A couple days before
15 mins

Start your salmon cure

Ask your fishmonger when their Atlantic salmon comes in and whether they can set some aside for you. You've got to start with a fresh and fatty product. You’ll need a 2lb piece of salmon.

In a large bowl, mix 2.5 lb Diamond crystal kosher salt and 2.5 lb turbinado sugar together thoroughly to make your cure. Spread about a quarter of the mixture evenly in a large casserole dish.

Lay the salmon, skin side down, onto the cure. Sprinkle a small amount of the cure onto the flesh of the salmon, and gently massage it in with your hands. Then garnish generously with half a bunch chopped dill and the zest of 2 lemons.

Evenly sprinkle ¼ cup vodka over the salmon, then cover with the remaining cure. You need to make sure that you can't see the fish anymore! Cover the dish with plastic wrap or aluminum foil.

Find a nice flat place in your fridge and slide the casserole dish in. This will need to be refrigerated for 2 to 3 days, depending on how firm and salty you want your fish. Flip the salmon once daily, and make sure that it's always covered in the cure.

Once the fish has firmed up to a texture that you like, rinse the cure off with water and dry with paper towel. Garnish with the remaining half bunch of chopped dill and the zest one lemon and let dry covered in the fridge for another 12 hours.

The day before

Make the mi-cuit trout
Portion your trout into two equal 2 oz chunks. Season with the 1 tsp kosher salt and ½ tsp white sugar and place in a resealable container. Cure covered in the fridge for at least 8 hours.

Mise en place (the day of)
1 hour

Spatchcock the chicken
Lay the bird breast side down and use kitchen shears to cut down each side of the spine. Remove the spine and the wing tips (you can save these for stock), then turn the birds over, press down on the breastbone, and flatten them.

For the finger chile sauce: Remove the stems from 1/2lb finger chiles, but leave the seeds in. Roughly chop the chilies and 5 cloves garlic.

For the court bouillon: roughly chop 1/4 head of fennel, 1/4 head of celery, and 1/2 a white onion. They can all hang out in the same bowl together.

Start cooking
3.5 hours

Set the chicken to pickle
Place the bird in a large container with a tight-fitting lid, cover with the pickle juice, and refrigerate. We’ll be soaking the bird in the juice for 24 to 48 hours (Day 2 of the meal plan).

Start the bread
For the dough, in a large bowl, combine 3 cups flour with the 1 Tbsp kosher salt, ⅓ cup white sugar, and 1 Tbsp instant yeast. Whisk the ingredients for 30 seconds to combine evenly.

In another bowl, whisk 4 large eggs. Remove and refrigerate 2 Tbsp to use as egg wash for the topping. Whisk 1 cup of water and 1/2 cup of olive oil into the remaining eggs.

Using a wooden spoon, stir the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients. The dough will be very sticky. Stir in 1 more cup of flour. The dough will still be sticky. Stir in additional flour (1/2 cup to 1 cup) until dough is too stiff to continue stirring. The dough will probably still be sticky.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup flour on your work surface. Turn the dough out onto the flour. Using the heels of your hands, knead in enough flour so that the dough doesn't stick to your hands but is still moist. (I usually use almost 6 cups flour in total, but this can vary.) The kneading can also be done in a stand mixer with the dough hook. Knead for about 10 minutes by hand or 5 to 6 minutes in a mixer, until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Don't worry. Add extra flour gradually, but remember that it's always better to have a slightly soft, moist dough than a hard, dry one-it's more difficult to add liquid to a dry dough than flour to a moist one.

Oil a 4-quart bowl with 1 tbsp olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl and turn the dough over to oil it on all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and then with a clean dish towel. Let the dough rise until it has doubled, 1 to 2 hours. If you use a 4-quart bowl, the dough should fill the bowl.

Make the duck salt
Blend 6 dried bay leaves, 1½ Tbsp chili flakes, 4 Tbsp dried thyme, 4 ½ Tbsp black peppercorns, 2 Tbsp fennel seeds, and 3 Tbsp juniper berries in a spice grinder until they're quite fine. Mix spices with 3 ¾ cups kosher salt in a bowl. Store in a mason jar until needed.

Make the finger chili sauce
Place 1/2 cup maple syrup, ½ cup ketchup, ½ Tbsp kosher salt, 1½ Tbsp white sugar, 1 cups apple cider vinegar, the chilies, and the garlic in a blender and puree. Let the blender run for a while or the chili skins won't break down. Transfer the sauce to a tightly sealed container and let it sit and ferment at room temperature for 24 hours. Tomorrow you can divide the sauce into small jam jars and refrigerate. This should last for a couple of months if stored properly.

