Bittersweet anniversaries

Breaking Bread International meals

This week marks 2 special anniversaries. Tonight would have been Steph’s 25th wedding anniversary. So this was a night of warm memories, but also leaves an empty space in our lives.

Later in the week is the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, one of the most lethal events in human history, but ended one of the bloodiest wars ever. You may want to check Steph’s blog, for her insights. In remembrance of this event we decided to try our hand at our first Asian themed Monday Night Dinner.

Preparing for this dinner, we checked out many recipes, from many different places, but there were a few that we have been wanting to try. Tonight’s guests included our trio, plus Janet and Harold.  We were looking forward to a nice quiet dinner in the yard….. But that was not to be.  After getting the barbecue lit, I looked to the sky and what did I behold?  A big black cloud.  I dared it to rain on our dinner…. And it took me up on it.  With conviction!  Avid readers of this blog will know that we have cooked in worse, but this was one for the books.  But as you know, MondayNightDining will prevail!

Once the Charcoal was lit, I had to take a brief break from prep to take care of a manly task, that Steph had requested.  Let’s just say the creature is in a better place, although I won’t say where…..

We started with an appetizer trio. First was braised pork belly with shallot confit.  This is a sophisticated take on sweet and sour pork. The pork is braised with vegetables and fresh herbs from our garden, then cut into cubes and carmelized with honey and red wine vinegar and served with a shallot confit. This is so different from the sweet and sour pork that we are used to, yet still reminiscent of it.

Along with this we had chicken satays with peanut sauce, to give a little nod to our favorite Thai cuisine.  We decided on small skewers, which meant a lot of skewers to mind, while holding an umbrella, to keep the coals dry, but they came out tender and tasty.

The third app was Scallion Pancakes.  The dough is simply a combination of flour and water, but the process is what makes this dish special.  The dough is rolled out and brushed with sesame oil, then sprinkled with chopped scallions. Then you roll it up, like a jelly roll and form a spiral. Roll it out again and repeat the process.  The final product is kind of like a laminate dough, similar to puff pastry. Once these are fried in oil, they puff up and release the flavours of the oil and scallions.  This was served  with a light sauce.

The trouble with a trio of appetizers like that is “how to follow it?” With our homegrown candy cane beets, of course. We roasted our beets and combined them with ramps and asian pear. This was not only delicious, but acted as a bit of a palate cleanser.

Now for a dish we have been wanting to try for a while…. Peking duck.  This is a dish usually saved for special occasions. The duck was treated with a spice rub, then marinated in Shaoxing wine and soy sauce for 24 hours. To add another layer of flavor, we smoked the duck over mesquite for 4 hours, until it was browned and crispy. Once carved, it was served with Asian crepes, hoisin sauce, cucumber and scallions. One very interesting thing with the making the crepes was that you take 2 balls of dough, dip each in sesame oil and roll it into one crepe.  after frying, the individual crepes are peeled apart, so that they are crunchy on the outside, but soft on the inside. The duck was not only delicious, but fun to build our own little duck wraps.

This dish may have taken 2 days to make, but was a fun experience and worth the effort. Plus after smoking the duck, we had enough charcoal left to smoke a roast for dinner(gotta love the grill dome).  After 3 courses, we needed a dessert that would fit our theme, but also be light enough after a big meal.  We looked at a bunch of ideas, then Shawn came up with Thai Sundaes.  This dessert layers chilled chocolate cream, with homemade rice pudding ice cream, then a layer of espresso granita, whipped cream and caramel rice crispies. The flavours came together well, with the different textures and created a light yet sumptuous treat.

When the idea of an Asian theme was mentioned, I was not sure how we would do.  I was impressed with the dishes we made, especially since we did not have a chance to test a couple of the recipes (how many ducks are you going to smoke in a week?)  It’s nice to be back in the swing of Monday Night Dining, as we have needed something to ground ourselves lately.

We completed our evening with Steph on violin and Shawn on piano, while we sang selections from the Anglican Hymn book.  Let’s just say sometimes you just need to ground yourself with the familiar.  The weather may not have been on our side, but we managed and it turned into a lovely evening with friends.  I am just trying to figure out how many major storms I have been out BBQing in….  Too many.

10 thoughts on “Bittersweet anniversaries

  1. Thanks so much for sharing this. Your descriptions and photos are thoughtful and helpful to those haven’t made the “journey out” yet; particularly the pancakes.

  2. Thanks for everything S & D: cheering me up with your manly tasks, grilling in the rain, heroically smoked duck and all! Rick D., we did had some very special beverages. That’s my job so I’ll pipe in. We welcomed our guests with a glass of chilled Cuvée Rosé from 13th Street Winery (St. Catharine’s, Ontario) progressed to the lovely Pinot Noir our guests brought over, and finished up with a particular 2012 Small Lot Cabernet Sauvignon from 30 Bench Wine Makers (Beamsville Ontario) that had been opened 6 hrs prior to dinner. Local Toronto water rounded out all the courses!

  3. Looks yummy guys! Still waiting for my Monday night dinner invite 😉 Hope you are all having a great summer.

    1. Rosemary, It’s kind of cool. You make a wet rice pudding and a vanilla custard. Pour both in the ice cream maker and you get this creamy ice cream, but with the rice through it. Very tasty.

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