Blueberry season is the perfect time to use your juicer to upgrade one of summer’s most iconic treats: the root beer float. Consider sprinkling with a whisper of grated nutmeg. Source some quality coconut or regular ice cream if you don’t have an ice cream maker to make your own.
Per serving:
To make ice cream, combine coconut milk and sugar in bowl. Cut open vanilla stick and scrape seeds into mixture. Beat with electric mixer until blended and very creamy. Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufactureru2019s instructions.
Send blueberries and mint through juicer. Chill mixture for at least 1 hour.
When ready to serve, stir together about 1/3 cup (80 mL) blueberry juice and 3/4 cup (180 mL) club soda in each of 4 wide-mouth glasses. Top each with a scoop of ice cream and a handful of fresh blueberries.
Tourtière is, for me, the dish that best represents Québec. It can be traced back to the 1600s, and there’s no master recipe; every family has their own twist. Originally, it was made with game birds or game meat, like rabbit, pheasant, or moose; that’s one of the reasons why I prefer it with venison instead of beef or pork. Variation: If you prefer to make single servings, follow our lead at the restaurant, where we make individual tourtières in the form of a dome (pithivier) and fill them with 5 ounces (160 g) of the ground venison mixture. Variation: You can also use a food processor to make the dough. Place the flour, salt, and butter in the food processor and pulse about ten times, until the butter is incorporated—don’t overmix. It should look like wet sand, and a few little pieces of butter here and there is okay. With the motor running, through the feed tube, slowly add ice water until the dough forms a ball—again don’t overmix. Wrap, chill, and roll out as directed above.
My love of artichokes continues with this classic recipe, one of the best ways to eat this interesting, underrated, and strange vegetable. Frozen artichoke hearts are a time-saving substitute, though the flavour and texture of fresh artichokes are, by far, much superior and definitely preferred.
Cervelle de canut is basically the Boursin of France, an herbed fresh farmer’s cheese spread that’s a speciality of Lyon. The name is kind of weird, as it literally means “silk worker’s brain,” named after nineteenth-century Lyonnaise silk workers, who were called canuts. Sadly, the name reflects the low opinion of the people towards these workers. Happily for us, though, it’s delicious—creamy, fragrant, and fresh at the same time. Cervelle de canut is one of my family’s favourite dishes. It’s a great make-ahead appetizer that you can pop out of the fridge once your guests arrive. Use a full-fat cream cheese for the dish, or it will be too runny and less delicious.