Harvest Bounty

Fresh! The seasonal bounty of fresh herbs, tomato, zucchini, garlic, peaches, concord grapes, corn and cod and clams. Chit chat of books, summer adventures, present times and future plans. And food, of course!

The Epi feast started outside in Kaarina's Bamba Shack, as we sipped on gin cocktails embellished with fresh basil. The chill of the late September afternoon brought us all indoors before the first course, which was a delicious Cordoban cold tomato and bread soup. Although lovely Laura wasn't able to join us, Kaarina used some of the garlic from Laura's Wolfe Island garden, so she was there in spirit. 

Then on to colourful and flavourful raw veg. This time I was in charge of the salad course and consulted Ottolenghi's Simple for the recipes: tomatoes with sumac shallots and zucchini with thyme and walnut. I was able to use fists full of fresh basil and thyme from plants out my back door when I prepped earlier in the day at home. Making these salads was a very visual and tactile experience for me: peeling long curls from the zucchini; massaging fragrant oil into the white flesh; gently lifting the multi-coloured tomatoes to hide bits of fresh green basil. 

Just after the salad course I watched Caroline prepare fresh clams as I'd never had them before. Not as intimidating to cook as I thought, and a real show with all the sizzle and steam. But then, Caro does make it seem easy. A generous amount of shallots in the bottom of a hot pan, fresh white wine added to evaporate for one minute, then add the clams and steam for another 5 minutes. Delicious brine drizzled on top and served alongside fresh corn and cod browned on the skillet.

Kaarina disappeared into the kitchen with fresh peaches and berries to whip up sabayon, and while she was working her magic Mike and Rob joined us at the table, just in time to enjoy dessert.

After, a selection of cheeses, concord grapes and crackers, a splash of Scotch.

Feasting on each other's company.

Menu

Salmorejo, a cold Spanish tomato and bread soup from Cordoba, paired with sherry (Kaarina)

Two salads: Zucchini and Walnut + Tomato and Sumac Shallots with pine nuts, paired with Seedlip Garden shots (Diane)

Corn, Cod and Clams paired with Bordeaux Chardonnay (Caroline)

Sabayon of peach and raspberry (Kaarina)

Selection of cheeses, concord grapes, biscuits (Diane)