Prepare your court bouillon
In a large pot, combine the fennel, celery, and onion with 2 bay leaves, ½ lemon, ½ cup white wine, 1 Tbsp kosher salt, and ½ Tbsp black peppercorns. Add 3 quarts water and bring up to a simmer over medium-high heat for at least 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, strain the bouillon, return it to the pot, and heat it to 145°F. A kitchen thermometer is essential here. Gently lay your trout portions into the poaching liquid and poach for 45 minutes. Make sure your liquid stays at a consistent temperature or you may overcook your fish. If you have a sous-vide cooker, you can skip making the court bouillon and simply place your trout portions in a vacuum bag with the olive oil, seal, and sous vide for 45 minutes. Cool the trout and store for tomorrow’s lunch.

Back to the bread
Once the dough has risen, gently punch it down to release the air, then knead it again to form a ball. There are may ways to shape challah. This will make one really large or two medium-large breads. To make two, divide the dough in half. Then divide each half into thirds and braid them like you would braid hair.

You can bake these on baking sheets or in large loaf pan, but make sure that you line either with parchment paper. Transfer the braided challahs to the prepared sheets. Cover each one loosely with oiled plastic wrap and let them rise for 30 to 60 minutes, or until doubled. This is a good time to preheat your oven to 350˚F.

Start the pickled beets
In a small pot, combine the 1 lb golden beets, ½ cup cider vinegar, ¼ cup white sugar, ½ Tbsp kosher salt, and 1 bay leaf with ½ cup water. Use as small a pot as possible to make sure that the beets are covered in the liquid.

Simmer the beets over medium heat until a knife goes in with little resistance. This could take 40 to 60 minutes depending on the size of your beets.

Make the aioli
Combine the 1 large egg yolk, ½ clove garlic, minced, 1 tsp dijon mustard, 2 tsp fresh lemon juice, and a pinch kosher salt in a food processor. Turn the processor on and mix for a few seconds to aerate the ingredients. Then, with the processor still running, slowly drizzle in ⅛ cup olive oil and ⅛ cup canola oil to emulsify your aioli. Taste and add seasoning if needed. Store in the fridge for lunch tomorrow.

Make some Caesar dressing
Rinse out the food processor. Combine the 2 cloves smashed garlic, ⅛ cup Kozlik's dijon mustard, 1 egg yolk, ⅛ cup vinegar, ⅛ cup lemon juice, and 4 salted anchovies in a food processor and process until it's as smooth as you can get it. With the food processor running, slowly drizzle in the ½ cup canola and ½ cup olive oil so the dressing can emulsify. Add ½ cup Parmigiano Reggiano and pulse the food processor until the dressing comes together. Season with salt, pepper, Tabasco, and Worcestershire to taste. Store in a jar until ready to use.

Bake the bread
Once the challahs have risen a second time, brush each one gently with the reserved beaten up egg. Sprinkle with seeds. You can combine the seeds or sprinkle sections of the bread with different seeds.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Check the bread, and if it's browning too much, lower the oven to 325˚F and cover the bread loosely with aluminum foil. Bake 15 to 20 minutes longer, until a meat thermometer in the middle of the bread reads 185˚F to 195˚F. If you're making one larger challah, it will take longer to bake. Remove bread from the pan and cool on a wire rack.

Finish the beets
Allow the beets to cool, then peel and cut them into 1-inch chunks.

Cure your duck legs
Season 2 duck legs with 2 tsp duck salt. Place them in a resealable container, cover, and let them sit in the fridge overnight to cure a bit.v

Pickle some red onions
For the pickled onions, thinly slice half a red onion and put it in a large bowl. In a small pot, combine ¼ cup red wine vinegar, ¼ cup sugar, ½ tsp salt, and ½ cup water. Bring to a boil, then pour the liquid over the onions and let cool.

You’re done! Clean up and have some challah to celebrate!

Day 1: Back to Begonia

Today’s meals should be eaten on a patio under a white umbrella on a busy street with construction pylons forcing traffic into a single lane and people rushing back and forth into the subway station across the street. Pretend you are in Paris but know in your heart you’re in Toronto.

Lunch
Le Grand Aioli

Hard boil and quarter 2 eggs. quarter 2 radishes, blanch and cool a few baby carrots, some green beans, and some brocolli florets. You can also freestyle here with whatever beautiful or about-to-go-bad veggies you have in your crisper.

Choose your most beautiful plate or board. Choose a smaller plate, so it looks full with goodness. On it, make small piles of the trout, pickled beets, radishes, eggs, raw hen-of-the-woods-mushrooms, green beans, broccoli, and carrots around the plate. Use a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. Put the aioli in a deep ramekin on top of the whole mountain of glory. Serve with crusty bread, if desired.

