This hearty soup makes a perfect cold weather lunch or light dinner paired with a kale salad.
1 lb (450 g) dried black beans (about 2 cups/500 mL)
1 Tbsp (15 mL) coconut oil
1 cup (250 mL) diced onion
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 large celery stalks, thinly sliced across the stalk
1/2 cup (125 mL) carrot, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp (10 mL) ground cumin
1 tsp (5 mL) smoked paprika
1 bay leaf
4 cups (1 L) water
2 cups (500 mL) brewed coffee
2 cups (500 mL) butternut squash, cut into 1/2 in (1.25 cm) cubes
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
2 green onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
6 Tbsp (90 mL) reduced-fat sour cream
1/4 cup (60 mL) fresh cilantro leaves
Pick over beans, making sure to discard any stones or broken beans. Rinse well, place in large bowl or container, and cover with 2 in (5 cm) cold water. Let beans soak overnight.
Heat oil in large pot over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add onion, pepper, celery, carrot, jalapeno, and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables begin to soften, about 8 minutes. Stir in cumin, smoked paprika, and bay leaf, cooking for another minute. Pour in water and coffee.
Drain beans, rinse well, and stir into soup base. Turn heat up to high and bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and skim off any foam that accumulates on surface. Cover pot and simmer, stirring occasionally, until beans are very tender, about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, steam squash until just cooked, about 5 minutes.
Once beans are cooked, remove pot from heat. Remove bay leaf from soup and stir in salt. Purée about half the soup in blender until smooth. Return purée to pot and stir until incorporated.
When ready to serve, warm soup gently over medium heat, stirring often, until warm. Ladle into bowls and garnish with cooked squash, a sprinkle of green onion, a dollop of sour cream, and a few torn cilantro leaves.
Serves 6.
Each serving contains: 329 calories; 18 g protein; 3 g total fat (2 g sat. fat, 0 g trans fat); 60 g total carbohydrates (6 g sugars, 21 g fibre); 239 mg sodium
source: "Cooking with Coffee", alive #373, November 2013
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.