Social Distancing Dinner

These are strange times. By the time this Monday Night Dinner occurred, the world was changing. We had not quite reached the time of isolation, but were getting recommendations on social distancing. This new term has come to mean that we cannot see our friends and loved ones, except from a distance. We cannot hold those we love, unless we are isolating with them. A quick run to the store, to pickup something we forgot, gets put aside, as we try to limit our contact. We hate these rules, but follow them as best we can, not for ourselves only, but to protect the most vulnerable. I find myself envious of my dog… He can still play with his friends, while we stand on the periphery of the park. We hear the numbers everyday and it pains us. The losses, the tears, the heartbreak, and we cannot properly comfort those in need. These are strange times, cruel, hard and unprecedented. Life goes on, but in a more limited, quieter, lonelier way.

On that note, this Monday, we did gather our trio together, but under a different stucture. As you can see by the featured image, at the top, the table was set, but with us not sitting together. We had what we called a social distancing dinner. It was still a lovely evening, but turned out to be our last for sometime.

While we sipped some bubbly and toasted hopefully to the future, Shawn was busy laying out an impressive board, to start our night. We sat at opposite ends of the table, while we shared an Italian themed feast, starting with Tuscan Bean Salad, Stuffed Mushrooms, Zucchini Fritters with Pea Shoots, Cipollini Onions with a Balsamic Glaze, Farro (wheat) Salad with Garden Vegetables and Involtini di Melazane (Eggplant Rolls).

That’s a lot of food for 3 people… But we do love the leftovers. The farro had a nice texture, and a pop of freshness, from the veggies. We do love these fritters, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, but I think the star was the Involtini. Grilled strips of eggplant rolled around bread crumbs and cheese, with a fresh tomato sauce, then baked. This is eggplant for the eggplant haters, and it has a luxurious mouth feel to it. We pared this with an Exultet Estates 2012 Pinot Noir.

On any other night, this might have been enough for the entire meal, but not for Monday Night Dining, so we followed this with a Yellow Tomato Soup, made from that last of the yellow tomatoes from our garden.

Even thought these tomotoes have been biding their time in the freezer since the fall, they still just burst with flavour! Shawn added some croutons made with bread from our local bakery and parmesan.

This led nicely to our final course, Celery root risotto.

I was skeptical about a risotto without rice, but this is a lovely almost desserty dish, with a rich creamy texture and topped with some crumbled amaretti cookies and a sliver of celery, it finished our meal in spectacular fashion.

The current situation in the world, and thoughts of what was to come, dominated the conversation, but we also had talk of music and gardening, and other more hopeful topics. Now that we are in isolation, with a Lent we neve expected ending and the promise of Easter on the horizon, we are uncertain yet hopeful. Reach out to those in your thoughts and have a quiet yet wonderful Easter.