Simple Arugula Salad

If you’re going to eat an arugula salad, please refrain from using store-bought dressing. Try this easy recipe instead! Arugula is peperry, so you need something sweet to balance it.

Ingredients :

• ¼ - ½ cup of grated parmesan cheese (the real deal, sharp cheddar is also a good choice)
• 4 tablespoons of rice vinegar (you can also use apple cider vinegar)
• 5 tablespoons of olive oil
• One teaspoon of moutarde de meaux (or any mustard you have a home)
• 1 ½  tablespoons of honey or maple syrup
• Salt (no pepper) or ½ teaspoon of Herbes salées du bas du fleuve. 

---

Instructions:

Easy - mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl, add it to the arugula and tadaam, you have yourself a great salad!

Pickled Radishes

If you’re like me, you love radishes but can only eat a few at a time and often, the rest of the bunch is wasted. Here is a great way to eat your radishes! They are delicious served on tacos or braised meats.

Ingredients :

• One bunch of radishes
• 1 to 1 ½ half cups of apple cider vinager
• One teaspoon of brown sugar
• One whole garlic clove
• ½ teaspoon of pickling spice
• A masson jar

---

Instructions :

1. Wash and cut the radishes in half, then cut the halves into slices
2. Mix the vinager, brown sugar, pickling spice and whole garlic clove in the masson jar. Simply put all the ingredients in the jar, close it, and shake it well.
3. Add the radishes to the masson jar and close the lid.
4. Let the jar sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours, the longer it sit, the more pickled the radishes will be.

Keeps up to a week in the fridge.

Strawberry and Basil Salad with Maple dressing

Ingredients for salad :

• One pint of fresh, Quebec strawberries
• One full branch of Genovese basil (put lots!)
• One, large head of Bergam’s lettuce (a light tasting, light green lettuce, if you don’t have one, I would use a Boston-type lettuce)

Ingredients for dressing :

• 3 tablespoons of maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinagre
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil
•  1 teaspoon of mustard (choose the one you have in your fridge, it will do just fine)
•  Salt and pepper (or ½ teaspoon of salted herbs)

---

Instructions :

1. Start by preparing your dressing. Simply mix all the ingredients together and mix well with a fork or whisk. Set aside.
2.  For the salad, wash the strawberries and remove the stem. Cut them in small slices.
3.  Remove the basil leaves from the stem and wash them. Cut them in a chifonnade. (Fancy word that means that you stack up your basil leaves together, roll them up, and chop it.)
4.  Wash the Bergam’s lettuce and roughly chop it.
5.  Add all the salad ingredients together in a bowl. Add dressing only when you’re ready to eat. 

Kholrabi and Apple Salad

Ingredients for Salad :

• 2 bulbs of kholrabi
• 2 apples (any type of local apple will do, I like Empire)
• ½ cup of walnuts (or any nut you have at home)

Ingredients for dressing :

• 3 taplespoons of Rice vinagre (or any yellow vinagre, I wouldn’t use Balsamic)
• 1 tablespoon of Mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon of Mustard (I used honey mustard or Moutarde de Maux)
• ½ teaspoon of ‘herbes salées du Bas-du-Fleuve’ – or salt and pepper
• 2-3 tablespoons of Olive Oil
• ¼ lemon

---

Instructions :

1.    Start by making your dressing. In a small bowl or mug, mix the mayonnaise and olive oil with a small whisk or fork.
2.  Add the mustard and salted herbs (herbes salées du Bas-du-Fleuve) and mix well.
3. Add the vinagre and mix well. It’s important to really mix the dressing because of the mayonnaise. You want a nice, smooth dressing.
4.  For your salad, cut off the stems and leaves of the kholrabi (you can keep them and eat them as greens). Peel the Kholrabi and cut the veggie into juliennes.
5.   Peel your apples and cut into juliennes. Squirt some lemon on the apple juliennes (i twill help keep the apples white but it also adds to the taste of the salad)
6.  Roughly chop the walnuts
7.   Place everything into a bowl and add dressing

Delicious as a BBQ side dish or for a healty lunch!

Sweet Potato and kale Gratin

(delicious with ribs!)

Ingredients :

• 3 medium-sized sweet potatoes
•  8-10 leaves of Vates Kale
• 3 garlic cloves
•  ¾ cup of cream (you choose the cream, you can even use milk)
• One farm-fresh egg
• 1 ½ cups of Cheese (use whatever you have in the fridge, ideally, a strong and mild cheese mix)
• Salt, pepper and nutmeg

---

Instructions :

1.        Turn your oven on and set at 375 degrees
2.  Peel and cut your sweet potatoes in thin slices (about ¼’’ thick)
3. Cut a garlic clove in two and rub the bottom/sides of the dish you’ll be cooking in with garlic
4.  Chop all the garlic into small pieces, set aside
5.   Remove thicker part of the Vates Kale stem (keep for smoothies or compost)
6. 6.       Finely chop kale
7. 7.       In layers, add a row of sweet potato, a row of kale, sprinkle some garlic. Repeat until you reach the top of the dish you’re cooking in.
8. 8.       In a small bowl, mix the cream, egg, salt, pepper and nutmeg and whisk it (only to mix it well)
9. 9.       Slowly add the cream mixture to the layers of sweet potato and kale.
10. 10.   Sprinkle the cheese on top.
11. 11.   Cover with tin foil or lid and cook for about 30 minutes
12. 12.   Uncover and cook for another 20 minutes or until you can drive a fork to the bottom of your pan and the cheese is crispy to liking.

Enjoy with a nice piece of meat! Or, if you’re vegetarian, serve it on top of cooked barley! Yum!

If you don’t have sweet potatoes, regular potatoes will do just fine and the recipe will also be delicious!