These savoury muffins deliver a potent double dose of pumpkin by utilizing both pumpkin purée and pumpkin seeds. Delicious as an accompaniment to a warming bowl of your favourite cold weather soup or stew, they’re also delicious as a snack on the go.
Per serving:
Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Lightly grease 8 cups of a muffin tin with coconut oil. Set aside.
In medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and 3 Tbsp (45 mL) pumpkin seeds.
In another medium bowl, whisk together eggs, pumpkin purée, rosemary, thyme, and sage. Stir in dry ingredients until fully incorporated. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups and sprinkle tops of muffins with remaining pumpkin seeds and Parmesan cheese.
Bake until wooden skewer inserted into a muffin comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let muffins cool in pan for a couple of minutes before transferring to cooling rack to cool completely.
Tip: making your own pumpkin purée is easy. Simply toss wedges of pumpkin with a little grapeseed oil or avocado oil before placing on baking tray and roasting in 400 F (200 C) oven until fork tender, about 35 to 45 minutes. Let cool slightly, scrape pumpkin flesh from skin, and purée in food processor until smooth.
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.