A bowl of sticky oatmeal isn’t going to lure your camping partners out of their warm sleeping bags, but these flapjacks will. Flax, oats, and nuts elevate the nutrition of camp-friendly, just-add-water pancake mix. Chocolate lovers can add a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder to the mix.
3/4 cup (180 mL) complete natural pancake mix
1/3 cup (80 mL) quick-cook rolled oats
1/4 cup (60 mL) flax powder
1 tsp (5 mL) cinnamon
1/2 cup (125 mL) walnut pieces or chopped hazelnuts
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups (350 mL) water
1/3 cup (80 mL) pure maple syrup
2 bananas, sliced thinly
At home
In reusable container, toss together pancake mix, oats, flax, cinnamon, nuts, and salt.
At camp
Lightly grease skillet and place on camp stove. Pour water into container with pancake batter ingredients, and mix.
Spoon about 1/3 cup (80 mL) batter for each pancake onto heated skillet. Let pancakes cook for about 2 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Repeat with remaining batter.
Top with maple syrup and sliced banana.
Serves 4.
Each serving contains: 376 calories; 8 g protein; 15 g total fat (2 g sat. fat, 0 g trans fat); 58 g carbohydrates; 6 g fibre; 302 mg sodium
Source: "Get fired up", alive #346, August 2011
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.