Category: International meals

Octopus with ginger chipotle and cilantro jus

Due to trips, vacations and family matters, Monday Night Dining had to take a brief sabbatical. But we were very excited to gather together once again, for a double celebration. First our return to Monday Night Dining (even if it is Wednesday) and Canada’s 148th birthday!!!  This was perfect timing, as Craig and Susan are in town, from Montreal.  We also invited our friends Tom and Ann.  The weather is perfect, so we decided to eat al fresco, in Steph’s yard.

This meal has been in planning and taste testing for a while. Mind you half the things we tested, we ended up not making, but that is half the fun.  Tonight’s menu is our little tour of Mexico. read more

Rhubarb Granita spoons with Crème Fraiche

Judith is triumphantly behind us.  We sang to an almost sold out house.  After months of rehearsals, we have brought a lost work back to life. Singing at Koerner Hall for 950 people, with the full orchestra, and amazing soloists, under the careful leadership of Steph.  Just WOW!  The comments and reviews have been fantastic, and this week for dinner, we have the pre-eminent Parry scholar coming for dinner.

Joining our trio this week are Jeremy and Alison Dibble, Michael and Ann Trott, Chris and Rosemary, and Brian.  With 2 couples from the UK and one from Vancouver, we decided to try to feature some Ontario ingredients, and wines.  For our pre-appetizer nibbles… No wait I ran out of time to make them, what to do?  With inspired timing, Chris and Rosemary gave us a gift of the carmelized onions we enjoyed in Worcester.  We had a baguette on hand and with ingredients from the fridge, Shawn whipped up a quick little app of baguette with goat cheese and carmelized onion chutney.  Nice save. read more

Creamy Rice Pudding with Almonds and Pistachios

After last week’s shopping error, we got our chicken supremes this week!!  For some reason cold weather, to us means Indian food.  I think it’s mostly because of the Indian stews we love so much. Our apartment is a little…. well packed with Black and White Gala décor, so we stuck to guests, who would understand.  This week we have our trio and our good friend Jennifer ( with the mighty Enzo, who has been reviewing tonight’s music).

Enzo

We started with our Gingery Cauliflower Soup. This is a wonderful cold weather soup, creamy, but with the flavor of Indian spices. read more

Ropa Vieja Pot Pies

After missing a week, due to vacation, our trio is back together for Monday Night Dining. Being off for a week was so relaxing, even though we had docks to take out an leaves to rake, being at the lake with NMJ and the dog, helped us re-centre. I would like to note that I did not miss Monday night rehearsal, but when asked about MND dinner, people were shocked that we had “take-out”.

Tonight we just had our trio, which gave us the chance to regroup and reconnect after our break. For any of you following from other parts of the world… I just want to let you know….  It’s effing freezing here!!!  We have snow and ice and it’s still a month until winter starts! But Steph braved the elements and walked over, so maybe it’s not so bad… we just need to acclimatize. read more

Fresh Chestnuts

Maple Gingerbread Souffle with Maple Crème Anglaise

This coming Monday our trio will not be together for Monday Night Dining, due to the observation of All Souls Mass at our church, so instead we decided on a Halloween night dinner instead. The advantage this has, is that we get to take our time, without rushing off to rehearsal.  The original plan was to have a late season barbecue, but with snow and cold rain in the forecast, decided a cozy French fall menu, cooked indoors would be better.

Along with our trio, we also invited Norm and Dermot, to join us for Halloween. With the candles and jack-o-lantern lit, we started in on Bacon Leek and Chevre Tartlets and a selection of cheeses. read more

Chalkboard menu

I am writing this week’s blog, cheeks red with shame. Each time we extend a dinner invitation, while in rehearsal season, it is accompanied by the moniker “Dinner is at 5:30 sharp!”  We don’t want to be mean, but we do not have a lot of time to work with on Monday’s.  This week I was the one that was late.  Luckily we had much of the meal prepped ahead, so Shawn had to complete the prep and set the table himself. I entered the apartment with trepidation, to be greeted with, “you have perfect timing!” Shawn was cool and collected. My appetizer, Canelones de Mare, was at the perfect eating temperature. read more

Roasted Sicilian Eggplant

This week has been a bit of a whirlwind, with rehearsals, our fall Pax Christi Chorale – Blest Pair of Sirens show, work and life. It is in these busy times, that we often need to pause and take stock, maybe over dinner.  When we showed up for the rehearsal with the orchestra, for Sunday’s performance, our dear friend Lois stopped us on the way in. “I have something for you.” She reappeared with a bag with beautiful Sicilian eggplants and asked if we could make something out of them. The utter joy that Lois displayed, when she presented me with these gorgeous aubergine globes, that she procured from a farmer’s market, warmed my heart.  The menu had been roughed out, but we do love a challenge. Shawn immediately thought of Eggplant Caviar, something I had never heard of. This should be interesting, especially with very little prep time. read more

Heirloom Carrots

One problem with having a busy weekend, is finding time to prep for Monday Night Dining. This week to have something to warm us up, in the fall weather, and take into account the lack of prep time, we have turned to the faithful slow cooker. We have invited Paul, a new member to Pax Christi Chorale, to join us for dinner before the last regular rehearsal, before our fall concert.

So tonight, we start with a celebration of our garden. Yellow Tomato Soup, with Tomato Concassé and Creamed Parsley. The tomatoes and parsley were all from the garden. read more

Prep

I know last Monday we were thinking of fall and comfort foods, but summer came back this week with conviction; luckily, I resisted the urge to put the barbecue in storage.  With summer back in the air, we turned to Mexican food, which is one of our favorite summer cuisines.  This week we have Michael joining our trio, for a mexican feast. We started with Crepas de Camaron Con Salsa de Chile Pasilla, or Shrimp Crepes with Chile Pasilla sauce.  The pasilla chile is the dried version of the Chilaca chile, which were lightly toasted and combined with roasted tomatoes and onions to make a rich and slightly piquante sauce. read more

This Monday marks the last day of Summer. With Fall on the way our thoughts have been turning to warm clothes and of course stews.  I always find there are certain foods we associate with different times of year or weather. With things getting cooler, for some reason we always think of Indian food.  For tonight our trio has invited Jennifer to join us.

To start, since it is still officially summer, and we still have fresh tomatoes, from the garden, we made an Indian Cream of Tomato Soup, with yellow tomatoes from the garden. read more