Bri Beaudoin is a recipe developer, food stylist, and cookbook author based in Vancouver, and the voice behind the vegetarian food blog Evergreen Kitchen. Ask her what Canadian food tastes like and she will not hand you a definition. She will hand you a flat of BC berries in August and tell you to start there.
“I’m a huge believer in letting what’s fresh and in season at the local farmers market guide the recipes I create,” Bri says. That is the whole philosophy, and it has been since she launched Evergreen Kitchen in 2015.
Her cooking draws its inspiration from the fresh, seasonal produce and the diverse culinary landscape of the Pacific Northwest, which is a tidy way of saying the answer to “what is Canadian food” changes every few weeks. In August it’s berries. Ask again in October and you will get a different plate entirely.
A no pressure kind of vegetarian
Evergreen Kitchen was built to make vegetarian home cooking approachable, vibrant, and genuinely delicious, whether you are going meatless one night a week or every night of the week. Bri calls it “no pressure vegetarian,” and the numbers back up the welcome: hundreds of recipes, every one of them tested through multiple rounds before it goes live.
Her cookbook, Evergreen Kitchen: Weeknight Vegetarian Dinners for Everyone, was published by Penguin Random House in 2022 and went on to be nominated for an International Association of Culinary Professionals award. She is a Certified Holistic Nutritionist, an experienced culinary educator who leads cooking demonstrations and community workshops, and an avid home gardener.
The farmers’ markets behind the recipes
BC farmers’ markets are not a nice extra in Bri’s work. They are woven through the whole thing.
Trout Lake Farmers Market was her weekly stop for many years. These days, with young kids in tow, you are far more likely to find the family wandering Loutet or Ambleside, closer to home.
“BC grows some of the most incredible berries anywhere,” she says. Her kids love to go berry picking and the family grows some in the backyard, “but our local farmers’ market is honestly the only way we can keep up with the volume we actually eat.”
The farmers’ markets have also turned up at her biggest moments. Bri and her husband catered their own wedding for 75 guests, outdoors at UBC Farm, sourcing all their produce straight from the UBC Farmers’ Market and from vendors they had met at farmers’ markets across BC over the years.
And in her day job as a food stylist, she is regularly sourcing farmers’ market ingredients for photo shoots and TV commercials. “Local produce is pretty much woven into everything I do.”
Tasting Canada, one flat of berries at a time
Which brings us to the recipe she is sharing.
As a Certified Holistic Nutritionist, Bri loves bringing a lighter spin to everyday dishes without giving up an ounce of flavour. Here, that means folding yogurt into whipped cream. “The extra tang actually makes the whole thing taste brighter,” she says, “the perfect combo with fresh berries from the market.”
The berries get tossed with a little lemon zest, sugar, and vanilla until they turn juicy and vivid, then spooned right over that cloud of whipped yogurt cream. Easy enough for a Tuesday. Impressive enough to carry a summer table.
Fill your basket at your local farmers’ market first. The rest takes minutes.
Active Time: 15 Minutes
Total Time: 40 Minutes
Serves 6
4 cups (about 1 1/4 lb/576g) mixed fresh berries
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar, divided
1 teaspoon lemon zest, more for garnish
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scrapes, divided
1 cup (230g) whipping (35%) cream
1/2 cup (120g) plain full-fat Greek yogurt or sour cream
1/2 cup (35g) crushed gingersnap cookies (optional)
- Macerate the berries: In a medium bowl, combine th berries, 1/4 cup of the sugar, lemon zest, and half of the vanilla seeds. Gently stir to combine. Let it sit for at least 30 minutes to soften.
- Whip the cream: In a separate medium bowl, combine the cream, yogurt, the remaining 1/4 sugar, and the remaining half of the vanilla seeds. Using a handheld mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the mixture until it holds medium-stiff peaks. (When the beaters are lifted, the tip of the peak should curl over just slightly but otherwise hold its shape.)
- Assemble: Divide the whipped yogurt cream and the berries and their juices among bowls. Garnish with crushed gingersnaps (if using) and lemon zest. Serve immediately.
Vegan: Omit the whipping cream and yogurt (skip step 2) and use homemade or store-bought coconut whipped cream instead.
Gluten Free: Use gluten-free gingersnaps or omit.
Recipe excerpted from Evergreen Kitchen: Weeknight Vegetarian Dinners for Everyone by Bri Beaudoin.
Copyright © 2022 Bri Beaudoin. Photography by Anguel Dimov. Published by Penguin Canada, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.