December 17th, 2009 by Dawn Becker

Last night was a most delicious night with friends I am getting to know better. Karen K came to my condo to have the five cent tour and a quick snack before I met up with Richard for dinner at L’Unita. Karen is an old friend who was always traveling for work and otherwise, and a person I’ve never spent enough time with. She just bought a condo on the west end and I couldn’t be happier that she’s settling in Toronto because we’ll get to really build that friendship. Karen has many hats including publisher of Corporate Knights, director of Waterlution, filmmaker and more. She’s very dynamic and genuine and I have been quoted to say that she would make a fabulous president for the United States. No expectations here, huh?

After a quick tour we settled in with a glass of Errazuriz Wild Ferment Pinot Noir that I had chilled slightly as suggested on the label and we dished over precious girl gossip. Chilling this wine made it brilliant and even though it’s cold outside it’s always warm in here so the wine was perfectly refreshing to start the night.

Before moving on to a more luscious glass of Ngatarawa Stables Merlot, I pulled out a small round of Saint Morgon, a soft French cheese that has a creamy texture pefect on a crusty baguette which I purchased still warm from the oven earlier that day. I made a small tapas style dish of shrimp and squid sauteed with garlic and olive oil topped with capers, a sprinkle of salt and chilli flakes and finished with a fresh squeeze of lemon, dipping more of that crusty bread to soak up all the salty juices. We ate it too quickly before I could remember to photograph it. Katie is coming over Friday. I may recreate it then so I can post the photo.

Shrimp and Squid Tapas

2 tbsp olive oil

8 headless shrimp, deveined and butterflied

2 headless squid, cleaned and sliced into 1” rings

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

dried hot red-pepper flakes

salt, to taste

2 lemon wedges

1 tsp capers

Heat oil in a pan on medium-high until hot but not smoking. Sautee shrimp. Turn shrimp over and add the squid rings, garlic and red-pepper flakes, and cook until shrimp are pink and just cooked through. Add salt and squeeze the lemon wedges over the shrimp and squid. Toss in the capers and remove from heat. Serve immediately with plenty of bread.