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.
For the main, we served Osso Buco on a bed of Saffron Risotto. Osso Buco is made with veal shanks, that are dredged in flour and browned and covered with a sauce of leeks, heirloom carrots, celery, white wine and herbs. The Osso Buco cooked for almost 12 hours, until it was literally falling off the bones.
For dessert, we made something for the caramel fiends (we know who you are…). We took a recipe for Vanilla Caramel Budino and added a salted caramel sauce, Chantilly cream and some crumbled almond biscotti. The only drawback is we have a lot of Budino to use up. We served these in crystal from Shawn’s Grandmother.
Since we still had time, our big decision was whether to have more creamy budino, before we had to head out…. We wisely left it for another time, and headed of to rehearsal.
Now that we are approaching our fall show, I must say that I enjoy the rehearsals much more. It’s sort of like visiting an old friend, singing something that is becoming familiar. Being able to work on the finer points of a piece, instead of just concentrating on notes. And for anyone that wants to spend an October afternoon, being entertained and seeing what we do, please do come out on October 19th at 3:00 PM to experience Blest Pair of Sirens at Grace Church on the Hill.
Just look at the colours on this blog post! What a beautiful autumn we are having in Ontario. The harvest is glowing with fall colours. You’ve inspired me to pull my slow cooker out of storage. It is the handiest thing when you are out during the day to slow cook some lovely stew.
I have a great Slow Cooker book, if you want.
The menus will certainly change based on the seasons.
That looks comforting and delicious! I’m off on a 25km bike ride this morning, on a route around the surrounding farms, and will make special note of the fall colours.