Some Times Things Just Come Together

There has been someone we have been meaning to host for dinner, for some time. Unfortunately this has not happened…. But this week, as we were doing a test run on a new dish Shawn posted a pic on Facebook and guess who commented? Within 2 messages we had invited Catherine and Eugene for Monday Night Dining. Sometimes things just come together…. Shawn has these spontaneous impulses that he acts upon and I have tried to take a page from his book, although I am not great at it. Sometimes when you feel it, you just need to pick up the phone, or send that message, or letter. In fact, Monday Night Dining started one night, when Shawn picked up the phone and checked in on a friend. That has made all the difference, for all of us. As I am writing, I challenge those of you reading this, in these unique and challenging times, to pick up the phone, FaceTime, or whatever works… connect with someone that might need to hear from you. We may be isolating, but we need not be alone.

Luckily, this dinner took place before we were too far along with this global challenge, so Monday Night Dining has a bit more time, I hope. It’s interesting that since we have been trying out Meatless Mondays, it has opened up some really interesting ideas. It’s been a bit inspirational. This night our trio gathered with Catherine and Eugene and shared a glass of bubbly, while toasting friendship. There was a flurry of activity in the kitchen mostly due to the number of dishes that needed to make it to the table. We started with a board, overflowing with food. Barlotti and butter beans in tomato sauce, marinated mushrooms and cipollini onions with balsamic glaze.

This lovely little bites just melted in our mouths. Something about these luxurious little onions, that just works. These were accompanied by Zucchini fritters topped with pea shoots, roasted beets with goat cheese and flatbread with zucchini and eggplant.

And don’t forget the Grissini.

I have to say that Steph sets a lovely table! Our guests were replete… but that was just the first course. This was followed by a Tuscan bean soup with croutons. I want to give a shout out to our local bakery, for providing the bread for the croutons and for many other tasty treats over the years. Support your local businesses https://indigital.company/rbakery/

Oh, don’t slow down now… This luxurious soup was followed by our main course, the dish that started it all… White bean ravioli with balsamic brown butter.

Shawn’s original post of the test run said “I cannot even describe the flavour explosion that occurred, when I bit into that raviolli!!! Wow!” The hand formed pyramids of fresh pasta and filling were indeed delicate and lovely, but combined with the sauce…. this is an amazing and balanced dish.

Monday Night Dining is usually 3 courses, but what the heck, we need a dessert. With the cool weather, I just had comfort food on my mind, so decided to make a sticky toffee pudding, but as a cake this time.

I might have spiked the chantilly cream just a little. This is an old favorite, with a boozy caramel sauce.

After dinner, we had the great pleasure of singing with Catherine, with Steph on piano. High notes were hit, but eventually our guests had to depart and seeing as it was a work night, we had to pack it in. Getting together with friends has always been special, but in these unusual times we are in now, is a craving that cannot be sated. I am so blessed that we were able to have a dinner like this, before the social distancing rules came in. Sometimes things come together, at the right time, with the right people.