If you think pumpkin is best trotted out twice a year as a pie filling, think again. Chef Luptak prefers using Rouge vif d’Étampes pumpkin, a French heirloom variety, when he makes this salad. “Rouge vif d’Étampes” means “bright red from Étampes”—an old commune in France. These flat pumpkins were a fixture in Paris’s central market in the late 1800s.
If you have ground spices on hand instead of seeds, they'll work fine in the pumpkin seed crust as well. Toast them in the frying pan, but skip the grinding.
Per serving:
Leave skin on Kuri squash. If using butternut squash, peel skin off. Cut in half and remove seeds. Cut squash into cubes.
In medium-sized pot, sauté squash in olive oil over medium heat until there’s some caramelization on the squash. Add onion and garlic and continue to cook for another 10 minutes.
Add stock, maple syrup, salt, pepper and thyme and continue to cook for 10 minutes, allowing all the flavors to come together. Transfer mixture to blender and purée until smooth.
Cool and reserve. Store in refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Preheat oven to 400 F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Leave skin on Rouge vif d’Étampes pumpkin. If using sugar pumpkin, peel skin off. Remove and clean seeds, reserving them for pumpkin seed crust. Cut pumpkin into 1 ½ in cubes. Toss with salt, pepper, olive oil, nutmeg, thyme and maple syrup. Transfer cubes to prepared baking sheet and roast in oven for 15 minutes.
Cool and reserve. Store in refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Toast cumin, cardamom and coriander in frying pan over medium heat, shaking pan often, until spices begin to smell fragrant. Remove spices from pan and blitz in spice grinder to a fine powder.
Toast pumpkin seeds and almonds on sheet pan in oven for 5 minutes.
In food processor, pulse toasted spices, toasted almonds and pumpkin seeds, chili flakes, salt, pepper and sugar to desired consistency. Store pumpkin seed crust in airtight container for up to 1 month.
Dollop “pumpkin” purée in center of each of 4 plates. Top with sprouted lentils and roasted pumpkin, sprinkle with pumpkin seed crust and garnish with a nice spicy green, like watercress or arugula, if desired.
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.