Smoked salmon, high in omega-3s for cognitive support and skin health, needs a bit of brightness to iron out its intensity—a hint of sharp mustard, verdant dill, lemon, carrot-infused cream cheese, and zippy pickled onions are just the things to do this. These carrot cream cheese bagels work for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner, and use a variety of harvest time superfoods.
Make it vegetarian with poached eggs or sliced smoked tofu in place of salmon.
Per serving:
Add red onion to large glass Mason jar. In medium saucepan, bring vinegar, water, and honey to a boil. Pour mixture onto onions. Once cool enough to handle, seal and store in refrigerator for up to 1 month. The longer the onions sit, the pinker and sweeter they become.
In stand mixer (easiest) or by hand with whisk, mix cream cheese until softened. Mix in carrot pureu0301e, followed by dill or mint, mustard, and lemon juice.
Toast bagels, and assemble with a layer of avocado, followed by salmon, a dollop of carrot cream cheese, and pickled onion. Serve immediately.
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.