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Lemony Tilapia Packets

We kid you not: the microwave is your answer to perfectly cooked fish in a flash. When you’re facing a dinnertime crunch at the end of a long day, this 15-minute meal ventures into the lifesaver category. The same recipe can be made with other fish such as salmon, rainbow trout, haddock, or catfish.

Hidden hacks

Bundling up tilapia and vegetables in parchment packets and heating it all in the microwave traps steam to add moisture and guarantees you’ll be serving restaurant-worthy tender fish.

High voltage

Most modern microwaves pump out at least 1,000 watts—cook times for most recipes are based on this power output. Look on the back of your microwave or inside the oven door to determine the power of the machine. If you have a lower-wattage microwave, you may need to increase cooking times.

Masala Cauliflower Soup

Once veggies are broiled and everything is blended, you’ll likely find yourself declaring about this recipe, “Wow, that was easy!” Tahini lends this soup a nutty flavour and a creamier mouth feel.

Hidden hacks

Blasting your veggies using the underutilized broiler gives soup the same deep flavour as sautéing and simmering in a saucepan, but at a much quicker rate.

One Pot Sweet Potato and Kale Pasta

A hearty pasta dinner need not require multiple pots. For less effort and post-meal cleanup, why not cook everything together?

Hidden hacks

By using the exact amount of liquid necessary to cook your pasta with the other ingredients, you do away with requiring an extra pot of water for your noodles and the need to pull out the colander. Shredding your sweet potato is a hack that lets it cook in a flash (also try this when making hashes, stir-fries, and grain bowls), while baby greens are a nutritious no-chopping-required add-in.

Go nuts

You don’t need to crank up the oven to make a small batch of toasty nuts. Instead, nuke them. Spread nuts in a single layer on microwave-safe plate. Microwave on high power for 1 minute, stir, and continue heating in 30-second intervals, stirring between each interval, until nuts are fragrant and a few shades darker.

Blueberry Cheesecake Oats

Most overnight oat recipes use rolled oats, but the same time-saving method can also be used with the heartier steel-cut variety. The ricotta berry topping will make each spoonful seem oh-so indulgent. This recipe can easily be scaled up to give you several mornings’ worth of easy-breezy meals.

Hidden hacks

The boiled water will soften the steel-cut oats into a toothsome chewy texture, no time-sucking stovetop simmering required.

Frozen asset

Quickly put on ice after harvest, not only are frozen fruits and berries ultra-convenient, but they can also be more nutrient dense than imported fresh versions.

Carrot Orange Smoothie Packs

Gathering up all the necessary blender ingredients when a smoothie craving strikes can eat into any free time you may have. Not so when you cleverly put nearly everything on ice beforehand. This one provides a perfect balance of energizing carbs, satiating protein, and healthy fats.

Hidden hacks

These ready-to-go subzero smoothie packs are your answer to a frosty drink in a matter of moments, be it after a spirited workout or when you’re in need of a quick breakfast to deal with a morning time crunch.

Tip

Try this Smoothie Pack kitchen hack with any of your other favourite ingredient combos. Simply bundle up items like fruits, vegetables, herbs, and seeds and put them on ice. Then blend with liquid of choice and last-minute add-ins such as yogurt, protein powder, nut butter, and spices.

Pretty Chia Chocolates

If you’re up to speed on the latest food trends, you might have heard of this gorgeous indigo matcha. It’s actually not related to green matcha at all; it hails from the butterfly pea flower—a completely different plant (see Tip below). It doesn’t have quite the same benefits as green matcha. Nor does it contain caffeine. Take a nibble of one of these chocolates, though, and you’ll pop open a beautiful blue filling. Pure calm.

