Canadian Meal

This meal showcases recipes from Canada, our neighbor to the north. When I decided to cook a meal from Canada I was looking to cook traditional Canadian dishes. I found the recipe for bean cassaoulet and decided to build the meal around this dish.

Cassaoulets are predecessors of casseroles and came to the US and Canada with the immigrants from Europe. They are originally a dish from the French countryside. It takes time to cook a cassaoulet but the depth of the flavors is amazing. As a side for the cassaoulet I made a potato salad. Potatoes mashed or in salads are a favorite in our house so this potato salad was an obvious choice. I love wild rice. My daughter says she feels like she is eating leeches but I think it is very flavorful and filling. I had some in the pantry and it went very well with the cassoulet. Summer months are perfect for ice cream and sherbet so the dessert pretty much picked itself. The addition of lemon juice in the sherbet brings out the tangy flavors of the strawberry and makes for a refreshing but not overtly sweet dessert.

The new ingredient I tried was organic Dijon mustard. I had always used the yellow mustard before. I was looking up the ingredients and found turmeric was added to the yellow mustard. I am glad I decided to try the organic Dijon, all the flavor without the overpowering color.

Here are the recipes for the dishes on the menu

• Great Northern Bean Cassoulet 
• Prairie Potato Salad 
• Wild Rice 

And for dessert

• Strawberry Sherbet

Great Northern Bean Cassoulet

Cassoulets originated in the French countryside and were taken to other countries by immigrants. This French Canadian dish is a meal in itself. It is protein rich and filling flavored with cloves, bay leaves, leeks and thyme. It has a long cooking time but that is totally worth it as it allows all the flavors to blend together.

Thick gravies with few spices and a lot of flavor are very popular in my house. We loved the taste of the leeks and the mushrooms. Tomatoes are a favorite and this tomato gravy totally lived up to its expectation. As an added bonus the kitchen smelled great. I topped it with a dollop of vegan cream.

Recipe adapted from here

You will need
4 medium carrots
1 medium leek
2 tbsp. olive oil

2 garlic cloves

3 springs thyme

2 bay leaves

3-4 cloves

2 cups dry great northern beans

8-10 shitake mushrooms

4 medium tomatoes

2 tbsp. tomato paste

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. black pepper

salt to taste

Wash and soak the beans overnight. The next day pressure cook the beans for 10 minutes. When the cooker depressurizes remove the beans and keep aside. Chop the tomatoes and keep aside. Wipe clean the mushrooms, take off the stem and slice.

Wash, peel and dice the carrots. Slice the leek, wash it clean and dice. In a thick bottomed pan heat the olive oil and add the diced vegetables. Cook for 5-10 minutes until the carrots are tender. Meanwhile peel and mince the garlic. Wash the thyme springs. Crush the cloves to a powder in a mortar and pestle. Add the garlic, thyme, bay leaves and crushed cloves to the carrot mixture.

When the spices are well combined add the beans with a little of the juice it was cooked in. Cook for 5 minutes.

Add the chopped tomatoes and mushrooms. Season with paprika, black pepper and salt.

Cook for an hour on medium low heat until all the ingredients are well combined, the tomatoes are mushy and the liquid has cooked down.

Enjoy!

Prairie Potato Salad

This is a Canadian style variation of the popular potato salad flavored with eggs, radish and onion. My daughter would live on this for a month if I let her. If you love your potato salad you have to try this variation. It is divine.

My daughter helped me with this salad. She does not like Dijon mustard and read the recipe. She kept asking me if I was going to add any and I assured her I would not. The day before I had invested in a bottle of organic Dijon mustard with no added turmeric. I knew it would not color the salad yellow and she would never know. Dijon mustard completes the flavor profile of the salad so I added as much as the recipe called for. She never found out. I did leave out the celery because no one likes it in our house.

Recipe adapted from here

You will need
5 medium sized potatoes
2 eggs
4 round red radishes
1/4 onion
1/4  cup chives

For the dressing
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 tsp. Dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Put the potatoes in a pan with enough water to completely submerge them and bring the water to a boil. Continue to cook the potatoes until they are fork tender. Take them off heat and drain the water. Put the cooked potatoes into cold water for 5 minutes to stop the cooking process. Drain the cold water. Peel and dice the potatoes into small cubes. 

Meanwhile in a pan add the eggs and enough water to submerge the eggs completely. Heat the water but do not let it boil. Keep it simmering for 20 minutes. Turn off heat, drain the water and drop the cooked eggs in cold water to stop the cooking process. After a minute peel the eggs and dice. Dice the onion and mince the chives. Combine the potatoes, eggs, chives and onions.

In a bowl combine all the ingredients for the dressing and add it to the potatoes. Chill in the refrigerator for a couple hours before serving.

Wild Rice

Wild rice was eaten in north America long before the European settlers arrived. I have always loved this nutty flavored rice. I had never cooked it on its own before. I always created a rice blend with brown basmati rice. They both take a long time to cook so they can be paired together. I have to say the wild rice tasted very good on its own.

I make this rice occasionally mixed in with our regular basmati brown rice. Years ago when I made it for the first time my daughter, then 5, said it looked like little leeches. Not exactly the kind of description I want to hear when I am about to put something in my mouth. But she ate it without complaint. Since then it has been a part of our diet, though infrequently.

You will need
1 cup wild rice
3 cups water
1 tsp. black pepper
salt to taste

Here is a sample of what the grain looks like uncooked.

In a pan boil water with the wild rice. Add black pepper and salt to taste. Continue to cook the rice for the next 40-50 minutes. The rice grain will split open when it is cooked. 

 

Turn off heat.

Strawberry Sherbet

I have made a lot of ice cream and sherbets this summer. This strawberry sherbet for one of the best I made. It is easy to make and very satisfying. The lemon adds an unexpected tang to the taste.

During the summer months the demand for ice cream is high. Grocery stores entice us with sales. They fill the end cap freezer displays with ice cream and put up big sale signs to rope us in. I found these easy to make sherbet with fresh fruit a much better option. Knowing what goes into making it makes the dessert a lot sweeter.

Recipe adapted from here

You will need
2 cups diced sweet ripe strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 cups non-fat or low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup cream or whole milk

Note: Reduce the quantity of lemon juice if your strawberries are tart.

In a bowl combine the strawberries with the sugar and keep aside for about 15 minutes. The sugar should be moistened or dissolved.

Puree in a blender. Add the remaining ingredients except cream to the strawberries in the blender jar and blend together. Add the cream and whisk only until combined. Pour into an airtight metal container and freeze for 3-4 hours.

Transfer to the blender and whip it until smooth. Transfer back to the container and freeze for another 4-5 hours. If frozen solid, transfer to the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes before scooping out to serve.