We had a delightful surprise this week. In January, we blogged about a meal in which we used St-Ambroise Apricot Wheat Ale, for a glazed pork tenderloin. The Regional Sales Manager, for our area, was in the neighbourhood and dropped off a care package of their products for us, including their new Maple Beer, that has not been released yet. It also included their Scotch ale, an Oak Aged Pale Ale, beer infused cheese and Beer Mustard. I really want to drink the beer, but I think we may need to plan a meal around it. We are so grateful, to have someone take the time to thank us personally, for a mention.
This week we are celebrating one of our favorite people…. Steph!!! It was her birthday on Sunday, but Monday Night is a thing now, so we will call it “Steph’s Birthday ‘Observed.'” We also had on hand two of our favorite guests, Dan and Jennifer. Steph and Jennifer arrived early and Dan at 5:32. The first words out of his mouth were “I was told 5:30 SHARP.” So with a glass of wine and some conversation, catching up on the weekend and plans for our upcoming concert…. Oh and what’s this? We landed the dream cast we wanted for next year’s Christmas concert… But alas it’s not public yet, so we cannot speak of it, but stay tuned for the big announcement.
For our first course we settled in with Marinated Shrimp with Champagne Beurre Blanc. This is a light, delicate dish, with lots of buttery, champagney flavour, and the shrimps have a silky texture. Beurre Blanc is traditionally made with white wine, but the champage is a nice change. Plus you can have fun with the plating.
For the main we served Roasted Cod with Lentils and Parsley Sauce. It can be hard to find decent fish at the supermarket, but in this case the Cod was amazing. It was dredged in flour and our infamous Mediterranean spice rub. We then seared it in a cast iron pan and finished it in the oven. Although it took a few minutes longer than expected, in the end it was perfect.
I have to say we were pretty proud of how this new dish came together. After a short pause, while we prepped the tea, we brought out Steph’s birthday cake!!! A Salted Caramel Ding-Dong Cake. It’s our take on the classic snack cake. The cakes are infused with two kinds of chocolate and strong coffee. The filling and glaze is a caramel-dark chocolate ganache. Then a Chantilly cream with a bit of gelatin, to stabilize it. The layers are built with the cake in a spring form pan, to hold it, while it sets. This is one weighty cake.
It was a good thing was had a lighter meal, because with Shawn serving we had healthy portions of dessert. We didn’t have much time to collect ourselves after dessert, before we had to hit the road, to get to rehearsal. After months of rehearsing, this is the last choral rehearsal. The next one we will have the strings, from the orchestra with us. Things are shaping up nicely, for our performance of Judith on May 3rd. So to close, we celebrate our friend, music director and inspiration in so many ways: Here’s to Steph!!!
You guys are the best! Thanks for a spectacular birthday dinner. It gave me all the calories I needed for our last working rehearsal exclusively with the choir for JUDITH. We ate, we drank, we worked.
There are no calories in Monday Night Dining. It’s a “thing”