Tips

To melt chocolate, it’s important to have it all chopped into equally sized small pieces so it melts evenly. Melting slowly is the key to ending up with shiny chocolate when it hardens.
Blue matcha powder can be ordered online, but feel free to substitute with green matcha powder, if you wish.
Making chocolate is easy with small square silicone forms. Just add a little melted chocolate into the base of each cup and place a square of filling on top. Drizzle with a little more chocolate to fully coat. Garnish and refrigerate until firm. Easy to pop out, and the chocolates turn out perfectly square every time.
Butterfly pea flower is a beautiful blue flower that’s dried and ground and added to various recipes, providing a unique brilliant blue colour. It’s available in some specialty gourmet food shops and online.

Pea Flower Cheesecake Bites

These two-bite treats are just the right size to pop into your mouth for a delicious dessert or a sweet afternoon pick-me-up. And it will surely dazzle the dessert table with its unique blue colour.

Tips

These tasty little bites are just as delicious made with green matcha powder in a pinch.
Butterfly pea flower is a beautiful blue flower that’s dried and ground and added to various recipes, providing a unique brilliant blue colour. It’s available in some specialty gourmet food shops and online.

Taqueria Tacos with Fish, Mango Salsa, and Tahini Coconut Sauce

Don’t be daunted with the length of this recipe. It’s easily prepared in stages and assembled in a minute. Salsa and sauce can be prepared a day ahead. Even tortillas can be made ahead and wrapped tightly in foil overnight or frozen and reheated. These tacos are as lovely to look at as they are delicious to eat.

Tip

Making your own tortillas from scratch guarantees freshness. If blue corn tortilla flour is hard to find in your local store, it can be purchased online. Alternatively, substitute masa harina (which is more commonly available) in place of blue corn flour.

Blueberry Patch Salad with Curry Cashew Dressing

There’s a lot of umami going on in this salad. From the fresh taste of blueberries coupled with nutrient-rich greens to crispy toasted nuts paired with creamy tahini dressing—it’s flavourful and fresh. Plus the added pungency of crumbled blue cheese on top gives it that extra wow. Give your health an antioxidant blue boost this season.

Tip

Did you know that blueberries that are frozen for 6 months still contain the same amount of healthy antioxidants as fresh?

Vegan Roots and Blues Bisque

Sipping soup is supreme comfort on a wet and damp fall evening. This lovely vegan bisque is creamy and nurturing for any occasion. We jazzed it up with homemade chips but a dairy-free grated cheese is also a tasty option.

Tip

Root bisque is a great creamy base for a chunky vegetable soup. Add a little more stock and some broccoli and cauliflower florets. Simmer until tender.

Creamy Wild Vegan Mushroom Toasts

A traditional recipe of wild mushrooms on toast is characteristically made with butter and top-quality cream or crème fraîche. We did a little transition and developed an amazing vegan creamy wild mushroom topping, if you can imagine cream and vegan in the same sentence. Ours is delicious spooned onto crostini without compromising on quality.

Tip

If exotic mushrooms aren’t available, any combination of firm mushrooms such as shiitake or portobello will work in this recipe.

Roasted Jewel Yam Cakes with Blackberry Salsa

We pair opposite colours on the colour wheel with flavours that perfectly match. These delicious patties topped with fresh berry salsa are chock full of vitamin C and fibre—perfect leading into winter. Serve them as a main course or shape patties into small bites and serve as an appetizer or hors d’oeuvre.

Tip

Make a double batch, shape into patties, and freeze. Delicious for an after-work supper when time is in short supply.

The Works! Fully Loaded Quinoa Greek Salad

I present to you the salad I ate so often I almost made myself hate it. It’s so addicting, so easy and really foolproof. It combines the latest trends with the roots of my childhood—and that can’t be a bad thing! Let’s just touch on a few things before you move on to the least boring salad ever. I used to think salads were lettuce, lettuce and more lettuce with a light dressing and a sprinkling of hate your body, so eat this shit, Maria. It took me a while to figure out that I was so wrong and that salads can have so many different varieties of greens and veggies. They can even have carbs. You can even have dressing that doesn’t taste like air mixed with gluten-free water—can you believe it? Simple ingredients like olive oil do have the calories we’ve all been “taught” to be afraid of, but I promise you things like olive oil, quinoa, capers and artichokes are what your body is calling out for. Hair growth, nail strength, soft skin and more benefits are to be expected when you just enjoy the right foods, eat balanced and legit love yourself!

