The idea is pretty simple: start with adding a dressing to a jar and then layer on various ingredients such as crisp veggies, buttery fish, and greens. Bingo … salad in a jar that’s ready to go when you are, with not a limp green in sight. Perfect for weekday lunches and healthy quick dinners. Wild salmon or Arctic char are good stand-ins for rainbow trout.
When preparing lentils for a particular dish, consider adding extra to the pot of simmering water. Cooked lentils freeze well and can be used as an easy plant-based protein addition to future salads.
Per serving:
Preheat oven to 300 F (150 C). Season trout with salt and pepper and place skin side down on parchment paper- or silicone sheet-lined baking sheet. Bake fish for 15 minutes, or until just barely cooked through in the thickest part of flesh. Let rest for 5 minutes, then break apart flesh into 2 in (5 cm) chunks. Alternatively, you can prepare the trout on an outdoor grill.
In blender container, place strawberries, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, mustard, honey, garlic, chili flakes, salt, and pepper; blend until smooth.
To serve immediately, among 4 salad bowls, divide radishes, cucumber, bell pepper, lentils, basil, baby spinach, trout, and goat cheese. Toss gently together and drizzle dressing overtop each.
Divide strawberry dressing among 4 large-mouth 24 oz (3 cup) Mason-style jars. Layer in radishes, cucumber, bell pepper, trout, lentils, basil, baby spinach, and goat cheese, in that order. Seal shut with lids and chill for up to 3 days.
To serve, simply pour contents of jar into a bowl. If needed, scrape out any remaining dressing from bottom of jar.
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.