals that warm our bodies from the inside out. How can we accomplish this culinary goal in the kitchen? By embracing cooking techniques and ingredients that infuse winter repasts with smoky, fiery, and crispy flavours.
When you’re yearning to turn up the heat on winter, food-preparation techniques such as broiling, pan searing, and roasting can yield highly rewarding results. Think perfectly charred vegetables, tender roasted fish, and seared citrus—just what you want when the weather is most frightful. From there, feisty ingredients, including chili peppers and smoked seasonings, will go one step further to perk up your meals by adding depth of flavour. Hot stuff, indeed.
These seasonally inspired fiery and smoky dishes are not just about providing us with comforting nourishment; they’re also here to celebrate the heart-healthy ingredients that can make this the season of living well.
Here are recipes that prove it’s not always a problem when your cooking goes up in smoke.
This hearty and comforting soup is layered with the robust flavours of roasted vegetables, chewy sausage, grassy quinoa, earthy beans, and smoked cheese. The result is a bold, protein-packed soup that’s sure to help you feel extra cozy on a winter night. For a Mexican twist, swap the chicken or turkey sausage for smoky, spicy chorizo. The soup makes excellent leftovers, but you’ll need to add additional liquid as the quinoa will soak up the water as it sits.
It’s taco night, starring only plants. The combination of saucy chipotle pepper and powdered smoked paprika infuses the meaty tofu crumbles with an unmistakable smoky essence. The sautéed mushrooms are an umami-packed alternative to standard salsa and there will be extra tofu filling for anyone with a bigger appetite!
This warm, buttery salmon is adorned with a bright citrusy salsa. Charring citrus in a red-hot pan brings benefits: the sweetness is enhanced while mellowing the tangy notes, and a surprising smoky flavour is imparted on the fruit. This makes charred citrus a next-level way to serve salsa. For an extra layer of smoky essence, try seasoning your salmon with smoked salt.
This main-course salad, made by lightly charring cabbage strands under the broiler, is seasoned with a lemony dressing and smoke-infused hempseeds. The slight bitterness from charring amplifies all the savoury and sweet flavours of the dish. The hemp crumble, a healthier stand-in for bacon bits, tastes very similar to bacon bits and it may just become your new favourite salad and soup topper.
A Valentine’s Day-worthy dessert made with love, these cakes are sweetened naturally with dried plums for a rich, fudgy consistency. The cayenne adds a slight fiery kick, making the dessert feel extra cozy. The raspberry coulis, sauce made from puréed fruits, adds a burst of fresh flavour and vibrant colour. The cakes can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, but they are best served at room temperature or warmed through.
This collection was originally published in the February 2026 issue of alive magazine.
Matthew Kadey, MSc, RD, is a dietitian, nutrition writer, and recipe developer. He is also the author of Rocket Fuel (VeloPress, 2016) and Muffin Tin Chef (Ulysses Press, 2012).
