Vegetarian at 990

In these strange times, it has been hard to maintain any sense of connection to people, but now that vaccines are rolling out with fervor, we felt it was time to again gather in the yard at 990 and celebrate life, friends and of course the garden. Shawn looked it up and it has been 9 months since we last gathered for a Monday night dinner and that is just too long.

I have to admit that meatless Monday has fallen by the wayside somewhat, but it it is in for a resurrection akin to the phoenix rising from the ashes…. OK that was a bit too dramatic, but I have to admit was very excited for this meal. As we often do, we had some tried and true dishes, with a few experiments. All we needed was a guinea pig (or in my family “skinny pig”). With our dear friend Sheila as a guest, we started prep on a vegetarian meal, featuring as much produce from the garden, as we could manage.

We have small plot at a community garden and this year experimented with growing summer squash vertically, so the plants would not take up the entire space. It has come off with great success, so far, so well that we had some rather large squash, plus some normal looking ones. I mention this, as they will show up later…

On a beautiful Monday night, our trio gathered with Shelia, under the pergola, to toast a return to, in person meeting, and Monday Night Dining. This is kind of exciting…. We shared some bubbly and croustini with goat cheese and balsamic pearls, to start the evening properly.

A few of them had a bit of extra char, since the hardwood coals had not settled down. Once we had a bit of a catch up, we moved to the outdoor table and started with an interesting dish…. Interesting because it is a new creation. The original plan was for a white minestrone soup, but the aforementioned zucchini changed it a white minestrone soup with zucchini and croustini and basil.

The freshness of this soup had to be experienced. zucchini picked the day before and herbs harvested as we were making the soup. This was an excellent start to the evening. Now the terms “Shawn’s out of control” and “I think we overdid it” get used a lot, when we’re prepping meals, but somehow the food gets eaten. This was one of those nights. On the lighter side we started with grissini, a grilled Caesar salad, zucchini fritters and heirloom tomato salad.

Along with this, we had a favorite discovery, from last year, coal roasted eggplant with tomato sauce. Lovely eggplants charred directly on hardwood coals, peeled and floating on a fresh tomato sauce.

Next we had a cool dish, that we have never tried before. Crespelle stuffed with mascarpone and herbs. This is an Italian crepe, that is filled, then tied up with a chive. This took both of us to bundle up, and came out quite light and fresh tasting.

Add in a lemon risotto and we had a vegetarian meal that we were quite proud of. Luckily everyone brought their appetites and we were able to make a good dent in it. It was amazing to be able to gather outside and catch up on our lives, and future plans.

After a bit of a break, we brought out the summer berry cake, to cap the night off right.

Light chiffon like cake, fresh strawberries, raspberries and blue berries, was nice and light. The frosting was whipped and had a touch of gelatin in it, so it would hold better in summer heat. This was a nice finish, to a lovely summer meal.