The cornerstone of Mexican cuisine and famously complex, mole sauce typically takes days to prepare. This recipe cuts down on the prep and cooking time significantly, yet still yields a deeply flavourful, chocolate-kissed sauce that perfectly complements roasted butternut squash, earthy black beans, and zesty pickled onion.
Play within the framework of this recipe to vary the mole as you wish: nut or seed butters to make it creamy, different dried fruits for sweetness, your favourite roasted chilies for heat, and your favourite chocolate for body and richness.
Per serving:
Place large, rimmed baking tray in oven before preheating oven to 400 F (200 C).
In medium-sized stainless steel or glass bowl, place thinly sliced onion along with 1/4 cup (60 mL) lime juice and 1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt. Scrunch mixture with your hands until onions have wilted slightly and set aside while preparing rest of dish.
To prepare butternut squash, peel, cut in half lengthwise, deseed, and cut each half crosswise into 1/2 in (1.25 cm) semicircles. Place in large bowl along with oil and 1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt. Toss to combine, then tumble onto preheated baking tray, spreading out into a single layer. Roast squash until tender but not mushy, about 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare mole sauce. To bowl of blender, add diced tomatoes along with their liquid, three quarters of the black beans, garlic, onion, chipotle chili pepper, adobo sauce, cinnamon, oregano, cumin, dates, and remaining 1 Tbsp (15 mL) lime juice and 1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt. Purée until smooth.
Transfer smooth sauce to medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, while stirring often, and cook for 4 minutes. Add almond butter and chocolate, stirring until melted and smooth. Remove saucepan from heat.
To serve, spread warm mole sauce in thick layer over bottom of serving platter. Pile roasted squash on top and scatter with remaining black beans and drained, pickled red onions. If desired, finely grate some extra unsweetened chocolate overtop and garnish with cilantro. Consider serving this dish accompanied by soft corn tortillas to mop up all the delicious mole.
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.