For meatless Monday night dining this week, we decided to do a Moroccan theme. Our dear friend Sheila was available to join us for the evening. With a great guest and all of the flavours and colours of Morocco, this will be a good one.
We gathered under the pergola, to pop the cork on some bubbly and share Moroccan goat cheese cigars.
Spiced goat cheese wrapped in phyllo pastry, with sesame seeds. This is a favorite of ours for good reason. The pastry did give us some trouble as the sheets were not whole, but we managed to piece them together. While we nibbled we caught up on life in isolation, books, and especially a relief carving that Sheila is working on, of the fated hospital ship, The Llandovery Castle. I can’t wait to see it.
Once we had time for a chin wag, we gathered at the outdoor table to share a pumpkin soup with rice and pomegranate.
Pumpkin soup with rice and pomegranate 
Pumpkin soup with rice and pomegranate
I did not realize how popular pomegranate is in Morrocan cuisine, but it added a freshness and crunch to this silky soup. I also love these bowls.
As I mentioned in a previous post, the charred eggplant would definitely be on our list. This was the week, but new flavours. We topped it with a lemon tahini sauce, that Shawn came up with.
Charring the eggplant directly on the hardwood coals, changes the texture and adds a lovely smokey flavour. For those that do not like the texture of eggplant, this may be worth a try. It makes quite a luxurious dish.
Along side the eggplant was roasted beets with a cumin vinaigrette, roasted carrots with tahini and pomegranate, tomato salad with pomegranate, baba ganoush, lentils with red onion and fried garlic, and a couscous with dried fruit and nuts.
As you can see from the pictures, this meal was a riot of colour, but it was also a riot of flavours and textures too. Fresh vegetables, and fruit, combined with dried fruit and nuts, alongside grains. There was a lot to love about this meal. The flavour on the lentils was rich, while the couscous was lighter yet flavourful.
This was a beautiful summer evening, with lively conversation, and beautiful food and wine. As the light faded, we realized… it’s a school night! We need to rest up for work. We can drift off thinking about all the places we can’t go right now, but can have a little taste of, through food.
Very memorable meal – the pumpkin soup is definitely a keeper. I’m very excited that we’ll soon have our own grown-from-seed eggplant to experiment with : )
You’ve outdone yourselves once again! We were lucky enough to participate in a previous Moroccan Monday Night and recall that it was an explosion of flavour and colour … That pumpkin soup looks especially delicious, ditto tomato salad – I love pomegranate and need to use it more…. Bravo on the meal 👏
Hey guys… if you decide you want to cook but not own a restaurant when you retire, check out Nellie James, in Dundas ONtario. He is an amazing chef, that prepares food for pickup daily…. Everything we order from there is absolutely fantastic!…. I think he preps/cooks through the day, and he’s closed by 6. His food is not cheap, but fantastic gourmet and worth every penny. Jeffy is coming down to Dundas this weekend and I am taking him there to inspire to do this for himself… (instead of a food truck). Your food, as always is amazing…can’t wait until I can taste it again….Merry Christmas my friends… Kathy