Dandelion greens are a delightfully bitter green known for their role in promoting good digestion, as well as being rich in vitamin A. The greens are readily available in grocery stores, if you can’t find wild.
Increase the wild food factor and tone down the bitterness by adding a small splash of birch syrup to these dandelion greens.
Per serving:
In large high-sided skillet, add bacon. Cover and cook, lifting lid to stir once or twice, until bacon is cooked. Remove with tongs and set aside. Add apple slices and sauteu0301 in bacon fat until softened (about 5 minutes). Add vinegar and mustard, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook until mostly evaporated. Tear bacon into bite-sized pieces. Return to skillet along with greens, pepper, salt, and nutmeg. Cover and cook over medium heat until greens are softened and wilted (about 2 minutes). Stir well to incorporate, and serve.
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.