This is a vegan take on a classic French dish and is every bit as warm and inviting as the original. The gremolata is optional but highly recommended, as it helps bring a bit of brightness and freshness to the dish. Try serving this over soft polenta, mashed potatoes, brown rice, or pasta.
To avoid leftover tomato paste going bad in the back of the refrigerator, freeze tablespoonfuls in an ice cube tray. Pop out frozen tomato paste pucks and store in an airtight container in the freezer to use as needed.
Per serving:
Start by making bourguignon. In bowl, stir together dried mushrooms and 1 cup (250 mL) boiling water. Set aside for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, in large saucepan or cast iron pot, warm 1 Tbsp (15 mL) oil over medium heat. Add mixed sliced mushrooms and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to release some juices, about 3 minutes. Transfer mushrooms and any juices to plate and set aside. Place saucepan back over medium heat and add remaining oil. After about 30 seconds add onions, carrot, rutabaga, bell pepper, garlic, thyme, oregano, and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.
Remove rehydrated mushrooms from steeping liquid and finely chop. Reserve mushroom liquid to use later. Stir them into saucepan along with reserved cooked mushrooms and tomato paste. Cook, stirring frequently, for another 5 minutes.
Stir wine and mushroom liquid into mushroom mixture before increasing heat to medium high and bringing mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook, stirring often, until vegetables are softened, about 20 minutes. In small bowl, stir together remaining 2 Tbsp (30 mL) boiling water and flour. Stir flour mixture into pot and cook mixture, stirring often, until sauce thickens, about 1 minute.
To make Pomegranate Gremolata, stir together all ingredients in small bowl until well combined.
Serve bourguignon while warm, sprinkled with gremolata.
Lime juice and ginger add a tropical whiff to this French-Japanese mashup, where seaweed tendrils and Dijon mustard bring out the umami flavours in mushrooms and eggplant. The ingredients might seem to be strange bedfellows, but they work. The result is somewhere between a quiche and a soufflé, with a gluten-free eggplant crust featuring punchy mustard and citrus. This makes for a hearty vegetarian main for brunch, lunch, or dinner with a side salad, or a filling side dish. Fresh or dried If you don’t have fresh thyme and parsley, use 1 tsp (5 mL) dried thyme (divided) and 1 Tbsp (15 mL) dried parsley. The flavours won’t be as pungent, but a little flavour is better than none.
These are the perfect two-bite appetizers. Though the first bite likely won’t “wow” you, the more you chew, the more the salt from the dulse soaks into the avocado and tomato. Wait for it. You can also turn these into breakfast à la avocado toast by substituting a piece of your favourite bread for a slice of baguette. What’s in a name? Theoretically, this should be called a “DLTA” because of the avocado (dulse, lettuce, tomato, and avocado). And if you left out the lettuce, you’d have a “DTA.” A DTA would arguably be a better overall eating experience, since lettuce slightly waters down the rich and creamy result and makes it harder to keep the tomatoes from sliding off the top of the crostini. But the juicy lettuce is actually helpful, since it spreads the salt from the dulse throughout the entire bite, making the “wow” moment come sooner. Besides, neither DLTA nor DTA is as fun an acronym as DLT.
This triple-threat recipe is made with (up to) three types of seaweed. Wakame is essential for the pesto, but kombu boosts the umami punch of sautéed garlic and cherry tomatoes, while kelp noodles are a low-carb substitute for flour-based noodles. Because kelp noodles can be hard to find (you’ll likely need to order them online), feel free to use your favourite boxed linguine, zucchini noodles, shirataki konjac, tofu, or yam noodles instead. You can also leave out the vongole (clams) to keep the recipe plant-based, or use mussels, which are usually more affordable than clams. Both clams and mussels are generally sustainable, as, like seaweed, they’re farmed without feed or antibiotics, unlike many farmed fish operations. Double-duty pesto Make a double batch of seaweed pesto, and enjoy it with eggs, scrambled tofu, or toast.
Spicy popcorn? You bet. This Japanese seven-spice blend combines salty and spicy notes for a healthy snack. If you don’t make your own togarashi, check the container before adding it to your popcorn to make sure it doesn’t contain salt. For an even simpler recipe, skip the togarashi and just grind a few pieces of nori and a pinch of salt in a blender or spice grinder to sprinkle on your popcorn instead. If you’re fresh out of nori, you can always grind wakame, arame, or dulse instead, leaving out the pinch of salt for dulse or any seaweed you taste and find already salty. Shichimi togarashi This customizable spice blend generally features sansho pepper, a.k.a. Japanese prickly ash, a green peppercorn with a citrusy taste, along with seaweed flakes, chili pepper, and dried citrus peel—often yuzu or mandarin orange. If you can’t find sansho, look for Sichuan peppercorn, which has a slightly stronger mouth-tingling effect. You can buy dried orange, mandarin, or tangerine peel. Or you can dehydrate your own, in which case you might as well dehydrate a 1/8 in (3 mm) thick piece of fresh ginger along with the peel. If you can’t handle a lot of chili pepper heat, reduce the pepper to your taste.