This hempy vegan version of Parmesan is definitely not cheese, but it tops these amped-up stuffed potatoes with all the nutty, savoury flavour your taste buds yearn for. For a booze-free sauce, you can replace the wine with vegetable broth. Extras of the Hemp Parm can be sprinkled over steamed broccoli, pasta dishes, and tomato soup. Or blend it into vegan pesto.
Better together
When sautéing onions, be sure to also toss salt into the pan; it draws out moisture, resulting in faster softening and better browning.
Per serving:
Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C). Prick each sweet potato several times with fork, place on baking sheet, and bake for 40 minutes, or until centres of potatoes are easily pierced with the tip of a knife.
As potatoes cook, in medium saucepan, heat oil over medium. Add onion, carrot, and 1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt; heat until beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Add celery and garlic; heat for 3 minutes. Stir in Italian seasoning, cumin, chili flakes, and black pepper; heat for 30 seconds. Place wine in pan and simmer for 3 minutes, scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pan. Stir in marinara sauce and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in lentils and balsamic vinegar; simmer for 5 minutes.
In small bowl, stir together hempseeds, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, and remaining 1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt.
Slice open potatoes along their length and top with Lentil Bolognese. Sprinkle on Hemp Parm mixture and garnish with parsley.
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.