Did you know?

Long used by natural food companies as a food dye alternative, spirulina is a blue-green algae that may strengthen the immune system, improve digestion and reduce inflammation. Available in powdered or tablet form (use the powdered form for this recipe!), spirulina is high in potassium, copper and magnesium and is also an excellent source of certain B vitamins, as well as vitamin K.

Tomato Braised Sablefish

A quick tomato braise helps keep a splurge fish like sablefish tender and moist (read: much less risk of overcooking), while leaving you with a sumptuous sauce to spoon up. This dish can also be made with other white-fleshed sustainable fish such as Pacific halibut, lingcod, and tilapia. Consider serving with roasted potatoes.

Beet Cured Arctic Char

Gravlax is a traditional Scandinavian preparation of fish, cured with seasonings and dill, resulting in deliciously velvety flesh. In this version, beets bring earthy, sweet flavour and bright, bold colour to cured Arctic char. The cured char should be used within five days. Substitute salmon or rainbow trout for the char if you like.

More ways with cured char

Stir together cream cheese with chopped herbs and lemon zest, spread on rye crackers, and top with slices of cured fish.
Fold into soft scrambled eggs or add finely chopped pieces to devilled eggs.
Use in place of smoked mackerel in the Mackerel Potato Egg Salad recipe.
Try it with cooked linguini.
Smash avocado on toast and top with slices of cured char and microgreens.

Salmon Mango Bowls

These power bowls—featuring a gathering of buttery wild salmon, whole grain millet, radishes roasted to sweet perfection, and a lively mango sauce—are sure to wake up your lunch or dinner routine. Plus, in a bowl, everything is deliciously mixed together instead of getting pushed around on a plate. The millet, roasted radish, salmon, and mango sauce can all be made up to three days in advance for quick assembly.

Easy does it

One of the worries about working with fish is the fear of overcooking it. Using lower cooking temperatures increases the time it takes fish to go from raw to cooked to overcooked. The end result is a delicate texture and juicier meat.

Mackerel Potato Egg Salad

This composed salad has it all: meaty smoked mackerel, radicchio for a bitter edge, the vinegary snap of pickles, and creamy potatoes. And this method of hard-boiling eggs will give you a nice soft (but not too runny) yolk. You can also roast the potatoes in the oven if you like them crispy.

Tip

Massaging raw onion with some acid, sugar, and salt subdues some of the bite and makes it slightly sweet. Try the same trick when using raw onion as a burger, sandwich, or taco topping.

Curry Steamed Mussels

It’s a shame most people consider mussels a restaurant dish—something to order off a menu and rarely, if ever, to serve at home. But this recipe demonstrates that all you need is a handful of ingredients and a nice big pot to turn them into a knockout meal that might seem fussy but is easy enough to make on a busy weeknight. Serve with crusty bread for soaking up the flavourful broth or spoon it over cooked brown rice. For two servings, you want to use about 1 1/2 lbs (750 g) of mussels.

Tips

Mussels are naturally high in sodium, so if you’re following a sodium-reduced diet, pay close attention to your sodium intake on days you eat mussels.
Mussels will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator if placed in a bowl and covered with a damp paper towel. They’re sold alive, so never keep them in a plastic bag—that suffocates the little guys.

Garlic Braised Tomato Salad with Crusted Chicken Scaloppini and Fried Capers

This is a bit of a take on a popular dish in a local restaurant. A crispy coating on flattened chicken takes mere minutes to cook and is delicious grilled or pan-fried. Served on a bed of roasted garlicky tomato salad with arugula and a smattering of fried capers, it’s perfect for any gathering.

