Steph and the Pax Christi Chorale, have been off to tour England. So Monday Night Dining took a brief hiatus, while we grilled everything we could find and tested a few recipes. Not that Steph is back, we wanted to get back into our routine, and who better to do that with than our friends Jen and Bob.
Jen was also here for one of our more famous Monday Night Dinners, the exploding shellfish. This week we started with a new version of BBQed oysters, Grilled oysters with mango pico de gallo, and horseradish chili.
Now I, for a long time, have not been a big oyster fan. These grilled oysters are amazing. The oysters are put on the grill, just until they start to open. You pry the lids off and keep the oysters and liquor in the shell, top with the pico de gallo and chili and just warm through. The oysters are still rare, but not raw and the freshness of the mango, with a zing from the horseradish, balance with the oysters nicely. It also made for a bit of a floor show, on the deck.
Now that the entertainment portion of the evening is over, we moved to the yard, to enjoy Shrimp escabeche. You just know I sang a verse of “escabeche mucho” while this was coming out.
Escabeche refers to placing already cooked seafood into a pickling liquid, but this subtle shrimp salad is more mild that what we expect from pickling spices. It gets a bit of crunch from shaved radish and the light flavor of fresh herbs, from Steph’s garden.
We have all had some adventures lately, so some time to share our experiences was welcome, while the main was cooking away. I must say that I we have known Jen and Bob, for many years, but until tonight, I did not know that Jen sang for Bruce, years ago. Which was also Shawn’s induction into this group, and by association mine. Regularly I realize the legacy that Bruce left us, by bringing people together.
While we were planning our main, Shawn asked if we had any corn husks… Well duh… of course we have corn husks… Which we used to make Red snapper grilled in corn husks, with roasted jalapeno/lime butter, served with Mexican white rice and an assortment of roasted tomatoes.
This was a gorgeous piece of fish, from our local fish monger. Cooking it in the corn husks keeps the fish moist and adds an earthy flavor to the dish. The Mexican rice is a favorite of mine….. But the tomatoes stole the show. If you look, we used black, red, orange and yellow tomatoes, which give a riot of colour, but the fresh flavours of the homegrown tomatoes, gently roasted with herbs picked moments before, is the entire reason we like to cook. We paired this with a Bougrier Vouvray Chenin blanc.
Anyone that knows me, knows that I like things that have a story behind them… Nanny-Mom-Jo has been recounting a story, from a building convention, from when I was quite young, for as long as I remember. There was a gala dinner, and after the main course, the lights went out suddenly and the servers all entered carrying flaming Baked Alaskas. This is a retro dish, that we have never tried. So tonight we had Individual strawberry baked Alaska.
The chocolate cake underneath was fudgy and chewy, combined with a lovely strawberry ice cream and the meringue is almost a 7 minute icing, to give it more structure. Instead of the more traditional broiling, to brown the meringue, I opted for my favorite blow torch. We enjoyed a Scotch Block Winery framboise with our dessert. And most importantly, I got to tell the story, and toast Mom. I really don’t know why this dessert is not made more often, as it really is a lovely combination of flavours, temperatures and textures.
I love the relaxed pace of Monday Night Dining, when we are off season. I really think that this menu had a nice flow and the flavours were inspired. Having such lovely guests, and eating outdoors, just made for a lovely evening.
