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Good things come from Ontario

David4 Comments on Good things come from Ontario
Rhubarb Granita spoons with Crème Fraiche

Judith is triumphantly behind us.  We sang to an almost sold out house.  After months of rehearsals, we have brought a lost work back to life. Singing at Koerner Hall for 950 people, with the full orchestra, and amazing soloists, under the careful leadership of Steph.  Just WOW!  The comments and reviews have been fantastic, and this week for dinner, we have the pre-eminent Parry scholar coming for dinner.

Joining our trio this week are Jeremy and Alison Dibble, Michael and Ann Trott, Chris and Rosemary, and Brian.  With 2 couples from the UK and one from Vancouver, we decided to try to feature some Ontario ingredients, and wines.  For our pre-appetizer nibbles… No wait I ran out of time to make them, what to do?  With inspired timing, Chris and Rosemary gave us a gift of the carmelized onions we enjoyed in Worcester.  We had a baguette on hand and with ingredients from the fridge, Shawn whipped up a quick little app of baguette with goat cheese and carmelized onion chutney.  Nice save. read more

How big can a shrimp be before you have to call it a lobster?

DavidLeave a Comment on How big can a shrimp be before you have to call it a lobster?
Gordon Ramsay’s Shrimp Cocktail

I can feel the excitement building, as we get closer to our big concert, Judith. Tonight we will be rehearsing with a slightly larger orchestra and next week, we finally have the opportunity to work with the full orchestra and soloists.  Seeing this amazing, lost work coming together, gives us a feeling of accomplishment, and we can finally see how the final piece will come together.  We can hardly wait.

Tonight for dinner we have invited someone who has been on the guest list for sometime, but never been “on the list”. He is a tenor and also named Shawn.  We had a forewarning (from Ruth)  that he is “an eater.”  Yeah…  nothing better than cooking for an eater.  So our trio gathered with New big prairie Shawn. This should be fun. We also found out that he has a placement back home for the summer, so good thing we had him over this week. read more

That’s no skin off my duck….

ShawnLeave a Comment on That’s no skin off my duck….
Ingredients for Curried Roasted Squash Soup

In a frenzy of activity, and a forest of topiaries, for the upcoming gala and the end of a record cold February, we are turning again to warming, stick to your ribs fare. We had not really come up with a plan, and we were up at the cottage, so off we went to the market, to see what was on offer.  They did not have celery root, nor chestnuts, but strangely they did have duck breasts!!!  This started us on our way to a menu plan.  Now I love crispy duck skin…. It is the main reason I eat duck, so when I saw Shawn merrily removing the skins, I was nonplussed.  Oh ye of little faith.  I know that “it will all turn out all right in the end…..  If it is not alright, it is not the end.”  So onward and southward to Monday Night Dining. read more

Curried Roasted Squash Soup

Curried Roasted Squash Soup

Ingredients:

2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
1 Tbl Finely Chopped Ginger
1/2 tsp Ground Cardamom
1/2 tsp Freshly Grated Nutmeg
1 Green Chili (or jalapeno)
1/4 Cup Butter
1 Butternut Squash, Split lengthwise, seeds removed
8 Cups Chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven nto 375 F

Divide the garlic, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, chili and butter between the  cavities of the squash halves

Roasting Squash
Ingredients for Curried Roasted Squash Soup

Place cut side up on a baking sheet and cover loosely with foil. Bake for 1 hour, until soft to the touch. Let the squash cool until you can handle them. read more

Now Where Did We Put That Pheasant?

DavidLeave a Comment on Now Where Did We Put That Pheasant?
Pheasant Stuffed with Veal, Chestnuts and Porcini

On a recent trip to Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market, we happened upon a Mennonite butcher stall. The selection was impressive and the staff friendly.  We purchased a nice sized pheasant, for an upcoming meal, and ended up taking the bird to the cottage with us, but did not have a plan for it yet. When we got back home, we realized that the poor bird was left behind. Since we would not be back north for a few weeks, we resigned ourselves to having to throw out our purchase.  We finally got back to the cottage this past weekend, but where was the pheasant?     Turns out it was in the freezer all along. So after a review of Jacques Pepin’s video on deboning fowl, Shawn practiced his knife skills and deboned our bird.  We then stuffed it with ground veal, chestnuts, porcini mushrooms and herbs, then formed it back into roughly its original shape. read more

Advent is in full swing… Let’s set things on fire!!!

David5 Comments on Advent is in full swing… Let’s set things on fire!!!
Chocolate and Whole Orange Pudding

After a full week of rehearsals, work and performances, it’s time for a Monday night deprogramming session, to share the highs of the week. At the same time, we have the annual Children’s Messiah to look forward to on Dec 13th. Along with our trio we invited Mary, Sheila and Janet. That’s a lot of altos….

At Steph’s request, Janet gifted us with a lovely said grace in Latin, while clasping hands around the table: “Quae hodie sumpturi sumus, benedicat Deus, per Jesum Christum Dominum Nostrum. Amen. (May God bless what we are about to receive this day, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. read more

Chocolate and Whole Orange Steamed Pudding

Steamed PUdding

1 Thin Skinned Navel Orange (smaller size)
1/2 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Dark Chocolate (chopped)
1 1/2 Cups Flour
2 tsp Baking powder
3/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
2 Eggs
2 Tbsp Milk

Place Orange in a pot and fill with enough water to cover the orange. Bring to a boil and boil for 15 minutes. Remove and cool.

Grease a 5 Cup pudding mold or glass bowl.

Melt butter a chocolate together in a small pot, over low heat, just until smooth. Sift together flour, baking powder, cocoa and sugar into a large bowl. Whisk together eggs and milk in a small bowl. Stir chocolate into dry ingredients. Stir in Eggs and milk. Mix together until well combined. Batter should be fairly stiff. read more

Harvest Time

David5 Comments on Harvest Time
Table

After a wonderful time in Worcester, we are back to reality and having our regular Monday Night Dining nights. Tonight gave us a chance to deprogram and reminisce about our time away, as well as connect with old friends. The garden is yielding up some wonderful produce, so this week we wanted to use that bounty.  This week we have our trio, Mary and Bruce, as guests. For a starter, we had fresh made Grissini wrapped in Prosciutto, with cheese, grapes and crisps.

Grissini wrapped in Prosciutto

For the main course, we had chicken skewered on fresh rosemary skewers, potatoes and stuffed peppers and tomatoes (all from our garden). We accompanied this with an  amazing charred tomato risotto, with cherry tomatoes from out garden. We also had our best collaboration of the night, Caprese Salad, with yellow tomatoes from Mom’s garden, red tomatoes, from the cottage garden and pesto, made from basil from Steph’s garden.  Freshness at its best. read more