Murielle Banackissa shares four recipes from her cookbook, ‘Savoring’

If there is one non-vegan food that I miss, it is seafood. I used to adore calamari, crab, oysters, clams, salmon, and shrimp. Although it can be quite hard to fully replicate the flavour of seafood in your kitchen, I’ve come close with this linguini dish. It is a dish that feels very luxurious, like one you would make if you wanted to treat yourself or a loved one. The mix of white wine with buttery shallots, pungent garlic, and salty, briny Kalamata olives all cooked together in a simple rosé sauce and paired with linguini truly reminds me of a dish that could be served on a terrace somewhere in Italy. Pair it with a glass of your favourite white wine, kombucha, or fresh lemony water to instantly feel transported to the seaside.

I am a Montrealer at heart, so I had to include a poutine recipe in this cookbook. Poutine is a Quebecois dish of fries topped with hot gravy and squeaky cheese. Although traditional poutine has never been my favourite fast-food item, creating elevated versions like this one has awoken my love for this cherished dish. I have spent countless weekends with Sam creating new variations of poutine using all kinds of potatoes, leftover gravy, vegan sausage and ground meat, and various veggies. Poutines are like burgers in that they are an amazing blank canvas on which to express your creativity, practice your culinary skills, and develop your palate. For this recipe, I use sweet potato fries; their sweetness complements all the umami flavours of the decadent gravy that features miso, tamari, and shiitakes.

You have no idea how long I’d been dreaming of this recipe before attempting it. Saka Saka is a stew I grew up eating in Congo and in which I indulge in during family gatherings on my dad’s side. This is the kind of dish in which flavors unravel exponentially with time. As you let the greens, the garlic, the peppers, the onions, and the peanut butter all cook down together, it’s as if a rainbow of flavors starts to appear. Funnily enough, it’s only when I became vegan that I got the urge to try cooking it myself, making it plant-based by leaving out the fish of the traditional dish. I am so glad I did try it, because now I can share this incredible recipe that is near and dear to my heart. I hope that you too will fall in love with it! You can serve this stew with white rice or Coconut Rice.

Shuba is a traditional Russian and Ukrainian salad consisting of layers of smoked herring and grated carrots, beets, and potatoes. These are all held together by a mayo-based dressing. When I was growing up, shuba conjured up the holidays for me, and thanks to my aunt, who found a way to veganize this family classic, I continue to enjoy this salad on special occasions. I love getting all the ingredients ready in anticipation of sharing this salad with loved ones—and having a slice of it myself. From boiling and grating the vegetables to preparing the dressing, soaking the seaweed in tamari (to replace the traditional herring), and carefully layering all the flavours, when making this salad I’m reminded to slow down and enjoy the process. I know it will be tempting to enjoy this salad right away after all the love you put into it, but I recommend chilling it for at least 2 hours (and up to overnight) to let the flavours develop

Excerpted from Savouring by Murielle Banackissa. Copyright © 2024 Murielle Banackissa. Photographs by Murielle Banackissa. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.