October 2015

The combination of fresh and dried mushrooms adds lots of delicious umami flavour, and you can serve it with crostini, crackers or vegetables. It's basically a vegetarian version of chicken liver pâté and is a Chatelaine staff favourite. You can make it up to 2 days ahead.

To get the pork tenderloins beautifully golden, pat them dry all over with paper towels before brushing them with the Dijon mixture.

Keeping a tiny piece of the centre core in each fennel wedge makes it pretty for presentation, but it’s not crucial. Even if the wedges fall apart, they’re still tasty.

This 20-minute pasta is almost as simple as it gets: throw the sauce’s ingredients into the blender, blitz until smooth, then pour over hot noodles.

Fresh arugula makes a nutty and almost spicy pesto. Make it ahead and keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.