Friday May 2nd, 2014

Dinner for 4

Cucumber and Poppy Seeds
Mixed Mushrooms with Cinnamon and Lemon
Butternut Squash and Tahini Spread
Roast Chicken with Sumac, Za'atar and Lemon
Baby Spinach Salad with Dates and Almonds
Mejadra and Yoghurt with Cucumber
Chocolate Fudge Cake

My Friday Night Dinners have been small affairs lately, rarely with guest besides my son's girlfriend.  Not exactly what I had in mind when I started but perhaps they have run their course. That is okay.  Change is good.  However tonight's dinner is deffinately special.  When we moved back to Canada we landed in a city where one of my dearest friends from university has lived for some time.  We met up with him early on, at our house warming, but having lives running in different directions has proven to make it difficult to get together.  After speaking with another dear university friend who lives in California I was determined to have Friday Night Dinner including my local buddy.  I started putting the wheels in motion, but finding a Friday night that would work for both of us put it 6 weeks in the future. At least a date was booked, and that date is tonight.  I then mentioned this to our mutual friend in California and he said perhaps he would drive all the way to Southern Ontario to join us. It has been a long time since the three of us have been in the same room.  This would be a surprise for both my husband and our dinner guest. Some long left friendships would be restored over a fabulous meal tonight.  What an evening. 

 We started the evening with cucumber and poppy seeds,

mixed mushrooms with cinnamon and lemons,
  

 

 and butternut squash and tahini spread all served with some crusty sourdough bread.  

All of these dishes were delicious.  The mushrooms were the biggest hit and are now in my regular rotation of starters and sides, they are just that good and so easy.  The tahini spread was enjoyed tonight and the leftover was enjoyed by my son, which is good because the vegetables he will eat is very limited.  The left over quick pickled cucumbers were a great addition to Saturday lunch as well.

The main meal was roast chicken with sumac, za'atar and lemon.  This was also enjoyed by everyone although there was a little left over which my son loved and is now often requesting.  Good thing it was easy to make.

The accompaniments to the chicken were baby spinach salad with dates and almonds (a very tasty salad I have served before)

and mejadra , which is lentils and rice, served alongside yoghurt with cucumbers.  I think the lentils needed to be cooked a little longer, I am not that experienced with lentils but the flavours were great. This is a dish I will practice some more.

To end a fantastic dinner with great friends I served chocolate fudge cake.  FANTASTIC!!

The cucumber and poppy seeds, the mixed mushrooms with cinnamon and lemons, the roast chicken with sumac za'atar and lemon, as well as the chocolate fudge cake recipes were all from Ottolenghi The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi.  The recipes for the butternut squash and tahini spread, the baby spinach salad with dates and almonds, and the mejadra and yoghurt with cucumbers all came from Jerusalem also by Yotom Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. 

Friday April 11th, 2014

Dinner for 1

Thai Carrot Soup

Well tonight it is just my daughters and I for dinner and they are not in the mood for anything 'fancy'.  That makes it dinner for one.  I am not up for attempting risotto tonight so instead I am eating Thai carrot soup from my soup swap made by another amazing cook I know.

It even came with the add ins.



What is a soup swap?  Well this winter another mum in my neighbourhood suggested we get a bunch of us together and each week we make a soup and swap mason jars full.  We started with 6 ladies in two groups so you would give away two jars and get back two jars.  It became popular quick and we expanded to 9 participants but it wasn't long before a few decided to drop out.  We finally hit equilibrium at 8 ladies and changed our exchange to one jar a week with one person.  It has been great fun cooking soup and trying new soups all winter long.  It has been a long winter but yummy soups has made it brighter.