Roasted Garlic Vegetables with Citrus Tahini Dressing

Any kind of roasted or grilled vegetables will get a boost with tahini sauce. But a tahini sauce with fresh garlic is the quintessential favourite. Whirl it to creamy perfection and drizzle over roasted vegetables as we’ve done here. A classic favourite—you can’t go wrong.

Tip

We flavoured the tahini dressing with cilantro. Substitute with rosemary and switch up the lemon for orange peel and juice, if you wish.

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

Last summer when my first planting of squash seeds didn’t grow, I planted another batch. Then I decided that growing squash down the retaining wall at the back of our home might also be nice (which it was!). Then, to my surprise, all three batches of squash seeds grew into a wide variety of gorgeous organic squashes. So I began creating new and different ways to enjoy this vegetable. Imagine my anticipation when I created this recipe and then waited for the ice cream maker to churn out the finished product. Then there was the first bite. It was heavenly! I had created my new and favourite way to enjoy squash—in ice cream. This delightful treat, which doesn’t actually contain pumpkins due to my overflow of squash, tastes like creamy pumpkin pie without the crust, or perhaps even better.

Apple Vinegar

Don’t throw away those apples that are spongy and past their prime or the peels and cores from making your favourite apple dishes! You can quickly give these castoffs new life as delicious and nutritious apple vinegar. With minimal effort and a minor time and cost investment, the simple process provides delicious, health-building vinegar in a couple of weeks. You’ll notice there is sugar in this recipe. It acts as a natural preservative so the apples don’t just rot, and it provides food to encourage the growth of probiotic cultures. Apples aren’t high in natural sugars, so without the added sugar, they would just grow mold and other unwanted microbes. But don’t worry: the beneficial bacteria eat most of the sugar, causing them to multiply as they go. The result: high quantities of beneficial, health-building bacteria.

Walnut Thyme Cheese

This dairy-free cheese has a deliciously salty and savoury taste with a rich, buttery texture from walnuts. The walnuts also give it a distinct but ever-so-mild flavour that makes it unlike any other cheese. Even if you’re not a fan of walnuts, I encourage you to buy some high-quality raw walnuts from the refrigerated section in your local health food store. Walnuts also offer high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, which your body needs to protect your brain, maintain a healthy immune system, balance moods, and reduce pain and inflammation in your body. Walnuts are also a good source of vitamins B6 and E as well as minerals like magnesium and potassium. This recipe takes only about 10 minutes of actual preparation time, but the flavours are superb when the walnuts are allowed to culture for a day. Of course, you can culture it for less time if you simply can’t wait to enjoy your next batch. It is delicious on its own, or you can cut it into disks and serve it with your favourite crackers, grapes, or figs. Alternatively, spread it on freshly toasted bread, and savour the rich flavour as it slowly melts from the warmth. Mmmm.

Choosing cheese moulds

You can use just about any type of preferred container you want as a cheese mould, thereby giving your cheeses a wide range of shapes and sizes. There are professional cheese moulds available, but there is no need to use them with these types of cheeses, as most have small holes in them that simply don’t work well with the cheeses in The Cultured Cook. Simple Pyrex, glass, or ceramic bowls will work fine. To help you choose the correct size of mould to use, here’s what I typically use:

2 cup (472 mL) Pyrex bowl for small blocks of cheese
1 quart (952 mL) for medium to large blocks of cheese

But don’t feel confined to use only round moulds. If you have square or rectangular containers that hold about the same amount, then feel free to use them.

Vegan Kefir

Traditionally, kefir is made using cows’ milk, but you can also make kefir with plant-based milks. Here’s a simple recipe for making your own kefir from cashew milk, but feel free to try other types of milk as well, such as almond, sunflower seed, or coconut. The sweetener feeds the kefir microbes, so there will be minimal sugar left in the final product. You’ll notice that the grains will grow in number over time. You only need about 1 Tbsp (15 mL) of kefir grains to keep your kefir going, so you can remove the extras and either eat them, give them to friends, or put them in the compost.