I know last Monday we were thinking of fall and comfort foods, but summer came back this week with conviction; luckily, I resisted the urge to put the barbecue in storage. With summer back in the air, we turned to Mexican food, which is one of our favorite summer cuisines. This week we have Michael joining our trio, for a mexican feast. We started with Crepas de Camaron Con Salsa de Chile Pasilla, or Shrimp Crepes with Chile Pasilla sauce. The pasilla chile is the dried version of the Chilaca chile, which were lightly toasted and combined with roasted tomatoes and onions to make a rich and slightly piquante sauce.
For the main we found lovely cod at the fish monger, which we marinated in a fresh made Abodabo sauce and grilled outside in corn husks. This was accompanied with Mexican White Rice and Rajas (Roasted Pepper strips in a creamy sauce), using a combination of peppers, including chocolate peppers which add a further depth of flavour, and they look kind of cool too. Wrap all these up in a soft tortilla and it makes for sumptuous bundles of flavour.
For dessert we pulled out one of our favorite Mexican treats, Carmel Coated Cream Cheese Flan. Light and creamy, this dessert is always a hit. Since much of the meal was prepped ahead, we even had a few moments to catch up, before rehearsal.
It is often difficult to juggle work, choir rehearsals, family commitments, chores and still make time to gather together and break bread. Let’s face it, life can get pretty crazy. Since instituting Monday Night dinners, over two years ago, we have shared many memorable evenings around the table telling stories, reminiscing and, if time permits, we later gather around the piano and have little jam sessions which may contain an assortment of instruments, played by our guests, such as the ukulele, recorder, harp, violin, harmonica and the ugly stick. These evenings are often the highlight of our week and starts the week out in a good vein, to get through the busy week ahead.