Dinner
Duck Confit with Sweet Potato Gratin

Preheat your oven to 300'F.

In a straight-sided pot or Dutch oven that will fit your 2 duck legs in a single layer (but not much more), melt 2 cups duck fat over low heat until fully melted.

Add your duck legs to the fat and make sure that as much of the duck legs are covered as possible.

Put a lid on top of your pot or wrap 1t in aluminum foil. Put in the oven to confit for about 1½ hours.

When your duck legs are done, most of the skin and meat should have receded up the shin toward the thigh and the meat should be tender throughout.

When the duck legs are almost done, grease a small baking pan with 1 Tbsp butter. Peel ½ lb russet and ½ lb sweet potatoes, then slice them widthwise about 1/8 inch thick.

After you take out your duck, turn up the oven to 400°F.

In a large pot over medium heat, place the potato slices, 1 clove garlic, finely minced, 1 cups heavy cream, 1 ½ Tbsp white wine, 1 dash Tabasco, a few sprigs fresh thyme, ½ Tbsp kosher salt, ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper, and a grating of fresh nutmeg and stir to combine.

Keep stirring often with a wooden spoon for about 8 minutes. Once the potatoes have started to soften, stir in 4 Tbsp butter. Transfer the potato mixture to the prepared baking pan and remove the thyme stems.

Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.

Press the potatoes into the pan as flat as possible, then cover with ½ cup grated gruyère and bake, uncovered, for 20 to 30 minutes until golden brown.

Serve hot with the duck legs.

Imagine the casual grab-what’s-in-the-fridge-edness of a late breakfast: you know, whatever deli is leftover from yesterday. Combine that with a nice family evening meal for once not eaten in front of the TV and boom, you got Sunday any day of the week.

Lunch
Lemon Dill Gravlax and Egg Salad with Challah

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. With a slotted spoon, drop 8 eggs into the boiling water and let boil for 11 minutes.

Transfer the eggs to a bowl of ice water for another 11 minutes, then peel immediately.

Grate your eggs on the finest side of a box grater, or chop your eggs to your desired texture and place in a bowl.

Add 3 Tbsp scallions finely chopped, 1½ Tbsp fresh dill, chopped, ½ cup mayo, 1 squeeze fresh lemon juice, a couple dashes of tabasco, freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of salt to the bowl, and mix.

Slice your gravlax very thinly on an angle.

Lay out the challah, gravlax, and egg salad for people to make their own plates. You can thinly slice some red onion and put some capers and lemon wedges out as well for those who want them.

JW Bird with Endive Salad

BBQ: Preheat your barbecue on medium heat, then put your flattened birds, skin side down, on the grill. Turn the heat down to low and close the lid. Cook for about 20 minutes without opening the lid of the barbecue. This will make the skin beautiful and crispy. Flip the birds and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, just to let the heat kiss the flesh and bones. Remove the birds from the heat and let them rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

SKILLET: Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Heat a skillet that will fit the bird snuggly on the stove over medium-high heat. Once hot, put the bird, skin side down in the skillet and cook a couple minutes on the stovetop, then put in the oven for 20 minutes. Flip the bird and cook for another few minutes until the bird is cooked through (use a thermometer). Remove from the oven and let red for 5-10 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, make the salsa verde:

Cut ⅛ cup shallots and ⅛ cup sour pickles into a small-dice. Chop ⅛ cup capers, ¼ bunch fresh parsley, ½ bunch fresh chives, ½ bunch fresh tarragon, ½ bunch fresh dill. Add everything to the same bowl with the zest of ½ lemon, and 1½ cups olive oil. Season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Then make the endive salad:

Cut the bottoms off of 2 endives and separate the leaves. Pile the leaves in an endive mountain, with the largest leaves at the bottom and the smallest at the top.

Cut the top and tail off 1 red grapefruit and cut off the peel by setting one end on a cutting board and cutting from top to bottom, following the shape of the grapefruit and keeping as much flesh as possible while removing all the pith and peel. Then, remove each segment by slicing into the grapefruit. Do this over a bowl and catch any liquid. Toast the almonds in a dry skillet. Scatter your grapefruit segments over the salad, followed by the tarragon and slivered almonds.

For the vinaigrette, in a small bowl, combine 1 tbsp grapefruit juice or lemon juice, ½ Tbsp mustard, 3 Tbsp olive oil, and a pinch of salt. Blend well with a whisk or an immersion blender.

Lightly dress the salad with the vinaigrette and drizzle any excess grapefruit juice overtop as well.

Once your birds have rested, cut them into eighths. Use a knife that you don't mind cutting through bones with. Separate the drumsticks from the thighs and cut the breasts in half.

Arrange your bird on a platter and generously smother them with the salsa verde.