Shoestring Gourmet: In July We Diet |
Because a number of vacations happen to coincide this month, Shoestring Gourmet will take July off. We know you’ll avoid the hot dogs and cheap brew this Fourth, put in a few miles on the Nordic Track, and be in shape for the next Gourmet feast later this summer.
It’s going to be a while before we will need to eat again after the Canadian evening we just hosted. We had a rousing throng for this evening, and we had to start by foraging for extra chairs. Jim Morgan led off with poutine, the ‘national’ food of Quebec. This starts with homemade French fries, over which you pour grated mozzarella, then dip into gravy. That first offering had the assembled hanging around the deep fryer waiting for new batches. A variety of entrees and salads followed. Jane Khatiblou began with a savory treat of carrots and dill. Ursula Gore rolled out Bay of Fundy apple braised salmon on a bed of lemon-lime spiced couscous. Janet Fotheringham brought us a salad of carrots with long-stemmed broccoli on a bed of herbs, and potato salad. Diana Toone’s unusual creamy coleslaw was accompanied by Ray Pisar’s Quebecois split pea soup. From Joice and Chuck Braden, we had a meat tart that included fiddlehead. This fern shoot, which gets its name from the tight coil from which it unfurls as it grows, has only a short growing season in eastern Canada and must be special-ordered weeks in advance, then meticulously cleaned. A new member, Jenny Ewing, prepared an onion-relish salad. From the great Arizona north, Marilyn McDonald mushed in with autumn duck and mushroom cream stuffed in puff pastry, with a fresh mushroom on the side.
Between courses, we enjoyed George Miles’ Canadian beers: Labatt’s Blue, Molson, and Moosehead. On his recent trip to Canada, Jim brought back two bottles of a robust French-Canadian red wine – and an album in French by Celine Dion to accompany our meal.
And yes, we made room for desserts, beginning with Esther Shaw’s ice cream and whipped cream cheese cake. Another new cook this evening was Esther’s son Dan, visiting from Kentucky, joined Ursula in cooking lard-flavored bannock breads, one with blueberries added. Kebba Buckley’s finale to the evening was butter tart pie with peaches and pears. As we enjoyed postprandial drinks, Jim led us in a karaoke rendition of the Canadian anthem on his laptop, which could play high-fidelity sound as it displayed the words for us to sing along around the electronic fireplace.