(pictured with Walker’s Spicy Brussels Sprouts)
This recipe is fabulous any time of year—it’s fresh and light for the warmer months, but the flavours are rich and comforting for winter. I love making extra burgers and eating them chilled the next day with a salad—so satisfying! I also love homemade salsa and guacamole, so I combined them in this fresh, vibrant topping for the burgers.
Per serving:
Preheat grill to medium or oven to 350 F (180 C).
For Guac Salsa, in small bowl, combine avocados, tomato, onion, and garlic; stir. Pour lime juice, to taste, over top and sprinkle with sea salt. Set aside.
For burgers, in large bowl, whisk together egg and tamari. Add turkey, onion, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, parsley, and chili flakes; mix well with your hands (itu2019s messy, so you might want to wear gloves). Form into 4 to 6 patties, depending on how large you like your burgers.
Grill burgers, with lid closed and turning once, for 10 to 12 minutes, or until cooked completely. Or bake for 7 to 9 minutes, flip them over, and bake for another 7 to 9 minutes. Serve with Guac Salsa.
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.